Audie Apple serves Fidelity as an Institutional Portfolio Manager for the High Income & Alternatives team supporting the Direct Lending business. Previously, he was with DWS (formerly Deutsche Asset Management) supporting a variety of Private Credit & Private Equity strategies. Over his career, Audie has served in leadership roles spanning product development, sales & marketing and thought leadership. As a writer and speaker, Audie has addressed topics ranging from public/private capital market dynamics & trends to product development & innovation for audiences in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Rob BarnettHead of Retirement Services & Executive VPWilmington Trust
As Executive Vice President, and Institutional Business Line Leader for Retirement and Institutional Custody Services, Rob leads the Intermediary Sales team and is the product leader for retirement services. He is responsible for building and managing enterprise level relationships and strategic alliances that create opportunities to broaden the business and service offering.
He has over twenty years of industry experience, with more than half of those spent with Wilmington Trust.
Rob holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Washington State University.
Anthony BassiliHead of Asset AllocatorsCoinbase
Chris BiddleExecutive DirectorKentucky Public Employees' Deferred Compensation Authority
Michele BoothSenior Business Consultant, US Retirement Services PracticeTCS
Michele brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry including managing large complex organizations through transformational change. She has been a Senior Business Consultant with TCS for the past 5 years, helping clients in development and execution of business strategy, program governance, business transformation, change management, operational excellence, and business process outsourcing.
Prior to TCS, she held a variety of senior operational leadership positions at LFG within the Life, Annuity and Retirement product lines. Her focus was on business strategy development and transformation execution which resulted in enabling growth through enhanced customer experience and achieving significant expense savings. Michele thrives on establishing a culture of inclusivity, people development and engagement. She is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a BA (major in accountancy and finance), is Six Sigma certified, and CPA licensed.
Thomas BrennanHead of Distribution and MarketingDefiniti
With over 30 years in the financial services and retirement industry, Thomas’s broad-based background in service, operations, compliance, marketing, product development, P&L management, institutional business development, and sales management gives him unique perspective among his industry peers in all aspects of the retirement plan marketplace. His experience and distribution distinctions have earned him a reputation not only as a retirement plan industry expert, but also as an effective business-building strategic executive and proven distribution and marketing leader.
As Head of Distribution and Marketing at Definiti, Thomas is responsible for National Sales (internal and external) as well as the Marketing organization and the Strategic Accounts team. Thomas earned his BA in Political Science (minor in Spanish) from Saint Joseph’s University. Definiti provides retirement plan consulting and fiduciary services to more than 10,000 private and public-sector organizations. The firm has grown by a combination of organic sales as well as the acquisition and complete integration of more than a dozen regional firms. By investing in people and technology, Definiti has become a national leader in delivering world-class solutions to advisors, Plan Sponsors, and employees.
John CarelliVice President, Institutional and Retirement Plan PlatformRaymond James
John Carelli is Vice President of the Platform & Strategy Team within Institutional Fiduciary Solutions of Raymond James. John leads a team of professionals responsible for the overall design, strategy, and product development of institutional and retirement plan solutions. This includes the management of discretionary and non-discretionary advisory offerings for clients, including an ERISA 3(38) and 3(21) program. The team supports platform operations, risk management and contract development. Prior to this role, John led a Supervision team responsible for risk management, oversight, and supervision of ERISA and Non-ERISA institutional clients. John has broad broker-dealer and investment advisor experience. Before joining Raymond James, John worked in a variety of capacities at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC in Philadelphia, PA.
John is a graduate of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and concentration in finance while competing in track and field. He holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary ® (AIF), Series 7, Series 66, and Insurance licenses.
John grew up in Allentown, PA and lived in Philadelphia, PA prior to moving to Clearwater, FL. John and his wife, Jenna, have been married for 8 years and have two daughters. His interests include fitness and being active, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.
Philip ChaoPrincipal & CIOExperiential Wealth
Philip Chao founded Experiential Wealth (formerly Chao & Company) in 1992 to provide families, and institutions with independent and thoughtful investment management and financial advice. His founding mission is to be an advocate for his clients and to deliver the highest level of care in assisting clients to realize their long-term financial objectives and outcome.
