7:00 – 8:00 am Continental Breakfast with Exhibitors – Sponsored by iJoin – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

8:00 – 8:10 am Opening Remarks – Venetian Ballroom

Tim Rouse, SPARK Institute, Inc.

8:10 – 9:00 am Keynote: The Successful Retirement: Seeing the Blind Spots – Venetian Ballroom

Nate Miles, Allspring Global Investments
Through many conversations with DC plans, as well as with their most trusted service providers, we’ve seen just how many good people are working to help Americans achieve a fulfilling retirement. Yet, to be human is to have blind spots, which brings to mind this quote from Mark Twain: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” Together we’ll revisit some of our most foundational assumptions—from asset class correlations to the very definition of success for DC plans—and explore how a clearer view can help us collectively take our retirement system to the next level.

9:05 – 9:50 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – How To Leverage Data Within Financial Wellness Programs

Alicia Hartjen, SS&C Technologies (moderator)
John Carelli, Raymond James
Rachel Duncan, Lincoln Financial Group
Larry Lubin, BlueRush
Jamie McInnes, Oculus
This session will explore successful ways to deliver financial wellness to participants. We will look at effective ways to capture and retain participants, methods to grow participant engagement, and how personalized messages can help to drive participants to improve on their outcomes in a variety of unique ways. We will also discuss the importance of data within financial wellness programs, and how clients are leveraging this data to elevate the participant journey and become more knowledgeable and proactive about their participants needs.

SESSION B – The Evolving Roles Of TPAs

Joe Smolen, Empower (moderator)
Tom Brennan, Definiti
Theresa Conti, Sunwest Pensions
Andy Lovell, National Benefit Services
Kasey Price, FuturePlan by Ascensus
A lot of changes are occurring that involve TPAs. This panel will examine different perspectives on how this market is changing.

SESSION C – How Generalist Advisors Can Outsource To Upskill

Sean Murray, Envestnet (moderator)
John Faustino, Fi360, a Broadridge company
Mike Griffin, UBS
Don MacQuattie, Raymond James
Most all tools for advisors in the retirement space have been built for those that specialize in this business. This covers less than ½ of all advisor sold plans in the US. What about the rest, the generalists? This group needs much more handholding and support in order to maintain current plans they have and in order to grow this business in a compliant and manageable way. Most tools are too sophisticated, and they need an easy button approach to facilitate this business. The opportunity to help these advisors is massive with the secure act coming down the pike and most generalist advisors having business owners in their wealth book of business. If we as the DC community can create tools and support these advisors in a scalable manner there will be a massive uptick in the size of the pie for Retirement plans, while at the same doing the right thing for participants … driving down cost and enhancing the outcomes.

9:55 – 10:20 am Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by T. Rowe Price – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

10:20 – 11:10 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – How Modernization Of Technology Is Improving Participant Outcomes

Tina Sanchez, BlackRock (moderator)
James Fulgenzi, Notarize
Elizabeth Heffernan, Micruity
James Liberi, vWise
Peter Littlejohn, IRALogix

SESSION B – A Personal Approach To Retirement Investing

Joe DeBello, OneDigital (moderator)
Joe Smolen, Empower
Stacey Tovrov, BlackRock
Mike Westhoven, TIAA
Helping participants to invest for retirement has evolved over time providing increased flexibility for plan sponsors to help meet diverse needs. That evolution continues with innovation that is bringing the next generation of investment solutions to help meet wide-ranging demographic needs. During this session we will explore: 1) The key objectives of a sound retirement investing strategy including maximizing spending, minimizing volatility, and personalizing investment solutions to meet individual needs, 2) The various solutions that have come to market 3) Helping plan participants understand how these solutions are designed to meet their individual needs.

11:15 am – 12:05 pm Enabling Retirement Income Solutions With Technology – Venetian Ballroom

Ryan Grosdidier, SS&C Technologies (moderator)
Manish Malhotra, Income Discovery
Michelle Richter, Institutional Retirement Income Council
Jacqueline Rynn, SS&C Technologies
Troy Sande, Allianz Life
Josh Weinstein, Fidelity Investments
The implementation of retirement income solutions has been limited by technology infrastructure not being in place. Our panel will look at the current state of retirement income technology, what is under development and the expanded use of technology to drive both access and adoption by plans and participants.

