2026 NAGDCA Leadership Award Recipients
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2026 NAGDCA Leadership Recognition Awards! These awards recognize outstanding public sector defined contribution plans that have developed innovative programs, projects, and campaigns to enhance retirement readiness and improve participant outcomes. Government member nominations were accepted in five categories, with each submission reviewed by the 2026 Awards Committee and evaluated for originality, effectiveness, and measurable results.
This year’s recipients showcase the many ways public sector retirement plans are advancing excellence through thoughtful plan design, personalized communications, technology, and holistic financial wellness initiatives. From creative education campaigns and immersive engagement strategies to operational enhancements and digital innovations, these award-winning projects demonstrate practical, measurable approaches to helping participants build greater financial security.
Explore the award-winning projects and campaigns below to see how NAGDCA members are driving innovation and shaping the future of public sector defined contribution plans.
Holistic Financial Wellness
Gwinnett County partnered with multiple benefit providers to develop the Embrace Wellness program, a unified environment where employees and their families can access resources that support their journey to physical, mental, and financial wellness. Through coordinated retirement education and broader financial wellness initiatives, employees receive consistent messaging and support across benefits, retirement plans, and educational programs.
This holistic approach addresses the needs of the “whole participant,” empowering employees to make informed decisions about their long-term financial security and well-being, helping them tackle the challenge of long-term savings and retirement preparedness.
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For PSERS members participating in one of three new membership classes, they need to take a more active role in ensuring retirement readiness compared to their peers before them. After several successful years of global email messaging to educate members about retirement planning concepts and participating in the PSERS DC Plan, PSERS identified a need to provide new targeted and global messages to members based on their tenure and previous engagement experience instead of a one-size-fits-all mentality. Using this need and desire for targeted communication, email communication “lanes” were developed and implemented to align with a participant’s PSERS membership experience. This targeted communication approach led to best-in-class email results, increased registration to the PSERS Member Self-Service Portal, more interaction with PSERS DC account resources and tools, greater awareness of overall PSERS benefits, and an increased focus on improving financial literacy and overall financial wellness.
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National Retirement Security Month
In October 2025, in observance of National Retirement Security Month, the San Francisco Deferred Compensation Plan (SFDCP) launched the “Get on Track” campaign a comprehensive, behavior-driven initiative designed to improve retirement readiness across all eligible employees.
Developed and launched by the SFDCP Team in collaboration with Voya, the campaign simplified retirement planning into a clear, actionable journey focused on steps to enroll, increase, and optimize. By reducing complexity and emphasizing immediate action, the SFDCP successfully drove measurable improvements in employee engagement and savings behaviors.
The North Carolina Department of State Treasurer (DST) launched the 2025 Retirement Express, a statewide, month-long campaign designed to help public servants take clear, confident steps toward retirement readiness during National Retirement Security Month. Built around a compelling, video-driven storytelling experience filmed at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, the campaign guided members through four key “stations” of retirement planning – Budget Junction, Contribution Station, Investment Depot, and Futureville.
This immersive narrative framework unified all campaign elements, including weekly webinars, refreshed digital content, targeted outreach, and expanded collaboration with employer partners and the Plans’ dedicated counselors. A strategic early-activation effort – beginning 30 days before NRSM – generated strong momentum and record engagement.
The results were exceptional. Web traffic to priority retirement-planning pages surged between 120% and 308% year over year, while enrollments increased 39% and contribution increases rose 49% compared to NRSM 2024. The Retirement Express not only captured attention – it inspired meaningful action, empowering more than 325,000 public servants to take their next best step toward a secure financial future.
By pairing relatable storytelling with coordinated, multi-channel outreach, DST created a scalable model that any government organization can adapt to motivate and support its workforce on the journey to retirement readiness.
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Participant Education & Communication
City of Phoenix - Everyday Plan Champions: Real City of Phoenix Stories Driving Retirement Readiness
The City of Phoenix Plan Champion Campaign is a storytelling-driven initiative that brings the Deferred Compensation Plan to life through real employees. Five “Plan Champions” from different departments share how they use the plan’s tools and education to pursue their passions and build retirement confidence, captured in short videos and lifestyle photography filmed in iconic Phoenix locations. Their stories power a coordinated experience across the plan website, emails, digital monitors, posters, and the City’s Financial Expo, where Champions appear in person to engage their peers. Strong video viewership and attention rates, along with continued growth in plan assets, contributions, and education usage, show that these relatable voices are helping employees better understand and use their retirement benefits.