For ERISA retirement plan fiduciaries, Philip serves as an ERISA investment consultant in a co-fiduciary capacity - as an ERISA Sec 3(21) - so that clients can rely on his advice with full confidence. Philip also serves in an ERISA 3(38) fiduciary investment manager capacity where he takes on full investment decisions. As a plan investment fiduciary, he implements a prudent process that is consistent with the plan's investment and funding policies.
As the Principal of Experiential Wealth, Philip is the firm's Chief Investment Officer setting customized investment guidelines and adopting forward-looking capital market assumptions in constructing portfolios for the firm’s wealth management clients as well as foundations and endowments.
Philip is a passionate supporter of and advocate for the fiduciary standard and has advocated on many occasions with DOL staff in sharing his thoughts and practical applications regarding the ERISA fiduciary definition. His public comments can be viewed on the DOL and the SEC website.
Philip is the founder and managing member of Independent Fiduciary Services, providing directed trustee services to health and welfare trusts. His clients are government contractors subject to the Service Contract Act. More recently, Philip established Nexus338, a firm that solely focuses on mass personalization of institutional level managed account solutions for retirement plans. Its Individualized Glidepath Solution (iGPS) personalizes portfolios to each retirement plan participant by leveraging Big Data and FinTech. Further, iGPS will incorporate a SECURE compliant lifetime income option.
Philip's curiosity, knowledge and years of experience in the financial services and investment management industry make him a sought-after speaker in industry events. Sample video recordings can be found on the company website. He also serves as a business consultant to insurance and investment companies in product designs and distribution.
His opinions and writings often appear in InvestmentNews, Advisorpedia.com, CNBC Personal Finance, and Financial Advisor, among other industry news outlets.
Dominick CipollaHead of Retirement as a Service OperationsFIS
Dominick Cipolla is Vice President, Head of Retirement as a Service Operations, FIS Retirement. He is responsible for the retirement plan record-keeping, administration, processing, and call center for FIS clients -- serving nearly 14,000 retirement plans and over 3.4 million retirement plan participants. Over his 28-year career, his teams have achieved industry leading client satisfaction while building high quality, scalable and efficient operations. Prior to joining FIS, he was Head of Retirement Plan Services Operations at T. Rowe Price. He has also held senior operations and six sigma leadership roles at Merrill Lynch and General Electric Company. He started his career serving as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. Dominick earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.S. in Economics from the United States Naval Academy. He is a Series 7, 9, 10, and 23 registered representative.
Jason ColarossiNational Retirement StrategistFranklin Templeton
Jason Colarossi is the National Retirement Strategist for Franklin Templeton's Retirement & Insurance/Subadvisory Division. He is responsible for the development and distribution of Franklin Templeton's Collective Investment Trust platform.
Mr. Colarossi has been working in the defined contribution industry for over 20 years. He joined Franklin Templeton in 2014 as the Head of Strategic Accounts -Defined Contribution Division, responsible for developing and executing Franklin Templeton's business plans with our strategic DC partners. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, he had been with JPMorgan since April of 2007, most recently as a National Account Manager within JPMorgan's Defined Contribution Investment Solutions group. He was responsible for delivering JPMorgan's thought leadership and investment solutions to defined contribution record keepers.
From 2003 to 2007 Mr. Colarossi worked for The Bostonian Group, an employee benefits consulting firm based in Boston, MA. He was a consultant in the Retirement Services Practice, helping plan sponsors manage their defined contribution programs. He began his career in 1996 with Putnam Investments, holding several positions within their record keeping business.
Mr. Dean joined MissionSquare in 1998. In his current role as Managing Vice President, Client Experience Operations, he provides senior leadership and oversight for servicing all plan administration aspects of retirement plans, such as participant and plan sponsor contact centers, transaction processing, and account corrections.
