CIEBA Board Appoints New Executive Director, Dennis Simmons

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets (CIEBA) announced today that Dennis Simmons has been appointed by the CIEBA Board as their new Executive Director. Mr. Simmons joins CIEBA with over 20 years of government policy, legal and plan administration experience working with all types of employee benefit plan sponsor clients, most recently at Vanguard, the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based mutual fund provider.

"The CIEBA Board is very excited to have Dennis join us at such an important time in CIEBA's history," said Andrew T. Ward, CIEBA's Chair. "CIEBA has a growing membership of plan fiduciaries who oversee over $2 trillion on behalf of 15 million hard-working retirement plan participants. CIEBA's voice will be critical as important fiduciary and tax changes are being considered by the new Administration. Dennis' advocacy experience will help CIEBA maintain a strong presence as new public policies directly impacting plan fiduciaries and their participants are contemplated."

Mr. Ward also noted that "CIEBA member firms put a huge value on the ability to tap into a tremendous network of fellow plan investment fiduciaries and experts to help them serve the retirement needs of their plan participants. Dennis' decades of experience working with all types of plan sponsor companies will be a valuable resource in helping CIEBA members navigate the complex set of issues and challenges they face."

"I'm excited to help CIEBA continue to bring the voice of the fiduciary to the table during these important times," Mr. Simmons said. "I'm also excited to help CIEBA's members meet their obligations to plan participants. CIEBA's membership is a tremendous group of extremely dedicated professionals who are each day fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities. The members have so much to share on important issues with policymakers and with other CIEBA members."

Mr. Simmons will succeed Ray Kanner, the former CIO at IBM who has been serving as Acting Executive Director. "CIEBA's growth under Ray and the important contributions he has made are so appreciated by the CIEBA Board," Mr. Ward said. "We thank Ray for all of his contributions."

"We'd encourage anyone who works with benefit plan investments to consider joining up with CIEBA to take advantage of the world-class network of investment fiduciary plan sponsors," Mr. Simmons said. "We'd be glad to talk to anyone who is interested in discussing our mission and values for strengthening the private sector retirement system and enhancing retirement plan investment management effectiveness."

Mr. Simmons can be reached at [email protected].

Press Inquiries

Please contact: Aaron Marks, CIEBA Public Policy Coordinator, at: [email protected] or 202-861-6634

About CIEBA:

CIEBA members are the chief investment officers of more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies who individually manage and administer Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)-governed corporate retirement plan assets. CIEBA members voluntarily sponsor plans and manage almost $2 trillion of retirement assets on behalf of 15 million participants, representing a very significant portion of the largest private defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans in the US.

As the largest organization of corporate pension investment officers, CIEBA represents the interests of employee benefit plan sponsors before legislators, Congress, regulators, and the media. Since 1985, CIEBA has provided a nationally recognized forum and voice for corporate pension plan sponsors on investment and fiduciary issues.

SOURCE Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets