Mad as hell

Janet Krueger still spends part of every day thinking about how she can put right what she feels IBM set wrong back in 1999. That is the year the company converted its defined benefit plan to a cash balance formula. Krueger was part of a crusade that accomplished what many would have viewed as an impossibility; she helped lead a movement that convinced Big Blue to alter its pension strategy, broadening by 35,000 the number of individuals it would allow to opt out of the cash balance plan and stick with the old-style annuity plan. Ultimately, the traditional plan was offered to anyone who was older than 40 years of age and had more than 10 years of service at the time the plan was switched. However, three years after quitting a 23-year career as an IBM software consultant, Krueger is not satisfied.