Previously, he served as Director of Technical Analysis, Client Services, acting as a liaison between Client Services and Information Technology as well as leading several large initiatives including the removal of SSN from the core recordkeeping system as well as the Virginia Retirement System conversion. Prior to joining MissionSquare, Mr. Dean worked for T. Rowe Price for 3 years, providing retirement plan recordkeeping and relationship management for large private sector clients.
Mr. Dean has over 20 years of experience in the retirement plan services industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Services Management and a minor in Business from Towson University.
Lindsey Dickman is a leader of wealth & institutional research at Cogent, a human behavior and analytics advisory firm. A career researcher, Lindsey directs a diverse project portfolio that explores relationships and decision-making between customers, products, and brands. She uses these initiatives to guide retirement plan providers, asset managers, and others on actions that positively support both their businesses and the audiences they serve. Through partnerships with WIPN (WE Inspire. Promote. Network) and others, Lindsey works to extend the ‘voice of the customer’ to underserved populations and is a particular advocate for women in the retirement industry. Lindsey holds a Chartered Financial Consultant® designation from The American College of Financial Services and is a graduate of Emory University.
Mike DullaghanDirector, DCIO Content & Sales EnablementPutnam Investments
Rachel DuncanVice President, Relationship ManagementLincoln Financial Group
Rachel Duncan is a vice president of relationship management with Retirement Plan Services. She manages the mid/large market client relationship management team and is responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing a robust client experience. She manages a disciplined client relationship management program and client satisfaction for Lincoln Financial Group's premier clients.
Rachel joined Lincoln Financial in 2001 and has 21years of industry experience. Prior to joining Lincoln, she was a 6th-grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Rachel earned a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University. She is FINRA Series 6 and 63 registered, holds state insurance licenses and is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®), a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist (CRPS®) and a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®). Rachel is located in Flower Mound, Texas.
Ed EdwardsHead of Retirement ServicesInfosys McCamish Systems
Ed leads the Retirement Services group at Infosys McCamish. Ed has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. As the head of the Retirement Services business unit he is responsible for business process outsourcing (BPO) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery, client implementation consulting and system development, and ongoing client support.
Ed has served as an officer of a large national bank, as well as a national data processing services company. Prior to joining McCamish Systems, Ed accumulated several years’ experience in investment banking and 401(k) administration, serving as a functional manager, operations team manager, and client relationship manager for two plan providers.
Ed holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance, and a Master of Business Administration degree in Information Systems.
Jonathan EpsteinPresidentDCALTA
DCALTA is led by Jonathan Epstein, who has served in the defined contribution community for 25 years. DCALTA`s founding can be attributed to Jonathan`s experience working directly with plan sponsors of defined contribution plans on investments, education/communication strategy and plan cost/performance benchmarking. His industry experience includes positions at CEM Benchmarking, Associated Trust, ICMA-RC and ThirtyNorth Investments. He has been invited to speak at the national conferences of PSCA, World Investment Forum and NAGDCA, and has contributed to many industry articles and research on alternative investments within defined contribution plans. He received his B.S. from Florida State University and MBA from Nova Southeastern University.
John FaustinoHeadFi360, a Broadridge company
Russell FernandezManaging DirectorDeloitte Consulting
Russell is a Managing Director in Deloitte Consulting’s Financial Services practice specializing in Retirement & Wealth. Russell has more than 20 years of experience in Retirement administration and consulting, focusing on operations and technology transformation. Russell advises clients on operating model changes, business process design, large-scale system implementation, digital enablement and technology rationalization.
He has experience working with a variety of core recordkeeping platforms as well as surround systems such as CRM, Workflow, Issue Management applications and customer facing portals. Russell possesses strong project management and leadership skills, leading both complex projects and cross-functional teams. Prior to joining Deloitte, Russell worked at a large retirement provider holding a variety of client servicing roles across multiple Defined Contribution plan types.
James FulgenziDirector of Government Affairs & AdvocacyNotarize
James Fulgenzi is the Director of Government Affairs & Advocacy at Notarize, the leading remote online notarization provider connecting consumers and organizations to notary services 24/7. James works with industry and government partners across all 50 states and territories, advocating for innovations in the law to advance the use of remote online notarization and the acceptance of remotely notarized documents. Before joining Notarize, James spent years working in Washington, D.C. and New York at the intersection of technology and policy. James is based in New York and travels the country on behalf of Notarize.
