On October 17th, the Academy presented William J. Arnone, Founding Board Member and most recently Chief Executive Office of the National Academy of Social Insurance; Marty Ford, Senior Advisor for Public Policy at The Arc of the United States; and William M. Rodgers III, vice president and director for the Institute for Economic Equality at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis with the 2024 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance. Guests attended a reception held at The REACH at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Academy CEO Rebecca Vallas and special guest SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley opened the program with a toast to our 2024 honorees and a tribute to Academy founder Bob Ball, whose legacy we honor each year with the annual Robert M. Ball award.

The Ball Award presentation to Marty Ford in absentia included (left to right): Julie Ward, The Arc of the United States, and Merrill Friedman, Academy Board Member and RVP for Inclusive Policy, Elevance Health, who accepted the award on Marty’s behalf; Jeanne Morin, Task Force Co-Chair, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD); Earl Pomeroy, Fmr. U.S. Representative (D-ND), Senior Counsel, Alston & Bird, and Academy Board Member; and Rebecca Vallas, Academy CEO.

The Ball Award presentation to Bill Rodgers III included (left to right): Margaret Simms, Non-Resident Fellow at the Urban Institute; Heidi Hartmann, Senior Research Economist and President Emerita, Institute for Women’s Policy Research; and Rebecca Vallas, Academy CEO.

The Ball Award presentation to Bill Arnone included (left to right): Rebecca Vallas, Academy CEO; Nancy Altman, President, Social Security Works; Indi Dutta-Gupta, Member and Former Vice-Chair of the Academy’s Board; and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Fmr. Lt. Governor of Maryland (not pictured) . 

With bubbly in hand, a surprise congratulatory letter from Hillary Clinton to Bill Arnone closed the event with a celebratory toast.

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 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 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.

Photos by Vinny Sheu.

Howard and Margaret Fluhr
Virginia Reno