PLANSPONSOR’s 20/20 Vision

March 6, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) PLANSPONSOR names 20 institutional leaders of the past 20 years.

In honor of PLANSPONSOR’s 20th anniversary, we thought it appropriate to recognize and honor 20 institutions—plan sponsors, providers, investment managers, trade groups, government entities, etc.—that have most influenced or changed the retirement industry over the past 20 years.    

In December, we asked our PLANSPONSOR NewsDash audience to comment on which institutions should be included on that list, and we received feedback through early January. In late January, a group from PLANSPONSORincluding the Editor-in-Chief, founder of PLANSPONSORand SVP of Surveys and Researchthen edited that down to select the final 20. The goal was to recognize multiple facets of the retirement plan industry and look to those who had provided some sort of leading edge or otherwise notable product, process or decision in a particular area (noted on the list).  

The PLANSPONSOR 20/20 are: 

  • American Funds—for its investment expertise and dedication to small plans  
  • Aon Hewitt—for its work as consultant  
  • BlackRock—for its investment innovation  
  • CalPERS—for its leadership with respect to public pension plans 
  • CIEBA—for its work as the voice of pension plans 
  • Department of Laborfor its work directly affecting the governance and administration of retirement plans 
  • FASB—for its accounting standards and rules that have changed the outcome of pension plans 
  • Fidelity—for its innovation in the 401(k) industry  
  • Financial Engines—for its commitment to providing advice to the masses  
  • Harvard—for its leadership in the endowment space 
  • IBM—for its pioneering plan designs   
  • Intel—for its use of collective trusts 
  • Principal—for its dedication to ensuring small plans get large-plan service  
  • Prudential—for its work in the pension risk transfer space 
  • Russell—for its work as consultant  
  • Schwab—for its open architecture platforms 
  • Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions—for its work passing the PPA 
  • State Street—for its work in custody 
  • Vanguard—for its commitment to low-cost, passive investing 
  • Weyerhaeuser—for its use of alternatives 
We will be recognizing this group at the PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER awards dinner on March 27 in New York City and will be including profiles of each institution in the May issue of PLANSPONSOR.

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