Chris GastonPrincipal, Director of Government RelationsDavis & Harman LLP
Chris Gaston is Principal, Director of Government Relations with Davis & Harman LLP. Chris has more than a dozen years of Capitol Hill experience and he represents clients on a wide range of issues before Congress, particularly retirement and savings policy.
Prior to joining Davis & Harman LLP, Chris served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) who was a senior member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
After growing up in Central New Jersey, Chris initially started with Rep. Holt as an intern and over the next twelve years, worked for Rep. Holt in a number of congressional and political positions. For more than five years Chris served as Rep. Holt’s Legislative Director where he helped establish an ambitious legislative agenda and advised him on a diverse range of legislative issues. In that capacity, Chris was responsible for all of Rep. Holt's work on the Education and the Workforce Committee, including his legislative initiatives to promote retirement savings. Chris also led Rep. Holt’s efforts to raise concerns about the Department of Labor's fiduciary proposal.
Chris graduated with a B.A. in Political Science with a Public Policy Focus from The George Washington University and received a M.A. in International Law and Politics from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Molly, have two active kids, Max and Clare, and one hyper active Border collie, Ace.
Sarah Goedken KoolAssistant Director, National Participant EducationPrincipal Financial Group
Sarah strives to help several million participants save enough and have enough for retirement. With data analytics and behavioral science as a guide, Sarah develops marketing and business strategies to create and execute behavior-based education that drives action.
Since she started with the company in 2001, Sarah’s roles have focused on benefits education, marketing, customer care, and training. In 2017, Sarah was named one of the 25 Rising Stars in Retirement under 40 by LIMRA International, Inc. Sarah has degrees in English and Spanish, as well as an international business certificate from the University of Iowa. She holds a FINRA Series 7 registration and is a registered representative of Principal Securities, Inc., a member of Principal.
Mike GriffinHead of Sales and Relationship Management- Retirement Plan ConsultingUBS
Mike serves as the Head of Workplace Wealth Solutions Sales and Relationship Management for UBS which encompasses Retirement Plan Consulting, Equity Plans, Institutional Consulting and Financial Wellness businesses. Located in Charlotte, NC, Mike joins us from Merrill Lynch, where he was the Head of Institutional Client Acquisition within their Institutional Retirement Group.
Mike brings over 25 years of retirement and financial industry experience with him. At Merrill Lynch, Mike held several leadership roles. Prior to his latest role at Merrill Lynch, Mike also served as the Head of Retirement Sales; Market Head for the Bloomfield Hills, MI Market; served as a Branch Manager in Destin, FL and was a retirement specialist in Birmingham, AL. Prior to Merrill Lynch,. Mike served as an attorney specializing in ERISA law.
Mike received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University, his Juris Doctorate from Cumberland School of Law and his MBA from Samford University. Mike and his wife Carrie have four children: Reid (15), Winn (13), Candler (10) and Arden (7).
Ryan GrosdidierBusiness Development Lead, Retirement Income SolutionsSS&C Technologies
Ryan Grosdidier is a senior business development and relationship management executive with over 16 years' experience in the financial services industry. Ryan joined SS&C's Retirement Services team after over a decade managing enterprise investment management relationships at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Prior to S&P Ryan held senior positions at SPA ETF's and Prudential Equity Group. Ryan leads SS&C's retirement income solutions client and partner relationships
Ryan holds a B.S. in Finance from Fordham University in New York.
Tracy GuerinDirectorWashington State Department of Retirement Systems
Governor Jay Inslee appointed Tracy Guerin Director of the state Department of Retirement Systems in September 2016. She also serves as an ex officio member of the Washington State Investment Board, the Pension Funding Council and the Select Committee on Pension Policy.
As DRS Director, Tracy leads an organization of approximately 270 team members who administer one of the most complex public retirement systems in the country. DRS serves over 870,000 current and former public employees at both the state and local government levels. Retirement benefits earned by these employees result in $6.4 billion in payments each year, most of which is distributed in the state of Washington.
