By Katie Logisz
March 7, 2005

The United States Conference of Mayors was honored, February 25, with an Eddy Award, from Pensions & Investments magazine and its sister publication Workforce Management. Pensions & Investments is an international financial newspaper for institutional investing and fund management. This publication reports on news developments that affect the investments and investment strategies of pension funds, endowments, foundations, mutual funds, insurance companies, investment advisers, trust departments, and trust companies.

The Eddy Award signifies excellence in defined contribution plan participant education and recognizes sponsors of defined contribution plans that have done a superior job of educating their employees about the investment process. The award was presented during the Pensions & Investments Annual Defined Contribution/401(k) Conference in Miami. The Conference of Mayors received first place in the "Ongoing Education" category for public programs for its collaboration with Platinum Partner Nationwide Retirement Solutions (NRS) on The Three Little Pigs: A Financial Fairy Tale. This campaign was lauded by the judges as being "enormously clever and creative." Furthermore, the judges noted, "the idea — to educate city workers through their children — also made sense, since studies show people learn best by teaching others." The goals of this program were two-pronged. The first was to start building a nation of smart savers and spenders by reaching children before bad savings habits are established. At the same time city employees could continue to learn the same fundamentals of saving and investing with regard to retirement through their deferred compensation program while helping their children with these materials.

Nineteen entries received awards out of a pool of over 100. Entries spanned five categories for both public and private sector plans. Thirteen judges participated in reviewing the entries over a two-day period in November 2004. The judges were chosen from across the industry, representing a number of plan sponsors as well as including retirement specialists from numerous corporations and public agencies. Judges identified entries that exemplified several common traits, including strong program identification and creativity in the presentation of information. Winners demonstrated industry best practices.

The Three Little Pigs: A Financial Fairly Tale initiative was announced at the 2004 Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington (DC) and officially launched on April 22, 2004 in conjunction with the annual "Take a Child to Work Day." Over 70 mayors have participated in sharing this program with the children in their cities, beginning with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and most recently Sugar Land (TX) Mayor David A. Wallace. The program teaches children the importance of sharing, spending, and saving through the reading of the financial fairy tale, a workbook of educational exercises, and an interactive website at www.nationwidekids.com. For more information on how you can share this program with the children in your city, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at 301-460-5251, Katie Logisz at 202-861-6739, or Linda Barber of NRS at 614-854-8895.