EMPOWER selected as exclusive recordkeeper for Washington State Department of Retirement Systems
Firm to provide retirement services to 240,000 employees, representing $14 billion in assets
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., January 20, 2015 — Empower Retirement™, the nation’s second-largest retirement services provider, has signed a contract to be the sole provider of recordkeeping services for the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems (DRS), effective Oct. 1, 2015. Empower currently provides recordkeeping for the state’s Deferred Compensation Program.
Washington State Department of Retirement Systems has a hybrid retirement plan with both defined benefit and defined contribution components. It offers the plan through the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System, and the School Employees’ Retirement System. More than 180,000 members are active in the plan, with defined contribution assets of $10.5 billion.
“Empower and Washington State have a shared passion for bringing a highly progressive savings experience to public employees to improve retirement preparedness,” said Edmund F. Murphy III, President of Empower Retirement. “As the exclusive retirement services provider to the State of Washington, Empower will focus on helping state employees build and maintain income replacement during their retirement years.”
Brent Neese, Vice President of Government Markets for Empower added, “We share DRS’ goal to bring a holistic retirement preparedness experience to customers. We’ll provide a variety of integrated resources to DRS customers, including a single intuitive website, single call center, consolidated statements and consistent messaging.”
The new contract expands Empower’s existing relationship with DRS, which has included recordkeeping for the Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) since 2010. DCP is a voluntary, supplemental savings program that allows public employees to invest through payroll deductions and defer federal taxes. The program, with nearly 60,000 participants and assets of $3.5 billion, is offered to employees of all Washington state agencies and more than 800 local governments.
“We view Empower as an innovative partner who can work with us to offer retirement readiness products and services that are accessible, understandable and personalized,” said DRS Director, Marcie Frost. “Our goal is to make it easier for customers to get engaged in preparing for retirement much earlier in their careers.”
About DRS
The Washington State Department of Retirement Systems serves nearly 700,000 current and former public employees in Washington by providing expertise, tools and services to help them prepare for and experience a successful retirement. As the administrator of eight public retirement systems, 15 retirement plans and the Deferred Compensation Program, DRS serves a diverse population of state and local government employees, including fire fighters, teachers and police officers. Retirement benefits earned by these employees result in more than $3.4 billion in payments each year, most of which is distributed in the state of Washington.
About Empower Retirement
Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $409 billion in assets for 7.2 million participants. It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total participants (Spectrem Group, Aug. 31, 2014). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-retirement.com.
Empower Retirement refers to the products and services offered in the retirement markets by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (GWL&A), Corporate Headquarters: Greenwood Village, CO; Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York , Home Office: White Plains, NY; and their subsidiaries. The trademarks, logos, service marks, and design elements used are owned by GWL&A.
Media Contacts:
Jon Goldstein — Office: 617-760-1127; Cell: 516-946-5598
Laura McNamara — Office: 617-760-1108; Cell: 978-505-0524
Learn More
To learn more about how we’re empowering plan sponsors and their participants to be more engaged in their retirement plans than ever before, call us at 800-719-9914.