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Each year, the Michigan Employees’ Retirement System (MERS) hosts its Annual Conference, bringing together members from across the state. A key purpose of this event is to unite our membership in the election of our governing board. To maximize the value of our time together, the conference also features retirement planning and financial wellness education designed to support our members’ long-term success.
In 2025, 423 attendees gathered in Traverse City, Michigan, on October 16 and 17. Participants were evenly split between employer representatives and employee members, all of whom returned to their local units of government equipped with valuable insights and information to share within their organizations. The goals of the education were to increase plan participation, improve savings rates, and enhance overall financial wellness.
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San Bernardino County Human Resources developed a multi-channel financial wellness initiative to improve retirement readiness and increase engagement with its defined contribution plans, serving more than 24,000 employees across a large and geographically dispersed workforce. Recognizing that traditional education methods were not effectively reaching participants, the County implemented an innovative, integrated strategy that delivers retirement education through in-person, virtual, interactive, and embedded outreach channels.
The program combines Salary Savings Summits, a monthly webinar series, Financially Well Experience events, and targeted departmental outreach to create multiple engagement touchpoints that reinforce learning and drive participant action. Leveraging existing technology, strategic partnerships, and a phased implementation approach, the initiative was designed to be cost-efficient, scalable, and sustainable.
The program has produced measurable results, including strong participation across all formats, increased utilization of retirement planning tools, growth in one-on-one consultations, and sustained demand for continued education. Participants report improved financial knowledge and greater confidence in retirement decision-making.
This initiative demonstrates leadership in participant education through its innovative multi-channel design, efficient use of resources, and replicable framework, providing a scalable model for all sizes of public sector employers seeking to enhance engagement and improve retirement outcomes.
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Plan Design & Administration
The County of Monterey leadership and labor partners recognized growing concerns about long term retirement readiness, especially for new employees who might rely heavily on their supplemental plan to complement pension benefits. The County needed a solution that would nudge employees into action while preserving choice, flexibility, and strong participant protections. Therefore, we introduced auto enrollment with two bargaining groups, CEMA & SEIU. We have experienced significant increases in new-hire participation in the 457(b) plan, particularly during the first year of employment.
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In 2025, the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), in partnership with Empower, modernized the Texa$aver program’s Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) by transitioning participants from the BlackRock LifePath Index Target Date Funds to the Nuveen Lifecycle Index CIT Series, Class B. This plan design and administration enhancement strengthened the program’s default investment path for automatically enrolled and long-term participants, introduced a “through” glidepath better aligned with retirement income and longevity needs, and reduced fund expenses. The large-scale transition affected approximately $1.5 billion in target date assets and nearly 229,000 participants, was completed with 100% of assets mapped, and was supported by a coordinated multi-channel education campaign including emails, letters, webinars, web messaging, and advisor support.
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Savings Plus 2025 Fund Mapping & Redesign modernized the investment foundation of one of the nation’s largest public-sector retirement programs by simplifying choice, lowering costs, and strengthening default outcomes – while preserving participant confidence throughout a multibillion-dollar transition. Recognizing that incremental changes were no longer sufficient, California Savings Plus executed a disciplined, two-phase redesign that prioritized default investments first, followed by enhancements to the core lineup and PST plan. The initiative transitioned participants into institutionally priced target date funds, introduced stable value options, reduced lineup complexity, and delivered an estimated $10 million in annualized participant fee savings – implemented with zero mapping errors and stable service levels. Affecting more than 200,000 participants and over $14 billion in assets, the redesign demonstrates how thoughtful fiduciary leadership, phased execution, and clear participant education can achieve meaningful investment modernization at scale without disrupting trust or operations.
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Technology & Cybersecurity
For years in support of the public agencies and school employers that have adopted the CalPERS 457 Plan, CalPERS utilized paper participant forms to administer the Plan. The approach limited participant engagement and reinforced reliance on employer-mediated transactions. CalPERS made the strategic decision to explore ways to improve the overall experience to participate in the Plan by becoming more digital-focused in its administration. CalPERS committed to creating awareness to digital resources and cybersecurity concepts to make saving for retirement more convenient. In 2025, that meant creating digital engagement opportunities for existing participants and adding online enrollment capabilities for eligible non-participating employees to help make it easier to achieve their retirement goals.
