For devoting their careers to preserving, protecting and enhancing retirement security and health benefits, longtime employee benefits industry leaders Phyllis Borzi, Mark Iwry and David Kasiarz (posthumously) were recognized at a reception in Washington D.C. on Dec. 4 with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
“This award embodies EBRI’s mission of promoting sound employee benefit design and policy based on independent and objective research and education. There could be no better fitting recipients this year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, better known as ERISA,” said Barb Marder, president & CEO, EBRI. “The very principles that ERISA was founded—on security, fairness and trust—are the essence of their respective career journeys. These values are the lifeblood of a strong American workforce and U.S. economy.” Here’s more about the trio of honorees.
Phyllis Borzi
From 2009 to 2017, Borzi was the Obama administration’s Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the United States Department of Labor, in charge of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
“Phyllis Borzi is an iconic trailblazer as a fierce advocate for workers, retirees and their families. Throughout her career, Phyllis has worked tirelessly to ensure that workers and their beneficiaries have access to the benefits and protections they deserve,” Marder said.
“My deep thanks to EBRI for this award. I am so honored and humbled to receive it. From its inception, EBRI has been a critical source of data to assist members of the employee benefits community to meet the challenges of providing workers and their families with a secure retirement and an affordable and quality healthcare system,” said Borzi. “As the world of employee benefits continues to expand and evolve, EBRI provides the public with critical tools for plan sponsors, policymakers and others in the benefits community. In each phase of my career, in the private and public sectors, I have looked to EBRI as an objective and valuable resource, so it is particularly meaningful for me to be recognized through this special award.”
Prior to leading EBSA during the Obama Administration, Borzi’s government service included a long stint on Capitol Hill. From 1979 to 1995, she was pension and employee benefit counsel for the House Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations, and later served on the advisory board of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). She went on to serve as a research professor in the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University Medical Center’s School of Public Health, and was later of counsel with the Washington, D.C. law firm O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue LLP.
Mark Iwry
Iwry served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury from 2009 to 2017 and served concurrently as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Retirement and Health Policy. He currently is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“As the driving force behind auto features and countless other savings reforms, Mark Iwry’s vision has revolutionized how the industry approaches retirement savings.”
EBRI’s Barb Marder
“As the driving force behind auto features and countless other savings reforms, Mark Iwry’s vision has revolutionized how the industry approaches retirement savings. Mark’s expertise, intellect and sincerity have made him a pillar of retirement security policy,” Marder said.
“It is an honor to receive this recognition from EBRI which contributes so importantly to maintaining and supporting our nation’s private pension and health care systems,” Iwry said. “We know we have much more to do: preserving and building on the Affordable Care Act to further reform and improve health care in America; dramatically expanding retirement coverage and inclusiveness; and making our retirement and saving system far more fair and protective of the most vulnerable among us, with secure, adequate and portable lifetime benefits.”
Iwry previously was a co-founder and principal of the Retirement Security Project (2003-09), research professor at Georgetown University, and the Treasury Department’s Benefits Tax Counsel (1995-2001). He also was a partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling and Of Counsel to the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, providing advice and assistance to major corporations, financial institutions, trade associations, small businesses, and non-profits.
He has testified before Congress on 27 occasions, and provided policy and legislative advice to numerous federal and state legislators (Democrats and Republicans) and five Presidential campaigns.
David Kasiarz
Kasiarz served as Executive Vice President, Colleague Total Rewards and Well-being at American Express with incredible commitment and compassion for over 15 years, from 2008 until his passing in August 2023. Prior to American Express, Kasiarz spent 18 years at Pepsico in numerous HR leadership roles across the company.
“David Kasiarz touched the lives of so many and set the standard for compassionate leadership over the course of his life and career,” Marder said. “Advocacy for others was at the core of everything he did, and he left a lasting impact through his support of employees and their families around the world with innovative and best-in-class benefits, his highly valued and trusted counsel within our industry, providing keen insight and valuable guidance to us all, and finally through his inspiring work with a number of charitable organizations.”
Monique Herena, chief colleague experience officer at American Express, said Kasiarz was an amazingly talented Compensation and Benefits executive and a compassionate colleague advocate who cared deeply about doing what was right for everyone in the organization.
“David’s impact on our company and our colleagues has been immeasurable,” Herena said. “He was always looking for ways to improve the colleague experience for the benefit of all. Through his outstanding and values-based leadership, David built a strong culture of health and well-being that supports our colleagues and their loved ones through every stage of their career and life in all aspects of physical, financial and mental well-being. The EBRI Lifetime achievement award is a meaningful way to honor David’s remarkable legacy.”
The annual EBRI Lifetime Achievement Award is the successor to the EBRI Ray Lillywhite Award, which previously honored leaders in the employee benefits community, including U.S. Senators Rob Portman and Ben Cardin and Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, Professor Emeritus at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
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