Clearly, 2020 was unlike any other year in recent history, marked by unimaginable loss and sorrow along with devastating economic uncertainty for so many Americans. However, as the coronavirus vaccines are being delivered across the country and the economy slowly recovers, a sense of optimism is emerging with the hope that we are finally turning the corner.
As I’ve often said during the past year, we all have been continually inspired by the unwavering commitment of the hundreds of thousands of individuals tirelessly working on the front lines during the pandemic, particularly those in the social welfare and health and human services sectors. Once again, on behalf of everyone at Mutual of America, I want to thank them and our thousands of clients, colleagues and friends, from both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, for making such a powerful impact during this difficult time.
Despite this unprecedented and challenging environment, 2020 was a milestone year for Mutual of America Financial Group. We celebrated our 75th anniversary and 25 years at our 320 Park Avenue headquarters, as well as the 25th anniversary of our Community Partnership Award, which recognizes the vital work nonprofits are accomplishing to improve lives across the country.
In last year’s letter, I talked about our significant ongoing investment in new technologies and processes to further strengthen our position as one of the country’s leading retirement services and investment providers. At the time, we could not have imagined just how important such investments would become, especially as we pivoted over 1,000 employees to working remotely within just a few weeks after the pandemic hit and pressed forward with new technologies.
As we move forward in 2021, we will be fearless in pursuing new and creative ways to deliver the retirement services and investment expertise individuals need to build greater financial security—not just to meet today’s challenges, but for decades to come.
This includes the pending implementation of our significantly enhanced, state-of-the-art, cloud-based retirement services administration and recordkeeping system. The leading-edge technology embedded in this new system will enable us to launch our new trustee services group product platform, which will significantly expand the number of retail mutual fund choices for plan sponsors and accommodate much greater flexibility and customization of such fund choices and other plan design features. Our recordkeeping system will also support enhanced employee engagement services. These new technologies will facilitate our evolution to a centralized service model, with improved workflows, to further strengthen our premier customer service nationwide. Taken together, these transformative changes will deepen our ability to provide high-tech, high-touch and high-value services and solutions that will continue to set us apart in an increasingly competitive environment.
While the COVID-19 pandemic physically separated us during most of 2020, I am extremely proud of the many ways we stayed connected with our clients through numerous virtual meetings and presentations, by phone and, when safe to do so, in person. I am also pleased by how we remained unified in our commitment to be the premier retirement and investment experts our clients need and deserve. The extremely challenging work environment we experienced during 2020 and continuing this year has also reminded us that our strength as an organization comes from our high level of employee interaction, collaboration and innovation, both with our clients and among ourselves, and from the special Mutual of America culture of caring, giving back and making a difference in the communities where we live and work that has been so integral to our success.
As such, the post-pandemic work environment will most certainly be a “hybrid” one, in which a much greater percentage of our employees will work remotely for a portion of the work week than had been the case in the past. In a world where we can work, interact, collaborate and innovate, both in person and remotely from virtually anywhere, the opportunities to further expand, enhance and deepen client relationships are unlimited.
As we move forward in 2021, we will be fearless in pursuing new and creative ways to deliver the retirement services and investment expertise individuals need to build greater financial security—not just to meet today’s challenges, but for decades to come.
To all our employees, clients and friends, thank you for the dedication, selflessness, “can-do spirit” and unwavering support you’ve shown each other. Please stay healthy and safe.
John R. Greed
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Mutual of America Financial Group