Oklahoma City Community College

Oklahoma City Weather

403(b) Plan

September 15, 2008

This evening the Board of Regents approved the new 403(b) Plan for Employees of Oklahoma City Community College, effective January 1, 2009. As I indicated in my September 9, 2008, email, the College selected ING Financial Partners to be the single remitter and master record keeper of the College's plan. This approach will provide a cohesive service and educational platform for College employees.

Employees will have a lot of choice. The plan includes 25 different funds in which to invest. Many of those funds are not ING funds as the Investment Committee selected funds that are among "best in class". The primary fund lineup will be monitored by Gallagher Retirement Services and the Investment Committee for performance and fees. Please attend the education sessions and individual retirement planning sessions to get the information you need.

ING will be able to assist in the transfer from your current plan if you decide to transfer those funds. The ING representative will also help you analyze to determine whether you are better off leaving your current funds where they are or to transfer them to the new plan.

The employee education sessions will begin this Friday, September 19, 2008, and continue throughout September and much of October. In addition to hearing about ING and investment basics in these sessions, each employee will schedule an individual meeting with an educational advisor from ING. The educational sessions and individual appointments will be scheduled during day, evening and Saturday hours. Spouses are welcome to attend. Please watch for the schedule which will be distributed this week.

While the new investment options offered under the new 403(b) plan do not "guarantee" a specific investment return, the College believes that its retirement plan has been greatly improved by the completion of this process.

September 9, 2008

Around this time last year, Oklahoma City Community College began to address the issues involved with revising its 403(b) plan to comply with new IRS regulations. Since that first notification, much work has been done to develop a new OCCC plan that complies with the new regulations and offers an improved retirement savings vehicle for employees. You may recall, the College's benefits consultant, Gallagher Benefit Services, sent out a Request for Information (RFI) to all 56 of our current 403(b) vendors, plus some additional vendors. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was then sent to those vendors who met the RFI requirements. Many of our current 403(b) vendors chose not to participate. Those RFP responses which we received have been analyzed by Gallagher and the College Investment Committee.

As the Investment Committee began the process, we anticipated greatly reducing the number of vendors available under the plan to only a few. After considerable evaluation and deliberation, the Investment Committee unanimously determined the best option is to have a single provider who offers a robust and diversified mutual fund lineup in a variety of asset class funds and has a consistent education and communication platform to best serve our employees.

It is anticipated that ING will serve as the single vendor and will also serve as the master record keeper for the new 403(b) plan. ING is one of the largest financial services organizations in the United States. It has the flexibility to make available to employees not only ING funds but also a wide selection of non-ING investment funds. The Investment Committee was also careful to select a vendor who is able to address the needs of employees at all investment education levels, from novice to the most experienced investor. Employees will be able to tailor their investment strategies toward meeting their own goals within their own risk tolerance.

Last night, the Board of Regents met as Committee of the Whole and discussed the 403(b) plan recommendations as well as the plan document. Next Monday evening, the Board of Regents will consider approval of the new 403(b) plan. If the 403(b) plan is approved, employee education sessions will begin on Friday, September 19, 2008, and continue throughout September and much of October. In addition to hearing about ING and investment basics in these sessions, employees will schedule an individual meeting with an educational advisor from ING. The educational sessions and individual appointments will be scheduled during day, evening and Saturday hours. The schedule for the sessions will be distributed next week, after the Board meeting.

The Oklahoma City Community College Benefit Plans Investment Committee members are:

John Boyd, Associate Vice President for Community Development
Paul Buckelew, Professor of Mathematics
Jo Ann Cobble, Dean, Division of Health Professions
Mark Davis, Vice President for Business & Finance
Cynthia Gary, Purchasing and Finance Analyst
Nancy Gerrity, General Counsel
Stu Harvey, Executive Director of Planning
Sue Hinton, Professor of Journalism/English
Gary Lombard, Vice President for Human Resources and Support Services and committee chair
Carolyn Rouillard, Sr. Human Resources Specialist
Rhonda Simpson, Human Resources Specialist

If you have questions, please contact Carolyn Rouillard (ext. 7540), Rhonda Simpson (ext. 7823), or me (ext. 7810).

Gary A. Lombard, Vice President for Human Resources and Support Services

403(b) Overview

403(b) FAQ's