12:05 – 1:05 pm Lunch With Rising Star Awards – Mediterranean Ballroom

1:05 – 1:55 pm Keynote: Manny Roman, CEO, PIMCO – Venetian Ballroom

Philip Chao, Experiential Wealth (moderator)
Manny Roman, PIMCO

Manny Roman will share his thoughts on the asset management industry, current macro view on the U.S. and global economy and geopolitics.

1:55 – 2:25 pm Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by My Corporate Ally – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

2:25 – 3:15 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – Digital Transformation and the Customer Experience

Cindy Volker, Broadridge (moderator)
Lindsey Dickman, Cogent Syndicated
Sarah Goedken-Kool, Principal Financial Group
As the financial services industry begins to transition out of Covid-19 pandemic mode, it is increasingly clear that the world to which it returns will not be the one it left behind. Some of the on-the-fly changes undertaken in order to survive will become permanent, having demonstrated their efficiency and effectiveness. New digital ways of doing business embraced by plan sponsors and participants are now the norm. Indeed, participant expectations for digital experiences have only escalated. Firms that fail to keep the momentum going risk alienating those they seek to serve.

SESSION B – Keeping Client Plans Compliant In A Sea Of Change

Lauren Leneis, Enterprise Iron Financial Industry Solutions (moderator)
Greg Dean, MissionSquare Retirement
Kelli Reed, Enterprise Iron Financial Industry Solutions
Lee Ann Schwartz, SS&C Technologies
Stacy Thompson, FIS
Plan Documents are under constant revision in current times. BBA Hardship Amendments, Cycle 3 restatements, SECURE Act amendments, CARES Act amendments, and pending legislation for SECURE 2.0 have all led to never-ending changes to your plan documents. Please consider joining our panel of industry experts for a discussion on: Keeping Client Plans Compliant in a Sea of Change. We’ll share recent experiences, tips for upcoming updates, and trends across organizations.

SESSION C – Turning Data into Actions: Leveling Up Your Value-Add

Jerry Yen, dailyVest (moderator)
Pete McNellis, dailyVest
Vicky Mitroi, NCCI
Jennifer Van Himbergen, Charles Schwab
Plan success is more than participation and savings metrics. Recordkeepers and advisors can analyze broader datasets to gain practical, actionable insights. A major recordkeeper, plan sponsor, and analytics expert review real & practical campaigns that “level up” participant engagement – including identifying participants who have drifted off an optimal equity glide path; scaling efficient beneficiary registrations; and personalizing messages to “nudge” behavior and action.

3:20 – 4:10 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – Efficient Client Experience Through BPO Or Automation

Russell Fernandez, Deloitte (moderator)
Dominick Cipolla, FIS
Ed Edwards, Infosys McCamish Systems
Bala Jayaraman, Congruent Solutions
Concetta Yates, SS&C Technologies
We will discuss how Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Intelligent Automation (IA) continue to evolve and expand, creating opportunity to drive business value. We will go beyond cost savings and efficiency and explore how to boost the overall customer experience with the best mix of technology and services for different organizations.

SESSION B – Why Do CITs Have Such Momentum?

Mike Dullaghan, Putnam Investments (moderator)
Rob Barnett, Wilmington Trust
Jason Colarossi, Franklin Templeton
Ryan Grosdidier, SS&C Technologies
This session on Collective Investment Trusts (CITs) will look at the CIT opportunity from angles of why, how, and what. While we have found the cost savings available from CITs makes the “why” straightforward, sometimes the how and what is less clear. Attend this session to learn about CITs from all sides and understand why these investment vehicles are seeing rapid growth in AUM.

SESSION C – Financial Wellness – Beyond Education

Kara Melber, Corporate Insight (moderator)
Howard Manzon, TIAA
Lee Regan, Financial Fitness Group
David Stedman, BrightDime
Financial wellness has become an established key piece of the retirement industry. Most recognize its general importance to employees and the role it plays in the retirement industry—you can’t get participant engagement with a plan and participation at needed levels if their overall financial lives aren’t in order. Financial education remains crucial as people face increasingly complex financial choices throughout their lives.

