By Kathryn Kretschmer Weyland
May 16, 2011

When you lead a town of 45,000 in this economy, resources are tight. But the needs are just as important. In Collierville (TN), Mayor Stan Joyner and Personnel Director Jeff Sprow were concerned early last year that their employees weren’t doing enough for their retirement.

"The town of Collierville has an excellent retirement plan in place," Joyner said. "But it’s our belief that employees should also take advantage of their deferred comp program" to supplement what their pension will provide in retirement income. The town needed a way to get employees attention and, in a positive way, encourage them to enroll in The U.S. Conference of Mayors Deferred Compensation Program.

For more than 30 years, the Conference of Mayors has worked with Nationwide to offer the program as a way for city employees to supplement their pension and social security benefit when they’re ready to retire. So, Joyner and Personnel Director Sprow asked their local Nationwide representatives, Jerry Williams and Monty Robinson, for ideas. Having had recent success in Memphis with a similar event, they suggested hosting a retirement expo for Collierville’s 465 employees.

Sprow said he was concerned. "For years, we’ve tried to get employees to understand that getting ready for retirement financially is going to take their individual participation, in addition to what the town provides. Deferred compensation is one the very best ways they can prepare.

"Doing something more to get employees attention seemed long overdue, but this was our first attempt at a comprehensive seminar. We worried that not enough individuals would come out" to make the effort worthwhile. Turned out, they came in droves."

Collierville employees responded to the call. Sprow says, "They came to the expo with questions that suggested they were just as concerned about the retirement-income prospects as the town was." The event gave employees ample opportunity to hear from retirement specialists discussing the financial markets and strategies for investing in seminars and one-on-one conversations.

Nationwide did an excellent job preparing and staging the expo, Sprow says. "They went to great lengths to get home office support. In the end, the event was well-organized and well-presented. People who attended got a lot out of it. Employees told me they really enjoyed it."

Maybe that shouldn’t have been a surprise, Sprow added. "Jerry Williams is a great representative. He’s always available. He’s developed a great working relationship with our employees. He’s very dependable."

Nationwide actively supports mayors and city leaders when they promote their deferred compensation plan, said Nationwide Program Director Monty Robinson. "The more we can do to make connections with employees, encourage retirement saving, and planning for the future by taking control of it, the better it is for the city and their employees," he said.

City leaders should know that finding creative solutions for employers has been a hallmark of Nationwide’s service to the public sector, and especially the Conference of Mayors.

For more information on what Nationwide is doing to help city employees, even during difficult economic conditions, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland with the Conference of Mayors by phone at 301-460-5251 or send e-mail to kweyland@usmayors.org, Jeff Bean at 202-446-8140 or email jbean@usmayors.org or Louie Watson, Nationwide Vice President of Strategic Relationships at 614-854-8895 or send e-mail to WatsonL2@Nationwide.com.

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Nationwide Retirement Solutions (Nationwide) makes payments to the Conference of Mayors and its affiliate United States Mayors Enterprises for their sponsorship and the services that they perform generally for all their members related to Nationwide’s products and services sold exclusively in public sector retirement markets. More detail about these payments is available at www.nrsforu.com.

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NRM-8215AO-US (04/2011)