Great-West Lifeco subsidiary Empower, one of the nation's largest retirement plan providers, has been selected by the American Cancer Society to administer its retirement plans. The contract places one of America's most recognized nonprofits inside a recordkeeper pushing hard into the tax-exempt sector.
The American Cancer Society, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, employs approximately 7,000 people. Its retirement program now administered by Empower covers a 403(b) and a 401(k) defined contribution plan, both with a guaranteed income fund, plus 457(b) and 457(f) nonqualified deferred compensation plans. The contract began May 1 and covers roughly $475 million in assets under administration.
The plan structure is worth noting for benefits brokers with nonprofit clients. Large tax-exempt employers often run qualified and nonqualified plans side by side because nonprofit executives cannot use the broad-based nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements available to their for-profit counterparts. A 457(b) allows highly compensated nonprofit employees to defer additional dollars above their 403(b) or 401(k) cap.
A 457(f) goes further. It is an employer-funded arrangement used to retain key executives, with compensation deferred until a substantial risk of forfeiture lapses. The result is a multi-plan structure that requires an administrator to manage meaningfully different tax treatments, vesting schedules, and distribution rules across the same employee population. That complexity comes at a cost to participants: more than 10 million Americans in 403(b) plans pay higher investment fees than workers in comparable 401(k) plans, a fact that a coalition of 30 industry executives flagged to the Senate Banking Committee in July 2026 in a push to close the gap.
Empower is expanding aggressively in that segment. The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based recordkeeper now administers more than $2 trillion in assets across more than 20 million individuals. Its 2025 workplace business generated $23 billion in net plan flows, according to Great-West Lifeco's record 2025 earnings release.
In June 2026, Empower announced a $340 million agreement to acquire Milliman's retirement and benefits administration business. The deal adds health and welfare administration capabilities alongside defined benefit and defined contribution plans. That combination broadens Empower's pitch to complex employers like nonprofits that manage multiple plan types at once.
For brokers, the market signal here is about consolidation at the plan administration level. Large nonprofits that have historically managed retirement and benefits through separate providers are now viable targets for integrated platform providers. Empower's chief executive Edmund F. Murphy III described the firm's strategy in its Q1 2026 earnings release as focused on delivering solutions across retirement, wealth management, and healthcare benefits.
A recordkeeper capable of handling 403(b), 401(k), 457(b), 457(f), defined benefit, and health and welfare plans from a single platform changes the RFP conversation. It shifts the question from which provider handles which plan to whether a plan sponsor wants a single integrated relationship at all. For brokers advising nonprofit plan sponsors, that shift arrives alongside rising fiduciary scrutiny: class-action litigation against employer plan sponsors is on the rise, and ERISA requirements now extend beyond retirement plans to medical and pharmacy arrangements.
The American Cancer Society win also carries a market signal about nonprofit brand alignment. The Society is one of the most widely recognized charitable organizations in the US. Competitors will note the contract.