4:15 – 5:05 pm 2022 SPARK Advisor Survey Feedback and Insights – Venetian Ballroom

John Faustino, Fi360, a Broadridge company (moderator)
Fred Makonnen, Equitable
Sonya Sbar, MissionSquare Retirement
Leah Sylvester, Shepherd Financial
In this session, we’ll review results from SPARK’s 2022 advisor survey. Topics covered include a deep-dive into Managed Accounts as well as Financial Wellness, Data Sharing, and Practice Management focus. In addition to reviewing survey results, a panel will discuss their specific perspectives on these, and other topics.

5:00 – 7:00 pm Reception with Exhibitors – Beverages Sponsored by IRALogix; Hors d’Oeures Sponsored by BenefitsLink – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

9:00 – 11:00 pm After Hours Networking – Sponsored by Millennium Trust Company – Beach Club

7:00 – 8:00 am Continental Breakfast with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Micruity Inc. – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

8:00 – 8:10 am Opening Remarks – Venetian Ballroom

Tim Rouse, SPARK Institute, Inc.

8:10 – 9:00 am Plan Sponsor Panel: Utilization of Alternative Investments — Venetian Ballroom

Jonathan Epstein, DCALTA (introduction)
Audie Apple, Fidelity Investments (moderator)
Chris Biddle, Kentucky Public Employees’ Deferred Compensation Authority
Tracy Guerin, Washington State Department of Retirement Systems
Charles Van Vleet, Textron
This panel will explore diversifying investment strategies and the use of alternative investments in long term multi-asset retirement portfolios.

9:10 – 10:00 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – The Modernization Of Alts In DC Plans

Chris Tinsley, Nasdaq (moderator)
Anthony Bassili, Coinbase
Tayfun “Ty” Icten, iCapital Solutions
Patrick O’Meara, Inveniam Capital Partners
Perrin Quarshie, RealBlocks
This panel will focus on the important areas of how technology helps facilitate the utilization of alternative investment in DC plans. We will hear from experts discussing valuation and pricing, liquidity at multiple levels, Access, distribution and platforms along with custody and more.

SESSION B – Are Your Employees Truly Engaged? Why It Matters

Michele Booth, TCS (moderator)
Roberta Hess, Consumer51
Shawn O’Brien, Cerulli Associates
How do today’s providers really engage your participants to drive commitment to their benefit programs? Today advice comes from new, non-traditional sources. Social media also plays a big role in how we think, the products we buy, what we like and even drives our decisions on how to invest our time and money.
This panel will discuss how to drive employee engagement. What do employees think about when engaging in benefit programs? How do internal and external factors play into decision making about saving for their future? And finally, how can organization reorient their thinking to have a focus on employee engagement. We will also discuss recent survey information provided by Cerulli regarding this topic. Our panel will also dive deep into the role of CX in driving engagement on a day-to-day basis and why it matters.

10:00 – 10:30 am Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Allianz Life – Ponce de Leon Ballroom

10:30 – 10:50 am Break / Check Out

10:50 – 11:40 am Data Sharing and Privacy Research Study Results – Venetian Ballroom

Pam Hess, DCIIA (moderator)
Chris Biddle, Kentucky Public Employees’ Deferred Compensation Authority
David Levine, Groom Law Group Chartered
Jim O’Shaughnessy, Sheridan Road Financial
Top line results from focus group conversations with participant, plan sponsors and the vendor community.

11:40 am – 12:30 pm Washington Regulatory & Legislative Update – Venetian Ballroom

Chris Gaston, Davis & Harman LLP
Mike Hadley, Davis & Harman LLP
Adam McMahon, Davis & Harman LLP
Davis & Harman LLP, The SPARK Institute’s outside counsel, will provide an update on activities in Washington, DC.

12:30 – 12:35 pm Closing Remarks – Venetian Ballroom

Tim Rouse, SPARK Institute, Inc.