Pension board honors two for church benefits work
1/22/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. By United Methodist News Service The
United Methodist pension and benefits agency has recognized two people
for their work in caring for the benefits needs of church employees.
Karen
J. Crutchfield of New Mexico has been named the 2002 Charles L. Calkins
Award winner, and Harry Piper of Michigan has been named recipient of
the Clay F. Lee Award. The United Methodist Board of Pension and Health
Benefits, with offices in Evanston, Ill., presents the awards each year.
Established
in 1988, the Calkins Award recognizes an annual conference pension and
health benefit administrator who has provided exceptional service in
administering pension and health benefits within the United Methodist
Church.
Crutchfield served on the New Mexico Annual Conference
Board of Pensions from 1984 to 2000. She became the vice chairperson in
1988 and the chairperson in 1990. She worked successfully for the merger
of the conference board of pensions with the conference insurance
commission, and she returned in 2001 to serve as chairperson of the
newly constituted conference board of pensions and health benefits.
A
longtime advocate for pension and health insurance issues, she was
instrumental in helping the New Mexico Conference fund, in full, its
pre-1982 pension liabilities. She worked for consistent increases in the
conference's annuity rate, and she raised the conference's awareness of
the importance of funding retiree medical expenses.
"To me,
Karen has been most impressive in creating and nurturing her own board
members and keeping them informed on important benefit issues," said
Woody Bedell, chief strategic relations officer of the churchwide board
in Evanston. "Because of Karen, the New Mexico Board of Pensions and
Health Benefits is one of the most informed and dedicated boards
throughout the entire church."
The Clay F. Lee Award, established
in 1999, recognizes former directors of the Board of Pension and Health
Benefits for exemplary service.
Piper, of the Detroit Annual
Conference, served as a full member of the board from 1988 to 1996 and
continued until 2000 as an at-large member of the board's
Asset/Liability Committee. During his tenure, he served on a variety of
committees, including the Investment Committee, the Disability
Committee, the Rules and Regulations Committee and the Subcommittee on
Actuarial Matters.
In announcing the award, the general board
noted that Piper held the agency to the highest business standards, was
sensitive to the needs and the concerns of the entire denomination and
always kept the details of pension and benefit work in view.
Barbara A. Boigegrain, top staff executive, praised Piper's "capacity to balance strategy and detail."
"He
is an informed visionary, yet he never forgets about the details," she
said. "He has a passion for serving the participant, yet he also has
unique clarity about our fiduciary responsibility. He is dedicated to
the Social Principles that drive our investing. And he understands the
need for us to be a bellwether for the church - to think about the
future, learn together and communicate clearly."
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