As the burden of funding retirement has shifted from employer to employee, defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, have become the primary source of retirement savings for an increasing number of Americans. Yet, DC plans were originally designed as supplemental retirement savings vehicles and were generally never intended to provide guaranteed lifetime income.
The mission of the Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC) is to facilitate the culture shift of defined contribution plans from supplemental savings programs to programs that provide retirement security through institutional income strategies and solutions within our defined contribution system. By providing a forum for insightful, solutions-oriented thought leadership on institutional retirement income, the IRIC is promoting the need for retirement income adequacy for defined contribution plan participants.
A membership-based organization, IRIC is supported by sponsors, and a panel of industry advisors, who are dedicated to sharing best practices, informing about legislative and regulatory issues and facilitating solutions for plan sponsors and their participants.
IRIC is a product agnostic and provider agnostic organization. IRIC supports guaranteed products, non-guaranteed products, and other drawdown income strategies. Through best practices development, IRIC creates an environment that fosters adoption and utilization of retirement income directly from DC plans that best meets the needs of both sponsors and participants.
Mission
The mission of the IRIC is to facilitate the culture shift of defined contribution plans from supplemental savings plans to programs that provide retirement security through institutional income strategies and solutions within our defined contribution system.
Vision
The vision of the IRIC is to be recognized by plan sponsors, intermediaries, recordkeepers, product manufacturers, and distributors, as the industry’s leading source of information and thought leadership on institutional retirement income solutions.
To accomplish this we will:
- Establish a forum for unbiased, solutions-oriented thought leadership on institutional retirement income;
- Identify and overcome barriers that impact the offering of institutional retirement income solutions by plan sponsors and utilization by participants;
- Develop best practices and tools for how institutional retirement income solutions may be evaluated, selected, implemented, and monitored;
- Identify and address issues and concerns that will arise as institutional retirement income solutions become more prevalent; and,
- Promote the need for retirement income security for defined contribution plan participants.
- Establish the IRIC’s brand and reputation;
- Develop and create comprehensive best practices and tools;
- Increase awareness and utilization of best practices and tools among key audiences, and,
- Facilitate solutions to key industry challenges.
Strategic Initiatives
Establish the IRIC’s brand and reputation
- Announce the expanded sponsorship of the IRIC to key audiences through initial press release
- Create a fully integrated marketing/public relations plan
- Explore the viability of strategic partnership(s) with other industry associations and/or media partners
Develop and create comprehensive best practices and tools
- Create tools to enable comparison of products
- Provide information to facilitate plan sponsor decision making and enable the RFP process
- Define best practices for plan design, implementation, and communication
- Provide information and a consistent framework on products that are available
Increase awareness and utilization of best practices and tools among key audiences
- Publish educational information to raise awareness of our leadership position
- Enhance and expand a robust website
- Training for Consultant/Advisors share our expertise via hands-on training
- Participation as speakers at industry conferences
- Leverage our strategic partnership(s)
Facilitate solutions to key industry challenges
- Standardization of recordkeeping
- Strengthening the plan sponsor case for taking action
- Provide insight into Legislative and Regulatory issues
- Provide our perspective to product manufacturers
Kevin Crain, Executive Director
Kevin Crain is an accomplished and highly respected Retirement Services and Financial Wellness Expert with more than 40 years of experience in roles of progressively more significant influence and impact in the Retirement Services industry, driving strategic growth, enhancing client engagement, and delivering top-tier retirement research solutions. With broad leadership experience across all business areas, he is an influential advisor, board member, thought leader, industry events speaker, and public policy advocate in employee financial wellness, retirement savings, retirement public policy, employee benefits utilization trends, and longevity.
Kevin is currently the Executive Director of the Institutional Retirement Income Council, a Senior Advisor with McKinsey, a Senior Advisor with the Milken Institute, a Council Member with the Global Coalition on Aging Advisory Council, and a Visiting Executive for the Gerontological Society of America. He is also an Honorary Member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and a Member of its Public Policy Committee.
Until August 2023, Kevin was with Bank of America Merrill Lynch for nearly 20 years in senior leadership positions in the Retirement Services sector, culminating in the role of Head of Retirement Research, leading a team of thought leaders and public policy experts focused on retirement and longevity research. The team published many reports, including Workplace Benefits, Participant Pulse, Financial Life Benefits Impact, Caregiving briefs, the Longevity Economy, and Retirement Benefits Gender Lens studies. They also championed diversity and inclusion by publishing highly progressive studies such as Menopause & the Workplace, Women’s Financial Well-Being, Financial Wellness of Caregivers, Mental Health & the Workplace, and Neurodiversity in the Workplace.
Kevin also served three years as Chair of the New York City Age Friendly Commission.
