Members of the ARCRA Executive Committee, Michael Carroll, Dave Therkelsen, Jim Hamilton and Jack Campbell and ARCRA Administrator Christie Phillips met on January 24 with Red Cross President/CEO Gail McGovern; CFO Brian Rhoa; Chief Human Resources Officer, Melissa Hurst; VP, Total Rewards and Policy, Mike Nichols; Director, Benefits and Retirement Programs, Gary Stradiotto; and others from the Benefits section. We’ll be sharing what we learned about plans to keep the Retirement System strong in eNewsletters and The Retiree in the coming months.

President/CEO Gail McGovern briefed ARCRA on current Red Cross activities including a number of unique and challenging disasters. Her description of the hardships caused by the wildfire in Paradise, CA and the complexities of the relief operation were particularly compelling. She also reaffirmed Red Cross’s firm commitment to keeping the pension fund sound noting that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires the organization to do so. The ARCRA team briefed Gail on ARCRA activities and conveyed that in addition to our top priority of representing retirees, we have a strong commitment to keeping our members up to date on Red Cross activities, and encouraging them to volunteer, donate blood and contribute financially.

In ARCRA meetings with the Benefits Team, we identified a number of opportunities for Red Cross to assist membership efforts by getting ARCRA information in front of Red Cross employees who may have begun thinking about retirement including those whose eventual benefit will come from the Savings Plan or in an optional lump-sum pay-out. Each team has some follow-up work; we’ll keep our membership posted on developments.

ARCRA came away from this meeting feeling like our Red Cross leaders were candid and conveyed genuine interest in retirees and ARCRA, the organization that represents them. More to come.