Tucked away in a secure area of the North American Division headquarters, the Adventist Retirement team is hard at work. More than crunching numbers, they are constantly looking for innovative ways to help 74,000 participants — current and former employees of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America — retire with confidence and peace of mind. 

In recent years, their efforts have made waves on the world stage. 

In 2024, Adventist Retirement earned four internationally recognized honors, including a Viddy Award, an Eddy Award, and two Gold MarCom Awards, recognizing excellence in retirement planning and financial wellness communication. Notably, they were evaluated among thousands of companies and awarded alongside major organizations, including J.P. Morgan, UPS, and IBM.

It All Began with a Superhero

When Wirmin Alcantara, associate administrator for Adventist Retirement’s defined contribution (DC) plan, began exploring innovative ways to engage participants, he was inspired by Marvel’s Captain America. His team easily bought into the superhero concept as a promotional tool, and “Captain Retirement” was born. 

“Every time you get an email from Empower, there’s a call-out from Captain Retirement,” said Alcantara. These call-outs include video, printed flyers, and marketing campaigns. 

Alcantara also credited Captain Retirement as the catalyst for further creativity. “The crazy idea of having a superhero for the Adventist Retirement plan triggered all this success.”

Adventist Retirement was honored in the following categories, based on the strength of its defined contribution plan* and out-of-the-box delivery methods. 

Viddy Award: Gold winner for video campaign promoting financial wellness. This video featured a dozen individuals of diverse backgrounds and ages from across the NAD sharing their top financial priorities. The Viddy awards, “honor[ing] video excellence in a digital world,” are selected by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP).

Eddy Award: Second place from Pensions & Investments, a leading international money management publication, for innovation in defined contribution plan participant education. Adventist Retirement earned this honor for its Captain Retirement theme.

Gold MarCom Awards: One for creative initiative and another for financial wellness communication. The latter awarded their out-of-the-box campaign promoting the increase of the auto-escalation cap from 7 to 15 percent. This increase is not obligatory but was designed to facilitate higher retirement contributions over time. “The employee is always in control,” Alcantara asserted. 

While Adventist Retirement is nominated annually by Empower, their recordkeeper, their only previous win came in 2018 with a single MarCom Award. 

“This year was special,” said Alcantara, “because we not only won two gold awards from MarCom but also an Eddy Award and a Viddy Award for the first time ever. It goes to show that the campaigns and initiatives put in place last year were recognized by multiple award-ranking agencies in the industry.”

Beyond the Numbers: Adventist Retirement

The Adventist Retirement team's work holds meaning far beyond the numbers. Every communications campaign, board meeting, and financial decision is driven by a mission to serve God and their participants with excellence and is seen as a witnessing opportunity. 

Their ministry orientation underpins even routine vendor meetings. “We pray for and with all our business partners,” shared Alcantara. “They already know and expect prayer to begin the meeting.” He recalled an instance in which a vice president from a global investment firm — and a practicing Catholic — emailed ahead of a meeting, asking if he could offer the opening prayer. They happily obliged. 

“We incorporate prayer and witnessing into [all] our business dealings. Not only do they respect it, but if they can't practice that at their workplaces, it’s refreshing for those who claim to be Christian to do business with us,” said Alcantara. 

At a recent, two-day board meeting, Adventist Retirement started each day with worship and invited financial and legal advisors of other Christian denominations to lead the devotional.

“We are witnessing to vendors out there,” said Andrew Choi, associate administrator/CFO. “They know we start with worship, and they share their faith and Christian journey with us when they work with us. I [think] that’s pretty neat.” 

Outside of their NAD roles, Alcantara, Choi, and Romero — all pastors’ kids — regularly preach and engage in ministry. Alcantara, who holds graduate degrees in finance and theology, previously served as a conference treasurer and a local church pastor. “Ministry for us goes beyond the bottom line,” he said. “And it’s done from the pulpit as well.”

Looking ahead, Adventist Retirement plans to build on the Captain Retirement theme and continue promoting financial wellness through the complimentary Certified Financial Planners program and other participant-focused initiatives.

“Our orientation is to always have the financial well-being of all of our participants at heart,” Alcantara concluded. “Anything and everything we do is geared to their convenience. That's our drive. That’s our motivation. That’s our satisfaction.”

*Click here to learn more about Adventist Retirement’s defined contribution plan.