Before this, Kevin was Head of Enterprise Financial Solutions, where he spearheaded a team of Enterprise Specialists focused on delivering Bank of America solutions to corporate plan sponsors and employees, working closely with Bankers, Advisors, and local Bank Market Presidents. Solutions included benefits plans, financial wellness programs, banking products, wealth management services, and employee education programs. As Head of Workplace Solutions, he created and led a new team of Specialists to partner with Commercial Bankers to deliver retirement benefits and financial wellness to companies and their employees.
Previously, Kevin was Head of Institutional Retirement, leading the Institutional Retirement business for corporate retirement services offered including 401(k), Defined Benefit, Equity Compensation, Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation and Healthcare Savings, servicing over 1,500 corporate clients totaling close to 5 million employees. A public speaker and panel moderator at industry conferences, and with significant media visibility, having given numerous media interviews to major outlets, Kevin’s career started as an Analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank and then Client Relationship Management with Bankers Trust, entering the retirement sector with Fidelity Investments before becoming Head of 401(k) Operations with Putnam Investments.
John A. Pickett
John joined CAPTRUST Financial Advisors spring of 2010 opening the company’s first Texas office in Dallas. He joins CAPTRUST following a successful career with RBC Wealth Management’s Institutional Consulting Group. At RBC, Pickett created a revered advisory practice, representing $8.5 billion in assets under management, with many of his client relationships spanning 25 years or more. Highly regarded as the consummate educator, Pickett is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and educational symposiums, including TEXPERS, the Investment Management Institute, and Institutional Investors. John graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Baylor University. He completed his Investment Manager Analysis Certification (CIMA) after attending courses at The Wharton School.
Martin Schmidt
Martin Schmidt is the head of MAS Advisors a retirement plan consulting firm. His areas of concentration include fee benchmarking, investments, plan design, product development, and vendor selection. Martin has over 30 years of experience working with plan sponsors, industry professionals, investment committees, investment managers, and service providers on benefit related issues. Through his knowledge and experience he has developed a thorough understanding of industry trends and fiduciary practices which have allowed him to develop effective solutions for both plan sponsors and service providers.
Martin is a former Principal with Buck Consultants where he managed the Midwest Region of their Retirement Practice. Martin’s experience also includes managing defined benefit and defined contribution teams at Hewitt Associates along with developing third-party relationships to expand Hewitt’s product offering which included developing the first daily trading platform to trade and settle activity with separate investment managers.
Martin has an MBA in Finance from Loyola University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Northern Illinois University.
Martha L. Tejera
Martha L. Tejera is the head of Tejera & Associates, a fee-for service firm that focuses on helping employers meet their fiduciary responsibility in the selection and benchmarking of their retirement plan providers. Martha has consulted with industry leaders for over 25 years. Her knowledge and experience in the industry allow her to help plan sponsors select a provider and build a long-term, successful partnership with that vendor.
Martha works with a variety of individuals and team structures, including HR, finance, retirement plan committees, independent investment consultants, and outside ERISA counsel. This focus on administration allows for a comprehensive assessment of vendor suitability.
A former Principal with Mercer, Martha specialized in helping plan sponsors develop processes to improve their fiduciary oversight, manage vendor service levels and fees, and improve the overall value provided by their defined contribution retirement plans, while simultaneously managing costs. Martha’s experience also includes managing defined contribution recordkeeping teams for Mercer, Watson Wyatt, and in-house for Weyerhaeuser.
Martha is a former Enrolled Actuary under ERISA and a past Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. She is an honors graduate of the University of Washington in economics.
Mark Shemtob
Director
Mark Shemtob is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary under ERISA and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and the American Association of Actuaries and Pension Professionals. He is an active volunteer within the actuarial profession serving on many committees. Over a four-decade career Mark has provided actuarial and consulting services to employers with respect to the establishment of retirement plans. He served as an adjunct professor in the Rutgers University Business School teaching a course on various aspects of the United States retirement system. Mark is also a Certified Financial Planner specializing in retirement planning.
Effective a decade ago Mark shifted some of his efforts to addressing the challenges posed by the transition from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans and the challenge this posed to retirees in securing lifetime income. He has written and spoken extensively on this topic. Below are links to three more recently published articles.
https://contingencies.org/time-to-take-the-plunge/
https://www.soa.org/sections/retirement/retirement-newsletter/2021/september/ret-2021-09-shemtob/
Laura Schumann
Vice President, Benefits Products and Management
NRECA
In her current role as Vice President, Benefits Products & Management at NRECA, Laura and her team oversee the development and delivery of health and retirement products for NRECA’s multiple employer health care and retirement programs. NRECA provides employee benefits to over 170,000 individuals at more than 1,000 rural electric cooperatives in 48 states across America.
