Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • LOGIN
  • Subscribe
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Consultants
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Face to Face
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Regulation
    • SECURE 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • Washington
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Influential Women in Institutional Investing 2023
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • ESG Investing | Industry Brief
    • Innovation in ESG Investing
    • 2023 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Divestment Database
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • The Plan Sponsor's Guide to Retirement Income
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • DC Plan Design: Improving Participant Outcomes
    • 2023 Defined Contribution East Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Research Center
    • The P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
  • Print
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. DEFINED BENEFIT
May 15, 2017 01:00 AM

Lillywhite winner spurred by course's dull textbook

Hazel Bradford
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Jennifer Bishop
    Olivia Mitchell wanted to improve education, research for retirement plans.

    A dull textbook on pensions started this year's Lillywhite Award winner, Olivia Mitchell, on her career as a retirement educator, researcher and thought leader.

    Ms. Mitchell on May 11 became the 24th recipient of the Employee Benefit Research Institute's Lillywhite Award, begun in 1992 to celebrate distinguished careers in the retirement and investment management fields and outstanding service that enhances Americans' economic security.

    The award is named after Ray Lillywhite, a pension pioneer who helped found numerous professional organizations and educational programs, and who retired from Alliance Capital in 1992 at age 80.

    Ms. Mitchell's academic roles at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School include professor of insurance and risk management; professor of business economics and public policy; and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor.

    But there are an impressive 23 more positions on her current resume, including executive director of Wharton's Pension Research Council, director of its Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and positions on numerous retirement research-related boards, in addition to a senior fellowship with EBRI.

    In her first teaching post at Cornell University in 1990, the course textbook “was so dull, it put me to sleep,” she said in an interview. “I thought we can do better than that.”

    She started by researching how pension plan sponsors designed plans to attract and retain workers, which led to many pension research projects.

    A global focus, prompted in part by living in eight countries, also led to her serving on Chile's pension reform commission and consulting for retirement systems in Japan and Germany, among other countries. “What's fascinating is to be able to compare and contrast how different countries approach” retirement savings, she said in an interview. “Every country has its own set of cultural expectations, regulatory norms and history.”

    “The big challenge now faced by all developed countries is with this very rapid population aging and low fertility rates, it's going to be impossible to retire at current ages. Retirement ages 70-plus are not that far away.”

    One of the biggest surprises in her career, she said, “has been how poorly funded defined benefit systems have turned out to be, with few exceptions.”

    The defined contribution system “really works much better for today's workforce,” she said.

    Ms. Mitchell played a key role on a 2001 bipartisan commission on Social Security, looking at ways to restore solvency and to allow private accounts, but the report's debut was overshadowed by the events of Sept. 11.

    She notes that the last time there was effective reform was 1983, three months before the Social Security trust fund ran out of cash. It is likely to take another cash crunch, now predicted by 2035, to get policymakers' attention, she said.

    “Every year you wait, the cut has to be bigger,” she said.

    Ms. Mitchell would like to see the federal MyRA program get more attention and participation. “To me it seems like the most brilliant way to get people to save.”

    In the last 10 years, Ms. Mitchell has branched out into financial literacy, which she notes with disappointment, “there's very little of around the world.” She helped develop financial literacy questions for the Program for International Student Assessment, a worldwide study that measures 15-year-olds' capacity in basic subjects that is now included in 120 countries' tests. “I believe you really do have to start, if not in the home, in the schools,” she said.

    Related Articles
    Interview: Olivia Mitchell discusses loans in DC plans, financial literacy
    Prudential Retirement picks new CEO to replace retiring Christine Marcks
    States to persist with secure choice
    Academics, economist share AQR research award
    P&I staff honored with business media awards
    LGIM's Morrissey gets royal recognition for diversity effort
    Nestle USA retirement investments leader to receive EBRI's Lillywhite Award
    Recommended for You
    R.I. treasurer seeks transparency laws for church plans
    R.I. treasurer seeks transparency laws for church plans
    Public pension funds adopt cost-sharing mechanisms to stem volatility
    Public pension funds adopt cost-sharing mechanisms to stem volatility
    Avery Dennison to terminate U.S. pension plan
    Avery Dennison to terminate U.S. pension plan
    Private Markets: A Thriving Space
    Sponsored Content: Private Markets: A Thriving Space
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    A Guide to Home Equity Investments: The Untapped Real Estate Asset Class
    Modernize your K-12 retirement plan with vendor consolidation
    Q4 2023 Credit Outlook: Price Is What You Pay, Value Is What You Get
    There's More Than One Way to Be a Climate Investor
    Exploring the Commercial Application of Artificial Intelligence
    Private Credit Insights: Every Problem Is an Opportunity in Disguise
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    October 23, 2023 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Custom Content
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Consultants
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Face to Face
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Regulation
      • SECURE 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • Washington
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Influential Women in Institutional Investing 2023
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • ESG Investing | Industry Brief
      • Innovation in ESG Investing
      • 2023 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
      • Divestment Database
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • The Plan Sponsor's Guide to Retirement Income
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • DC Plan Design: Improving Participant Outcomes
      • 2023 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Research Center
      • The P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
    • Print