National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems

The Voice for Public Pensions

Print Page

Blog

Recognizing Leadership and Innovation in Public Pension Communication: NCPERS 2024 Award Winners Revealed

The National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) proudly announced the winners of the Public Pension Communicator of the Year Awards yesterday during the 2025 Pension Communications Summit. 
The National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) proudly announced the winners of the Public Pension Communicator of the Year Awards yesterday during the 2025 Pension Communications Summit.
Media Contact: Lizzy Lees (llees@ncpers.org)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) proudly announced the winners of the Public Pension Communicator of the Year Awards yesterday during the 2025 Pension Communications Summit. These prestigious awards honor exceptional professionals who have demonstrated innovative leadership, creativity, and measurable impact in their communication efforts, fostering trust and engagement across their organizations.

“Clear and effective communication is the cornerstone of building and maintaining stakeholder trust,” said Hank Kim, NCPERS Executive Director and Counsel. “These award recipients have exemplified this principle by implementing innovative strategies that enhance transparency and member engagement. We are proud to honor their achievements and the impact they have made in the public pension sector.”

Judges evaluated nominees using scoring criteria to select three winners in categories based on funds' assets under management (AUM) and one winner in the new Rising Star category—created to recognize individuals who have been at their organization for five years or less and have demonstrated exceptional potential and growth.

The 2024 Public Pension Communicator of the Year Award recipients are as follows:

Less than $10 Billion AUM Category: Mehrin Rahman, Communications Director, City of Austin Employees' Retirement System (COAERS)
Mehrin has more than a decade of experience in public sector communications and has led transformative initiatives since joining COAERS in 2020. Her efforts include launching a financial wellness program, spearheading a successful rebrand, and redesigning the fund's website. These initiatives have significantly enhanced member education and engagement. An active participant in NCPERS' Communications Roundtable and a 2025 Pension Communications Summit program director, Mehrin is a trusted advisor to her peers and colleagues.
 
$10-50 Billion AUM Category: Candy Albers Smith, Chief Communications Officer, Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS)
Candy has been with MOSERS since 2006 and currently leads an award-winning team that designs, produces, and distributes MOSERS' websites, produces print and electronic communications, and delivers 100+ member education events each year. In FY2024, she oversaw the Department of Corrections (DOC) Member Outreach initiative, achieving a 25% increase in DOC member participation in educational events. Her team's interactive campaign for MOSERS Month, themed The Wonderful World of Retirement, was designed to encourage members to view their Annual Benefit Statement and resulted in a 24% increase in engagement compared to the year prior.
 
Greater than $50 Billion AUM Category: Jonathan Yost, Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist, Oregon Public Employees Retirement System
With more than 18 years of PR and communications experience, Jonathan has brought a data-driven and innovative approach to Oregon PERS' content and engagement strategies. His key achievements include the redesign of the agency's flagship publication, PERS by the Numbers, the development of the agency's first Popular Annual Financial Report, and a campaign that increased new topic email subscriptions by 32.2% in 2024 alone. Active in the field outside of PERS, Jonathan has spoken at several industry events, currently serves as the professional development director at PRSA Oregon, teaches a public relations course at George Washington University, and served as a program director for NCPERS 2025 Pension Communications Summit.
 
Rising Star Category: Mary-Joy Coburn, Director of Communications, Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS)
In less than two years, Mary-Joy Coburn has transformed OCERS' communication strategy, ensuring clarity, engagement, and transparency for its diverse stakeholders. She has revamped OCERS' digital presence by modernizing the website, optimizing social media engagement, and redesigning the OCERS by the Numbers and At Your Service Newsletter, making them more visually appealing, digitally accessible and timely for members. Her innovative outreach, including webinars and dynamic video content, has simplified complex retirement topics to make them approachable for all audiences.
 
NCPERS would like to thank the judges for their time and efforts in selecting this year's winners: Michelle Holleman, Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations, Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund; Patrick von Keyserling, Senior Director of Communications, Colorado PERA; Taneda Larios, Chief Benefits Analyst, Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System; and Alison Taylor-Thévenin, Deputy Director, Member Communications, New York City Board of Education Retirement System.

About NCPERS
Established in 1941, the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) is the largest trade association working on behalf of public sector retirement systems. Organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a diverse membership that includes 500 plans, plan sponsors, and stakeholders who collectively oversee approximately $6 trillion in retirement funds, NCPERS works to protect and expand pension access through essential education, innovative research, and unwavering advocacy. From the largest statewide systems to the smallest local funds, NCPERS members make possible the work to safeguard the retirement security of more than 20 million teachers, police, firefighters, and other public servants.
 
# # #

Comments

There have been no comments made on this article. Why not be the first and add your own comment using the form below.

Leave a comment

Please complete the form below to submit a comment on this article. A valid email address is required to submit a comment though it will not be displayed on the site.

HTML has been disabled but if you wish to add any hyperlinks or text formatting you can use any of the following codes: [B]bold text[/B], [I]italic text[/I], [U]underlined text[/U], [S]strike through text[/S], [URL]http://www.yourlink.com[/URL], [URL=http//www.yourlink.com]your text[/URL]

Contributors