Laura previously has held multiple positions at NRECA, including Senior Director of Product Development & Management, and Director of Investment & Retirement Services at NRECA, where she managed the Personal Investment Retirement Consulting (PIRC) team to deliver investment education services. to the NRECA membership. In this role, she also assisted with the oversight of investment managers for NRECA’s defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
Laura holds a BA from the University of Richmond, an MBA from the George Washington University, and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM .
Greg Ungerman
Senior Vice President and Callan’s Defined Contribution Practice Leader
Callen
Greg T. Ungerman, CFA, is a senior vice president and Callan’s defined contribution practice leader. Based in the San Francisco headquarters, Greg is responsible for setting the direction of the firm’s DC business, providing DC support both internally to Callan’s consultants and externally to Callan’s clients, and working with Callan’s team of DC subject matter experts to develop research and insights into DC trends for the benefit of clients and the industry. Greg is chair of Callan’s Defined Contribution Committee, as well as a member of Callan’s Management Committee and Institute Advisory Committee. He is a shareholder of the firm.
Previously, Greg was the co-manager of Callan’s San Francisco consulting office. He worked with a variety of plan sponsor clients across the Western region, including corporate defined benefit and defined contribution plans, foundations/endowments, and multi-employer and public plans. His client service responsibilities included strategic planning, plan implementation, coordination of special client requests, and customized performance reporting.
Greg joined Callan in 1998. Before joining the plan sponsor consulting group in early 2001, Greg was senior analyst in the Client Report Services group. In that role, Greg specialized in all aspects of performance measurement and analytics and was responsible for managing some of Callan’s largest reporting relationships. Prior to joining Callan, he worked at IMG, organizing professional golf and tennis tournaments.
Greg graduated from the University of California, Davis with a BS in managerial economics. Greg is a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member CFA Institute and CFA Society San Francisco. He is also a member of the Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC) Board of Directors.
Michael Kreps
Principal, Chair Retirement Services
Groom’s Retirement Services Group
Michael Kreps is Chair of Groom’s Retirement Services group and works with a wide variety of clients on complex retirement and health plan issues. His firsthand experience with the legislative and regulatory process gives him a perspective that is often instrumental in helping clients develop and implement effective compliance and advocacy strategies. Kreps advises many of the country’s largest benefit plans and service providers on issues related to plan governance, administration, funding, and restructuring.
AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein (AB) is a leading global investment management firm that offers high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional investors, individuals, and private wealth clients in major world markets. We are one of the largest investment management firms in the world, with more than $665 billion in assets under management as of February 2023. We foster a diverse, connected, collaborative culture that encourages different ways of thinking and differentiated insights. We embrace innovation to address increasingly complex investing challenges. We pursue responsibility throughout our firm—from how we work and act to the solutions we design for clients.
As an innovator in defined contribution (DC), we’re striving to define the future through visionary research and distinctive solutions that provide financial security in retirement. DC plan participants are looking for retirement income security, and workplace retirement plans may be their only savings source. With over a decade of experience in delivering guaranteed income without sacrificing participants’ liquidity or growth potential, we’re fully invested in creating better retirement outcomes.
Voya Financial, Inc.
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) is a leading health, wealth and investment company with over 9,000 employees who are focused on achieving Voya’s aspirational vision: “Clearing your path to financial confidence and a more fulfilling life.” Through products, solutions and technologies, Voya helps its 15.2 million individual, workplace and institutional clients become well planned, well invested and well protected. Benefitfocus, a Voya company and a leading benefits administration provider, extends the reach of Voya’s workplace benefits and savings offerings by engaging directly with over 12 million employees in the U.S. Certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Voya is purpose-driven and committed to conducting business in a way that is economically, ethically, socially and environmentally responsible. Voya has earned recognition as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere; a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” on the Disability Equality Index. For more information, visit voya.com.
Empower Retirement
At Empower, we imagine a future in which Americans can replace their working income — for life. With a pioneering spirit, we are blazing new trails to help participants pursue their financial independence.
We bring four key values to every partnership:
- Service Excellence
- Constant innovation
- Public policy
- Outstanding people
With a singular focus on monthly income in retirement, we apply our core values and decades of experience to help you create a better retirement experience for your client’s employees.
For more information, please visit: http://www.empower-retirement.com/financial-professionals/
Lincoln Financial Group
Built on Abraham Lincoln’s ideals of courage, strength and optimism, Lincoln Financial Group has been a proven provider of retirement solutions for more than 60 years. We manage thousands of retirement plans that enroll millions of people in organizations of all sizes in the small business, corporate, healthcare, education and non-profit sectors. Lincoln Financial Group champions the commitment of plan sponsors and intermediaries to drive better retirement outcomes by personally engaging and motivating employees to invest in their futures with optimism.
