ICMA-RC Receives DALBAR Seal of Excellence

April 27, 2008

ICMA-RC has been awarded the DALBAR Seal of Excellence for its 401 and 457 Retirement Statements, VantageLine Voice Response System, and Defined Contribution Plan Participant and Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Web Sites. The Seal is awarded for outstanding communications that effectively and efficiently meet the needs of participants.

This is the fifth consecutive year that both ICMA-RC’s VantageLine Voice Response System and ICMA-RC’s Defined Contribution Plan Participant Web site have earned the DALBAR Communication Seal of Excellence.

ICMA-RC President and CEO Joan McCallen said, “Earning DALBAR’s Seal of Excellence is affirmation of our commitment to providing the best information possible to our participants and creating statements and a Web site that are easy to understand and easy to use, while still providing all the information necessary for participants to manage their accounts.”

DALBAR develops standards for and provides research, ratings, and rankings of intangible factors that influence the overall customer service experience in the mutual fund, broker/dealer, managed account, retirement plan, life insurance and property and casualty insurance industries.

Both of ICMA-RC’s account management Web sites, designed for DC Plan Participants and DC Plan Sponsors, achieved DALBAR’s highest rating of “Excellent.” The results of DALBAR’s extensive evaluation of each Web site indicate that both Web sites effectively deliver participant communications and are outstanding in several categories.

• ICMA-RC’s Defined Contribution plan participant Web site, www.icmarc.org, presents features and content in a highly logical and user-friendly manner. The site encourages return visits with its ease of navigation as well as its customization feature, enabling participants to view information of interest at their fingertips. Account management capabilities are extensive and allow the participants to easily make changes to their accounts. The site offers account aggregation software that enables participants to monitor their total portfolios, making the site one stop for meeting participants’ financial needs.
• ICMA-RC’s Defined Contribution plan sponsor Web site, EZLink, offers numerous plan and individual account management capabilities with maximum usability. Attractive, well-designed introductory pages give detailed, yet concise descriptions of the content and features that are available in the site sections. The site offers access to an extensive variety of standard and customized report offerings for plan level monitoring. Pricing (current and historical) and performance data, as well as convenient customer fund profiles, enable sponsors to easily complete ongoing research on available investment options.

ICMA-RC is an independent not-for-profit firm focused on providing retirement plans and related services for over 800,000 state and local employees. Our emphasis is on providing the best services, investment options, tools and educational materials to help public employees build retirement security. The corporation, established in 1972, offers 457 deferred compensation and 401 defined contribution plans, as well as an IRA, and other retirement-related products exclusively to state and local government employees. For more information contact Milly Stanges, Vice President of Public Affairs at 202-682-5290 or e-mail mstanges@icmarc.org.