|
NAGDCA Members, Happy New Year and I hope everyone enjoyed a very festive holiday season. 2010 is off to a fast and productive start. But before diving into 2010, thank you to David Turla, Barbara Healy, and Marie Swartzwelder for a very informative web cast on December 7 on “Plan Sponsor Investment Oversight/ Investment Performance.” We appreciate your insight into this most important topic. I am pleased to report that many NAGDCA members volunteered to serve on committees and task forces during the upcoming year. The Executive Board met in November and made assignments based on individual requests as much as possible. Everyone who volunteered for an assignment was placed on a committee or task force. The committees and task forces have begun their work for 2010 and I look forward to many productive results. We received many comments about the Annual Conference in Austin, TX. In general, the Conference received very favorable comments and ratings. But with any event as large as the Annual Conference, there is always room for improvement. The 2010 Annual Conference Committee, chaired by Gay Lynn Bath, will be reviewing all the comments and working hard to bring together a very educational conference that will provide great value to all. Each year NAGDCA highlights National Save for Retirement Week. NS4RW provides an opportunity to give greater vision to public employees in our plans to save for their retirement. It has been successful in many localities throughout the country. NS4RW will be in October again this year (exact dates TBD). The Executive Board will be again urging Congress to adopt a resolution proclaiming that week NS4RW. The time to begin planning for NS4RW on your plan level should begin now also. Encourage your plan sponsor to adopt a resolution. Think about how to prepare for your plan’s activities for the week. Be ready when October comes around to make NS4RW 2010 better than ever. Our plans face various issues throughout the year and many of them involve some legal issues. NAGDCA is instituting an on-line discussion forum to assist NAGDCA members who are attorneys to be able to discuss and stay on top of the legal issues facing our plans. Any attorney of a NAGDCA government or industry member is eligible to participant in this on-line forum. Attorneys can sign on to the Counsel’s Corner at http://forum.nagdca.org. This on-line discussion board will be valuable to the general NAGDCA membership as a new information resource. Finally, NAGDCA will again be sponsoring three web casts in 2010. The first will be held in April and will focus on Congressional and other legislative developments. There is a great deal of discussion in Washington about plan fees, disclosure, reporting, and an after tax savings option. Later in the year NAGDCA will have webcasts on target date funds and best practices in conducting a request for proposal for plan services. These issues were suggested on the evaluation forms returned by NAGDCA members after prior webcasts and at the Annual Conference. Thanks to all who are contributing their time and talent to making 2010 a successful and rewarding NAGDCA year. I am sure that all NAGDCA members will benefit from the combined efforts of the many talented individuals who make up this great organization. |