Tracy began her career with Washington state government at the Department of Labor and Industries. Over the past 30 years, she has worked at numerous state agencies, most recently serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Management. She has also served as Chief of Staff for the Department of Social and Health Services, Deputy Director at the Department of Corrections and the Department of Information Services, and as Deputy Secretary for the Office of the Secretary of State. Tracy was raised in Washington, attended Washington State University and completed her bachelor’s degree at The Evergreen State College. She has completed the Strategic Leadership for State Executives program at Duke University as well as executive education programs through the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She received the Governor’s Management and Leadership Award in 2012.
Mike HadleyPartnerDavis & Harman LLP
Mike Hadley is a partner in the law firm Davis & Harman LLP. He practices in the area of employee benefits, advising clients on the full range of tax, ERISA, and other laws affecting benefit plans. He has a particular focus on helping financial institutions that sell products to defined contribution and defined benefit plans, IRAs and similar plans navigate the special rules that govern those plans. He also provides clients with strategic advice, plan design, counseling, and compliance assistance for qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, non-qualified executive compensation, employment agreements, and health and other welfare plans.
Mike was formerly Associate Counsel for Pension Regulation at the Investment Company Institute, the national association of U.S. investment companies. His responsibilities included advocating for the Institute's membership before Congress, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Securities Exchange Commission on retirement security issues and assisting ICI members and staff in understanding tax and ERISA rules. Among other duties he managed ICI's work implementing the Pension Protection Act and responding to 401(k) fee, investment advice, and fiduciary developments in Congress, DOL, and the courts.
Prior to joining ICI, Mike was an associate with Covington & Burling LLP, where he advised clients on employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, provided advice on ERISA litigation, and assisted with pension and benefits issues in mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.
Mike is a frequent speaker on the latest retirement savings policy developments coming out of Congress and the regulatory agencies and has testified before Treasury, IRS, and Department of Labor. A sampling of articles he has authored or co-authored: ERISA Compliance for Investment Advisers: A Q&A Guide To DOL's 408(b)(2) Disclosure Regulation, Investment Lawyer, Vol. 20, No. 7 (July 2013); The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees, and Expenses, 2010 ICI Research Perspective, Vol. 17, No. 4 (June 2011); and 401 (k) Plans: A 25-Year Retrospective, ICI Research Perspective, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Nov. 2006).
Mike was a law clerk for the Honorable Gerald Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his B.A., cum laude, from the College of William and Mary.
Alicia HartjenHead of Product Development, Financial Education & Communication SolutionsSS&C Technologies
Alicia Hartjen is Head of Product Development for SS&C’s Participant Education and Communication Solutions. Alicia joined the company through the acquisition of Wealth Management Systems Inc. (WMSI) in 2015, where she was the Vice President, Head of Product Development. Prior to that she was the Director of Product Design at S&P Capital IQ Financial Communications. Alicia has a background in user-interface design – with a focus on how to design solutions that drive user outcomes.
Alicia has a B.A. from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, MO and an M.B.A. from Babson College/F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.
Elizabeth HeffernanHead of Partnerships and Consulting StrategyMicruity
Elizabeth is a well-known and respected thought leader in the stable value and retirement income arena who brings significant experience, including product development with a strong focus on the participant experience in the Retirement Income arena.
At Micruity, Elizabeth is responsible for helping connect Retirement Income product manufacturers with Recordkeepers, ensuring an efficient and reliable connection that will support the delivery of an outstanding participant experience. Elizabeth spent a total of 24 years with Fidelity Investments in a variety of sales, marketing, investment consulting, product development and participant experience and education roles. Most recently her primary focus was working with Plan Sponsors and their advisors to understand and utilize investment solutions that include annuity/insurance features as a part of their plan investment line up and plan design rules. Elizabeth spent 2 years with Hueler Companies as the Managing Director of Business Development and the Income Solutions® platform where she was responsible for growing overall business, creating new initiatives, and ensuring a robust client-facing capability that advocates for and delivers personalized lifetime income to individuals. Prior to joining Fidelity, Elizabeth worked in the employee benefits and compensation areas at Northwestern University and First Colonial Bankshares. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa, is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist and a Certified Financial Planner.
