About the Robert M. Ball Award
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.
The award honors Robert M. Ball, who served as Commissioner of Social Security from 1962 to 1973, and was an important participant in every Social Security development of the past 60 years. As the Founding Chair of the National Academy of Social Insurance (the Academy), he continued to serve as an unofficial advisor to many policymakers while also writing and advising on Social Security, Medicare, national health insurance, and welfare.
The Award was created in June 2003 at the celebration of Bob Ball’s 90th birthday.
Selection Criteria:
- Innovation in changing, educating about or otherwise furthering public understanding and informed policy-making in a specific area of social insurance
- Effectiveness in deepening public understanding, fostering collaboration, informing policy, implementing policy, or teaching others about social insurance
Academy Members may submit a nomination for the Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance by emailing nasi@nasi.org.
2024 Honorees
William J. Arnone
Willam J. Arnone receives the Ball Award after a long history of leadership of the Academy — most recently as Chief Executive Officer, from 2017-2024. He was a Founding Board Member of the Academy and served on the Academy’s Board of Directors from 1986 to 1994. He also served as the Chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors from 2013 to 2016.
Marty Ford
Marty Ford is Senior Advisor for Public Policy at The Arc of the United States, a national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. She served The Arc’s Senior Executive Officer for Public Policy from 2011–2019, leading the public policy team representing The Arc on Capitol Hill and before federal agencies.
William M. Rodgers III
William M. Rodgers III is vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Before joining the Fed, Rodgers served as professor of public policy at the Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy and chief economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
Past Honorees
2023
Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder in Residence at PolicyLink
David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, Professor of the Practice of Public Health at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy, emeritus, at Harvard Medical School
The 2023 Ball Award Ceremony was held on on November 07, 2023.
2022
Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)
Peter Edelman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center
Jacob Lew, visiting professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a managing partner at Lindsay Goldberg
The 2022 Ball Award Ceremony was held on on October 25, 2022.
2021
Bob Greenstein, Founder and President Emeritus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
The 2021 award was presented at a hybrid ceremony on November 9, 2021.
2020
Jacob Hacker, Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University
Virginia Reno, former Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy at the Social Security Administration.
The 2020 award was presented at a virtual Award Ceremony on October 13, 2020 as part of the 2020 Ball Award: Campaign for Social Insurance.
2019
Carroll Estes, Policy Advocate and Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco
Theodore (Ted) Marmor, Political Scientist and Professor Emeritus, Yale University School of Management and Department of Political Science, and Faculty Fellow, Institution for Social and Policy Studies.
The 2019 award was presented at a dinner banquet on June 27, 2019.