PLANSPONSOR - July - August 2023 - 28

AWARDS | 2023 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Total Retirement Offering
Adventist Healthcare Retirement Plans
Silver Spring, Maryland
use the latter two and non-ERISA 403(b)s. Two
systems additionally provide ERISA 403(b) and
401(k) plans to service small subregions.
Executive Director of Plan Operations
Tonya Hamm notes the " unique structure " of
the AHRP plan, which must accommodate so
many types of employees, ranging from environmental
service staff to brain surgeons. An
ongoing challenge with all types, though, is
engagement, she says.
Hamm partly credits the good progress
Ray Jimenez III, president
Plan Snapshot
PLAN TYPE AND SIZE: DB plan (frozen), 401(a), 457(b),
403(b), 401(k); $9b
PARTICIPANTS AND PARTICIPATION RATE: 119,426; 78%
DEFERRAL RATE: 4% and 6% default; 7% average
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: Varies by hospital
OPERATING two or three retirement plans
can be demanding, but what if you manage the
programs for three distinct health-care systems
and each has two plans or more? Such is the
case for Adventist Healthcare Retirement Plans,
a multiemployer plan headquartered in Silver
Spring, Maryland.
The organization was formed in 1992
from the uniting of Advent Health in Florida,
Loma Linda University Health in California
and Adventist Health in Northern California.
The three nonprofits actually came together to
rethink their retirement programs, says AHRP
President Ray Jimenez III.
AHRP operates both ERISA [Employee
Retirement Income Security Act] and nonERISA
403(b) and 401(k) plans-the 401(k)s
offering Roth provisions-along with nongovernmental
457(b) and 401(a) plans. All systems
28 PLANSPONSOR.COM July - August 2023
the organization has made to automatically
enrolling all eligible new hires in the 401(a)
plan-the matching plan- " at the highest
matching rate possible for each of the systems. "
And she and Jimenez both note with pride
AHRP's educational program, Boots on the
Ground. The sponsor provides nine in-house
certified financial planners who meet oneon-one
with employees, supplying them with
support, education, and tools and resources on
retirement planning. Since the experts participate
in the same retirement plans that their
" students " do, this fosters trust, Hamm says.
Also noteworthy was a total plan asset-allocation
reset that AHRP performed. In the past
year-and-a-half, it went from 83% of those in its
403(b) and 401(a) plans participating in an ageappropriate
equity allocation mix to 95% doing
so. In the process, the sponsor also renegotiated
fees with its LifePath fund provider BlackRock.
" The influx of money flowing into the appropriate
age-based targeted funds led to a negotiated
decrease of 1 to 2 basis points across all
BlackRock funds, " Hamm says.
Further, AHRP offers in-plan managed
account services, through Financial Engines,
and plans to launch a lifetime income solution,
BlackRock's Paycheck product, next year,
she says. " Participants want a 'make it simple
solution' for guaranteed income, " she observes,
adding that, according to Fidelity's data on its
client base, AHRP has one of the highest ratios
of participants who keep their money in plan.
-Judy Faust Hartnett
Finalists
RoyOMartin
Alexandria, Louisiana
Southwest Ohio ENT
Specialists
Dayton, Ohio
More on PLANSPONSOR.com/
awards/2023psoy
" The influx
of money
flowing
into the
appropriate
age-based
targeted
funds led to
a negotiated
decrease of
1 to 2 basis
points across
all BlackRock
funds. "
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PLANSPONSOR - July - August 2023

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