Pam HessVice President of ResearchDCIIA
Roberta HessHead of Client Success & MarketingConsumer51
Roberta Hess has been an advisor to Consumer51 for the past three years. Recently, she took an expanded role focused on Client Success & Marketing for the agency.
Roberta has experience on both the agency and client side. She is the founder and CEO of Princeton Marketing, a strategic marketing consulting firm focusing on financial services. Roberta has also held senior marketing leadership roles at Ascensus, Prudential, MetLife, Travelers Life & Annuity, and Merrill. She is also an advocate for women in business and serves as Northeast Regional Leader and co-chair for WIPN - We. Inspire. Promote. Network. Philadelphia chapter. Since 2018, she has served a co-chair of the SPARK Institute’s Public Relations Committee.
She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Business and studied Digital Marketing a Columbia University.
Tayfun “Ty” Icten is a Senior Vice President in the iCapital Solutions group. He joined iCapital from Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions where he led the fund investment committee. Before joining Mesirow in June 2019, he was a ratings committee member at Morningstar Research Services LLC, Multi-Asset and Alternatives group.
Prior to joining Morningstar in 2015, he was a managing member of Alpha Performance Partners servicing corporate pension funds and family offices. From 2004 to 2009, he served as Director/Portfolio Manager for XE Capital Management LLC, a fixed-income, multi-strategy hedge fund where he managed a $150 million multi-strategy portfolio. Before joining XE in 2004, Tayfun was a Vice President/Portfolio Constructor for Zurich Capital Markets (ZCM) Asset Management Group. Earlier in his career, he traded derivatives for Millburn Corporation, and started his investing career in 1998 as a bond trader for JPMorgan Chase & Co. EM desk. He writes a financial column for Forbes, a former keynote speaker for the CFA Society and widely quoted in the press covering various financial topics.
Balaraman JayaramanCo-founder and PresidentCongruent Solutions
Balaraman Jayaraman (a k a Bala) has a Master’s from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.
Bala has over three decades of experience in the high-tech industry. As a Co-Founder, President & CEO of Congruent Solutions since 1999, he has steered Congruent through diversification and growth to emerge as one of the pioneers in the retirement technology solutions and KPO services for the US market. Congruent also launched CORE Retirement Solutions, a suite of Enterprise Technology Solutions for Retirement Plan Providers in the US and has become one of the few product companies from India to launch an enterprise-scale SaaS platform in these markets and acquire Fortune 500 clients.
At the start of his career, he was involved in sales and business development roles for some leading brands like Digital VAX and Sperry Univac. He was based in the Silicon Valley for a few years. He was instrumental in helping companies like Chips & Technologies, MIPS Computers and Mylex take their first offshore development initiative.
He has been an entrepreneur since 1992. He is an investor and serves as a director on the boards of three companies in the technology space, in addition to having had successful exits in a couple more. Bala is also a part of the advisory board of the Indian subsidiary of a US-based Fortune 1000 company’s India operations. He is on the Board of Trustees of the National Agro Foundation, a not-for-profit organization committed to improving the average Indian farmer’s yield and income and Relief Foundation, a not-for-profit focused on transforming education to underprivileged children.
He is a Charter Member & a past member of the Governing Council of TiE, Chennai, and a passionate Rotarian. He is a member of the Regional Council of NASSCOM and is currently the President of the IIM Calcutta Alumni Association Chennai Chapter.
Bala received the Pathfinder 2013 award from The Economic Times, recognizing his contribution to the IT & ITES industry. Congruent Solutions has been recognized as a “Billion Dollar Baby” in TiECON 2014, and as a “Great Tech RocketShip” by UK Trade & Investments in February 2015. Congruent Solutions also serves on the Board of the SPARK Institute, a forum for retirement plan providers in the US.
He is a visiting faculty at the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras. He is regularly invited to offer guest lectures and workshops at the Great Lakes Institute of Management and his alma mater, IIM Calcutta. He is an avid sportsman and follows all major international sports in addition to playing cricket and cycling regularly.
