PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2020 - 32

AWARDS 2020 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Garin Danner, Human Resources
Director, The SSI Group
Mark Hacker, Total Rewards and
Service Delivery Lead, Talcott
Resolution Life, Inc.
Claudia Abbott, Benefits and
Wellness Director, AB Mauri
Food Inc.
Nancy Anglin, Vice President of
Human Resources and Corporate
Administration, Citation Oil &
Gas Corp.
The SSI Group
Mobile, Alabama
PLAN ASSETS: $41mm. PARTICIPANTS: 461. PARTICIPATION RATE:
97%. AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 9.1%. EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION:
50% of 6%, plus possible profit sharing. RECORDKEEPER: Charles
Schwab. ADVISER: ForUsAll.
The SSI Group wants employees to have a handle on their
finances to pave the way for retirement. The sponsor offers
investment and wellness consulting from plan adviser ForUsAll,
which came on as a fiduciary to supply that service, not just
general counsel. Garin Danner, human resources director
at the health care financial performance solutions company,
says he first test drove the financial wellness program before
offering it to the participants. SSI uses plan design features
such as automatic enrollment and escalation up to 15%. Participation
rates have risen significantly within the past few years.
" I just keep looking at what opportunities are out there to make
a change to the plan that might make it better and even more
competitive than what it is, " Danner says. -CH
Talcott Resolution Life, Inc.
Windsor, Connecticut
PLAN: 401(k). PLAN ASSETS: $26mm. PARTICIPANTS: 400. PARTICIPATION
RATE: 96%. AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 9%. EMPLOYER
CONTRIBUTION: 100% of 6%, plus per-pay-period profit sharing/
nonelective contribution of 2%, plus discretionary match. RECORDKEEPER:
Vanguard. ADVISER: The Palancar Group at Morgan Stanley.
The Talcott Resolution Life 401(k) Plan was introduced in July
2018 having no assets and has since grown to about $26 million.
Mark Hacker, total rewards and service delivery lead, and plan
administrator, gives three reasons: a high influx of cash from
rollover contributions; Talcott matches 100% of the first 6%
deferred, plus 2% profit sharing and yearly true-up; and 96%
of employees participate, deferring an average 9%. A platform
switch later this year will " leverage digital or online education so
members can get things on their own on demand, " Hacker says.
Talcott is also creating an investment lineup with both actively
and passively managed alternatives. " Because we have savvy
investors, we also need actively managed funds, " he says. -CH
32 PLANSPONSOR.COM April - May 2020
Corporate 401(k) >$50mm - $100mm
AB Mauri Food Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri
PLAN: 401(k). PLAN ASSETS: $55.6mm. PARTICIPANTS: 530. PARTICIPATION
RATE: 86%. AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 7.56%. EMPLOYER
CONTRIBUTION: 100% of salaried participants' first 3%, plus 20% of
their next 3%; maximum 6% match for union members. RECORDKEEPER:
Empower Retirement. ADVISER: Fiduciary Advisors, Inc.
An innovative feature of AB Mauri Food Inc.'s retirement plan
is that it has a dual qualified default investment alternative.
Under-55-year-old workers at this yeast and bakery ingredient
manufacturer are defaulted into a target-date fund, while those
55 and older are invested in a managed account. " As employees
approach retirement, their planning needs change, " says Claudia
Abbott, benefits and wellness director at the company. When
" resetting " the plan in this way, the manufacturer also implemented
automatic enrollment with automatic escalation and
stretched its match. Abbott says, " Mauri is set to significantly
increase our planwide lifetime income score. " -Lee Barney
Citation Oil & Gas Corp.
Houston, Texas
PLAN: 401(k). PLAN ASSETS: $82.5mm. PARTICIPANTS: 461. PARTICIPATION
RATE: 88.2%. EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 100% of 6%.
RECORDKEEPER: Prudential. ADVISER: Lockton Retirement Services.
Nancy Anglin, vice president of human resources and corporate
administration at Citation Oil & Gas Corp., says the evolution of
the company's retirement plan, after new leadership was installed,
is what strikes her as Citation's greatest accomplishment. Anglin
convinced the new team to move the plan to automatic enrollment
and to increase the company match. Citation then hired Lockton
as its plan adviser and Prudential as its recordkeeper, and together
they reduced the recordkeeping fees by 40%, plus improved the
fund lineup, Anglin says. " Educating people about these options
is difficult, " she says. " So, we set up Brainshark videos, for small
groups of employees at a time. " The company offers financial
wellness through a lunch-and-learn format. " It is extremely wellreceived, "
she observes. -LB
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