As a leading retirement plan provider, we are committed to offering our partners a broad array of plan solutions to meet their needs including independent, market-driven investments, superior plan design and fiduciary and compliance guidance. We currently provide recordkeeping services to over 1.4 million defined contribution plan participants.
Lincoln Financial Sponsorship Press Release View
Pacific Life
Protect what matters most to you. Relax in retirement. Achieve your life goals. When you’re prepared for anything, you can be confident that more is possible. Pacific Life’s expertise and innovative solutions for retirement and life insurance protection have helped generations of families and businesses continue filling their tomorrows with moments that matter.
SS&C Technologies Holdings
SS&C Technologies Holdings (NASDAQ: SSNC) is the world’s largest hedge fund and private equity administrator, as well as the largest mutual fund transfer agency. SS&C’s unique business model combines end-to-end expertise across financial services operations with software and solutions to service even the most demanding customers in the financial services and healthcare industries. SS&C owns and operates the full technology stack across securities accounting, front-to-back-office operations, performance and risk analytics, regulatory reporting, and healthcare information processes. SS&C’s trusted and proven technology delivers an unparalleled level of scalable capabilities for the most complex portfolios, the most sophisticated strategies, and the highest volumes of transactions. Through a series of carefully selected acquisitions and organic growth, the breadth and depth of SS&C’s expertise in financial services and healthcare technology are unmatched. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, the company is home to 22,000+ employees across 150 office locations in 35 countries globally. With 18,000+ clients spanning across the health and financial services industries, our customer’s needs and requirements are always at the forefront of our strategy.
To learn more, please visit: http://www.sstech.com
TIAA
TIAA is a leading provider1 of secure retirements and outcome-focused investment solutions to millions of people and thousands of institutions. It shared $5 billion with participants in 2023, on top of the stated guarantees, and has $1.4 trillion in assets under management (as of 3/31/2025).2
Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $1.3 trillion in assets under management as of 31 December 2024 and operations in 32 countries. Its investment specialists offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies.
For more information, visit us online at tiaa.org and nuveen.com/retirement.
- As of June 3, 2024. Based on data in PLANSPONSOR’s 2024 DC Recordkeeping Survey, #1 by total 403(b) assets and #1 by 403(b) ERISA plans.
- As of March 31, 2025, assets under management across Nuveen Investments affiliates and TIAA investment management teams are $1,373 billion.
Allianz Life Insurance
For over 125 years, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) has been assisting Americans in preparing for their financial future. We are a leading provider of retirement solutions, offering fixed and variable annuities and life insurance, and we have consistently had products listed on the industry’s top 10 best-sellers. In fact, for 20 out of the last 24 years, Allianz has ranked as the number one leader in Fixed Index Annuity (FIA) sales (Wink© Sales and Market Report Sales Data Query, Wink, Inc. Q1 2000 – Q4 2023). We have a proven track record of customer-centric product innovation. This includes industry firsts or improvements that provide customers with confidence in the security of their futures through high-quality products and reliable service.
Today, Allianz is putting our depth of retirement income experience to work in a solution tailored for defined contribution plans. The Allianz Lifetime Income+® Annuity is designed to meet the needs of real people and the realities of retirement today. It represents a new approach to designing in-plan annuities, with a flexible product design, streamlined connections with plan partners, and the potential for increasing income.
To learn more, visit www.allianzlife.com/dcplan.
Bank of America
At Bank of America our mission is to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We help our clients achieve what’s possible by providing experts who listen and care, powerfully personal technology, connected solutions and a vision of shared success. Our employees are at the heart of Bank of America and are key to driving Responsible Growth.
Athene/ARS
Athene is a leading retirement services provider with almost 2.5 million policyholders, specializing in helping customers retire comfortably and solving complex problems for institutions, including those with defined contribution plans. Athene is an investor and one of two carrier partners in ARS, which provides guaranteed income into defined contribution plans through target date funds, enhancing retirement outcomes for participants. This collaboration accelerates the availability of lifetime income offerings, addressing the growing need as more Americans reach retirement.
T. Rowe Price
INVEST WITH CONFIDENCE®
T. Rowe Price is an asset management firm focused on delivering global investment management excellence and retirement services that investors can rely on—now, and over the long term.
We provide an array of commingled funds, subadvisory services, separate account management, retirement recordkeeping, and related services for individuals, advisors, institutions, and/or retirement plan sponsors.
Our intellectual rigor helps us seek the best ideas for our clients, our integrity ensures that we always put their interests first, and our stability lets us stay focused on their goals as we pursue better investment outcomes.
As of as of December 31, 2024, T. Rowe Price has more than USD $1,606.6 billion1 in assets under management and serves clients in over 54 countries and more than 2 million participants across more than 7,900 plans with our U.S. recordkeeping business.
1Firmwide AUM includes assets managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and its investment advisory affiliates.