Once again, PLANSPONSOR asked defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors representing employers of all sizes from across the United States: “How satisfied are you with your provider?”

More than 5,200 responses, ranging from “micro” plans with less than $5 million in assets to “mega” plans with more than $1 billion in assets, were received and tabulated. From these, 14 companies stood above the rest in PLANSPONSOR’s annual Defined Contribution Survey for accumulating the greatest number of Best in Class Awards in the survey’s six main asset classes.

Six service providers received top “Gold” awards. They include: BMO Retirement Services, Correll Co.; Great-West Retirement Services, now Empower; MBM Advisors, Inc.; Milliman Inc.; and Transamerica Retirement Solutions. Twelve achieved “Silver” or “Bronze” status in the annual rankings, including BB&T; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Correll Co.; MassMutual Financial Group; MBM Advisors Inc.; Milliman Inc.; Putnam (now Empower); Securian Financial Group; The Newport Group; T. Rowe Price; TIAA-CREF; and Transamerica Retirement Solutions.

PLANSPONSOR is the nation’s leading source of retirement plan information for employers.

The survey results—and rankings of 35 providers by their plan sponsor clients—were profiled in the November 2014 issue of PLANSPONSOR magazine and online at http://www.plansponsor.com/2014_Defined_Contribution_Survey.aspx.

The winners will be honored at the PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence dinner in New York City on March 31 at Pier 60 of the Chelsea Piers in New York City.

”We created the Awards for Excellence dinner to recognize not only the standouts in the DC provider community, but we also honor plan sponsors, advisers and investment managers that demonstrated exceptional performance in 2014,” says Alison Cooke Mintzer, Editor-in-Chief of PLANSPONSOR and PLANADVISER. She explained that providers are awarded “Best in Class” status based on top-quartile performance in five designations defined by plan size. Providers who won the most “cups” in each asset category were designated this year as Gold, Silver or Bronze winners.

The top providers in each asset category were:

About the PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence:

The PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence is the annual networking event to celebrate the accomplishments of the best of the best in the retirement plan industry. Each year, the nation’s leading retirement plan sponsors and advisers, as well as the top product, investment and service providers are honored at this exclusive gathering, hosted at the beautiful Pier 60 in the Chelsea Pier complex, overlooking the Hudson River. This year’s event will take place on March 31. For more information about the dinner and list of winners, visit  http://www.plansponsor.com/event/PSPAAwards2015/.

To learn more about sponsorship or securing a table at the dinner, please contact: Mike Garity at 617-943-9661 or mgarity@assetinternational.com.

About PLANSPONSOR:

PLANSPONSOR, an Asset International brand, is the most respected provider of information and research to America’s retirement plan sponsors and the industry that serves this large constituency. Through its award-winning magazine, website, e-newsletters and events, PLANSPONSOR reaches 100% of the top 1,000 investment pension plans in America with combined assets of $7 trillion, as well as all key decisionmakers in the defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) market. For more information, visit www.plansponsor.com

About Asset International:
Asset International is a privately held provider of information and technology to global pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers and other financial institutions in the private and public sector. Its industry-leading brands include Strategic Insight, SIMFUND, PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, CIO, Global Custodian, The Trade and Plan for Life. The company was acquired in June 2014 by GenStar Capital and has offices in New York City; Boston; Hong Kong; London; Melbourne, Australia; and Stamford, Cconnecticut. For more information, visit www.assetinternational.com.