COLUMBUS, Ohio—In a word, most people who know him would describe Jack Towarnicky, associate vp of benefits planning at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., as "intrepid."

He boldly goes where few benefit managers have gone before, and he doesn't back off until he gets what he came for.

Perhaps the best example of this is when he decided to take on the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year over a pension calculation issue involving cash balance plan conversions.

When Nationwide introduced its cash balance plan in 2002, it gave employees the option of either the new cash balance plan or the old plan, which was based on final average pay. But rather than making them choose which plan they preferred at the time, Nationwide said it would give employees the "greater of" either formula when they retired.

Even though U.S. Treasury Department rules issued in 2004 for transitioning to a cash balance plan had applied this "greater of" approach, in early 2007, the IRS indicated that such "greater of" structures might technically violate a rule known as "backloading." That is, even if both formulas individually met the tax code limits, when one formula overtakes the other, is may provide too much accrual in that year.

Mr. Towarnicky responded quickly to head off this potential threat to Nationwide's retirement plan. He gave the Columbus, Ohio-based insurer's Washington lobbyist the head's up and then spearheaded his own grass-roots lobbying effort involving Nationwide employees.

"Jack was really tuned in," said Bridget Hagan, associate vp of government relations for Nationwide in Washington.

She said she had just returned from maternity leave when she got the call from Mr. Towarnicky explaining that the IRS disallowing "greater of" formulas was problematic not only for Nationwide, but for similarly situated employers across the country.

"I was the shoe leather," she said, figuratively describing her lobbying efforts that included getting the ear of sympathetic lawmakers and working with other trade associations, such as the American Benefits Council, that might be helpful to the cause.

But it was Mr. Towarnicky's "call to action" that had the greater impact. He rallied thousands of Nationwide employees to call and write members of Congress and demand that they persuade the IRS to permit the "greater of" pension formulas to be used. In the end, the IRS largely gave in (see story, page 14).

This successful lobbying campaign, along with numerous other achievements has earned Mr. Towarnicky the title of Business Insurance 2008 Benefit Manager of the Year.

Throughout his 30-year career in employee benefits, Mr. Towarnicky has kept a close eye on legislative and regulatory developments coming out of Washington.

"Benefits have changed quite a bit, particularly starting in the late '70s," he said. "Congress got into the habit of passing a law almost every year."

"You had ERTA (Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981), then TEFRA (Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982) and DEFRA (the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984) and REACT (the Retirement Equity Act of 1984) and COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985)—all the alphabets."

"It just really changed the corporate employee benefits terrain," Mr. Towarnicky said. "It was obvious to me that a lot of the decisions about employee benefits were going to be made inside the Beltway," he said.

Mr. Towarnicky is also active in the American Benefits Council as both an employer and a vendor since he represents Nationwide on the Washington-based trade association's board.

Because he keeps abreast of legislative and regulatory changes in the employee benefits arena, Mr. Towarnicky has been able to implement new features as soon as they were legally permitted. For example, the company added a Roth component to its 401(k) plan the day the legislation allowing it took effect.

And even before the Pension Protection Act of 2006 became effective, Mr. Towarnicky was already laying plans to institute automatic 401(k) enrollment, not only for new employees, but also for current employees, to ensure that all 36,000 of Nationwide's employees will be financially prepared for retirement. The PPA removed certain roadblocks that made many employers reluctant to add such a feature to their 401(k) plans.

Mr. Towarnicky's plan called for automatic enrollment to be conducted annually, like open enrollment in other types of employee benefit plans, as a reminder to employees of their need to save for retirement. As a result, nearly 96% of Nationwide's employees are currently enrolled in the 401(k) plan, up from 74% previously. The program also calls for annual increases in employee contributions, beginning at 3% of pay initially, and growing by one percentage point each year to a maximum of 12% after new rules take effect in 2009 (see story, page 17).

To encourage employees to put away even more than the minimum 3%, Mr. Towarnicky initiated sweeping changes in the Nationwide 401(k) loan program to make it easier for employees to borrow from their account balances rather than withdraw the funds they will later need when they retire. Mr. Towarnicky believes that if employers make 401(k) funds more accessible via loans, and make repayment easier, that employees will save more for retirement than they might otherwise. In fact, Nationwide has placed a ban on hardship withdrawals entirely to encourage employees to borrow instead (see story, page 16).

Mr. Towarnicky also "recognizes that family structure has changed, work/life values have changed and that the health plan and savings plan rules are outdated and need to change to meet those needs," said Brad Klinck, senior vp at Aon Consulting in Somerset, N.J., who nominated Mr. Towarnicky for this year's Benefit Manager of the Year award.

It was this realization that led Mr. Towarnicky to persuade Nationwide to offer Household Members coverage back in 2000. The program provides other household members of Nationwide employees, such as their adult nonstudent children and domestic partners, access to affordable health insurance (see story, page 18).

Mr. Klinck said Mr. Towarnicky demonstrates tremendous foresight and pays close attention to what's important for Nationwide's employees. As a result, the Nationwide Benefits Planning team that Mr. Towarnicky leads is able to "look not only at the way things are and how to make them better, but also what needs to change, including laws, regulations, whatever."

Mr. Towarnicky, who calls himself a "practical dreamer," says he always has one eye continuously trained on the future so that he can make sure that Nationwide and its employees are prepared for what lies ahead because, as Nationwide's advertising slogan warns, "life comes at you fast."

"I have difficulty keeping up with Jack's prolific, creative benefits mind," said his boss, Stephen Keyes, vp of compensation, benefits and HR policy, in an interview after hearing of Mr. Towarnicky's latest achievement.

"His knowledge is encyclopedic in nature, not just about employee benefits or industry best practices, but also about what's coming down the pike from Congress and federal regulators," he said.

But while "he may be intimidating with his wealth of knowledge, he isn't in his approach or demeanor," Mr. Keyes said. "He's also beloved here at Nationwide."