June 25, 2013

Honoring Alice M. Rivlin, recipient of the 2013 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance

The 2013 Robert M. Ball Award

Advance registration for this event has closed. A limited number of tickets are available for purchase on-site. Questions? Please contact Kristine Quinio at kquinio@nasi.org or at 202-243-7008.

The National Academy of Social Insurance is pleased to announce that Alice Mitchell Rivlin, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University, has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance.

Join NASI in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, June 25, 2013, to honor Alice Rivlin as one of the most distinguished and influential voices in policy dialogues on economic and fiscal issues that will shape the trajectory of social insurance. This annual award ceremony is attended by policy, research, advocacy, and business leaders who share a common passion for strengthening social insurance and reflecting on its important role in a vibrant economy and in providing economic security for all Americans.

Each year, the Robert M. Ball Award is presented to an individual whose recent work has made a significant impact on the U.S. social insurance system. Recipients of this award have demonstrated:

  • Innovation in changing, education about or otherwise furthering public understanding and informed policymaking in a specific area of social insurance; and
  • Effectiveness in deepening public understanding, fostering collaboration, informing policy, implementing policy, or teaching others about social insurance.

Previous winners of the Robert M. Ball Award:

About Robert M. Ball
No individual has done more to advance American social insurance programs than Robert M. Ball. From his early appointment in a field office to his selection as Commissioner of Social Security by President Kennedy in 1962, to advisory roles in each of the following presidential administrations, Bob Ball sought a balance between political pragmatism and his determination to protect the principles of social insurance. He was the single most influential individual in advancing American social insurance programs for over 60 years.

Bob Ball served as Commissioner of Social Security from 1962 to 1973. He also played a crucial role in the origin of Medicare in 1965, and then successfully carried out the ambitious task of implementing the program. Ball founded the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) in 1986 and continued to advise presidential administrations and policy-makers and to write on Social Security, Medicare, national health insurance and welfare until his death in January 2008 at the age of 93. Bob Ball’s greatest gift was his ability to persuade policymakers in countless contexts to put aside partisanship for the sake of posterity.