2013 Award Recipients

Randy DeFrehn
NCCMP

Randy is executive director of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), which was founded to correct lawmakers’ misunderstandings of multiemployer plans as demonstrated by the enactment of ERISA. In almost 40 years of experience working with multiemployer plans, Randy has served as an administrator of national pension and health benefit plans in the U.S. and Canada and as their leading advocate on matters of public policy. Under his leadership, the NCCMP has been instrumental in communicating with Congress and the regulatory agencies of jurisdiction the multiemployer perspectives for every significant piece of legislation affecting working people.

Hank Kim
NCPERS

Hank is executive director and counsel for the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), the largest public trade association in the United States. As a strong advocate for defined-benefit pensions, Hank has proposed the concept of Secure Choice Pensions, a supervisory structure on the state level including elected officials, employees and employers. The concept is already at work in three states. Prior to joining NCPERS, Hank served for six years as a governmental affairs representative for an international public-sector union, working on benefits, appropriations, homeland security, and healthcare issues.

Ken Georgetti
Canadian Labour Congress

Ken is president of the Canadian Labour Congress. His career has taken him from pipefitter to prominent advocate for working people throughout Canada and North America. Under his leadership, the CLC’s membership has grown by 750,000 new union members to represent 3.3 million workers. He was awarded the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada. Ken is a modern labor leader who strongly advocates for working people and their families. He helped establish the Working Opportunity Fund, British Columbia’s labour-sponsored venture capital investment fund, which invests in high-tech, pharmaceutical, advanced manufacturing and other start-up businesses.

Chuck Mack
Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust

Chuck is co-chair of the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust, which has a remarkable record of sound management in an era of extreme volatility. He attributes the Trust’s success to his staff’s hard work and diversity of investments. He believes defined-benefit pension plans are an essential component of the American Dream, and maintaining them is the responsibility of employees and employers. Over the years, Chuck negotiated contracts at both the national and local levels.  He served on the National Master Freight and Negotiating Committee and the United Parcel Service National Committee.