Jenny JohnsonPresident & Chief Executive OfficerFranklin Resources, Inc.
Jenny Johnson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Templeton. In a career at Franklin Templeton spanning over 30 years, she has been a key driver in the company's transformation to what is now one of the most respected global firms focused on investment management, technology, innovation, diversity and corporate and social responsibility.
Ms. Johnson joined the firm in 1988 and held leadership roles in all major divisions of the business, including investment management, distribution, technology, operations, and high-net-worth, before becoming CEO in February 2020. She led the historic acquisition of Legg Mason in 2020, with the combined organization managing over $1.5 trillion in assets globally.
Ms. Johnson was named to Barron's list of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance for three consecutive years beginning in 2020, and was named 2021 Woman of the Year by Financial Women of San Francisco. She has been named one of Money Management Executive's Top Women in Asset Management and was chosen by her peers as one of Ignites' Most Influential Women in Fund Management. Ms. Johnson is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, most notably on the topics of leadership, financial industry developments, diversity & inclusion, and innovation.
Ms. Johnson personally champions diversity and inclusion and is involved in a number of organizations that prioritize D&I. She is a member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, which identifies and connects diverse board candidates to NYSE-listed companies seeking new directors, and serves on the advisory board of Black Capital, an early-stage fund focused on investing in black and other underrepresented founders. She is a member of the board of directors of Catalyst, a global nonprofit dedicated to accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion. She is a member of the advisory board of The Creative Coalition, a social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community, and Democracy Investments, a firm focused on advancing democracy with innovative financial products.
Additionally, Ms. Johnson is a board member of the JMT Wilderness Conservancy and the Carolands Foundation. Previously, Ms. Johnson has served on various other boards, including the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and the San Francisco Giants. Ms. Johnson earned her B.A. in economics from the University of California at Davis.
Lauren LeneisSenior Program ManagerEnterprise Iron Financial Industry Solutions, Inc.
Lauren Leneis has over 20 years of experience in the retirement plan industry providing operational, technology and project management services. Ms. Leneis has led projects and implementation efforts to retirement and health plan clients in the United States, Puerto Rico and Latin America.
She has experience in delivering operational services such as year-end processing, tax reporting and compliance activities for Enterprise Iron clients. Lauren is currently leading Enterprise Iron‘s Retirement Plan Compliance Services Practice.
David LevinePrincipalGroom Law Group, Chartered
David N. Levine is a principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered. Mr. Levine advises plan sponsors, advisors, and other service providers on a wide range of employee benefits matters, from health and welfare to retirement and executive compensation matters.
Mr. Levine was previously the Chair of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (2011-2013) and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. Mr. Levine regularly speaks on plan design, fiduciary governance, and legislative issues. He is recognized in the Chambers USA guide for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. Mr. Levine received his J.D., from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.A., with general and departmental honors, from Johns Hopkins University.
James LiberiChief Revenue OfficervWise, Inc
In his role as Chief Revenue Officer, James is focused on providing sales leadership, competitively positioning the company in the marketplace, and developing products and strategies to optimize growth. Prior to joining vWise, James led the National Sales and Distribution teams for The Bancorp Bank’s Institutional Banking Group. His responsibilities included oversight of the banks Private Label Banking platform covering 15 partners managing and administrating $2.7 trillion in assets, multiple FDIC asset strategies, retail securities backed line of credit programs and the Bank’s IRA business lines.
Before joining Bancorp, James served as a financial advisor for First Financial Group, working with high-net-worth individuals. James earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and Administration from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. James has served as a SPARK Board Member since 2010.
Peter Littlejohn Co-Founder, Chief Revenue OfficerIRALogix
Andy LovellVice President, Strategic PartnershipsNational Benefit Services
Larry LubinPresidentBlueRush
Business leader & innovator since 1983. Deep experience in sales, marketing & communications strategy and technology. Expert in all things financial services, healthcare and other regulated industries.
Today Larry is leading teams to dial-up digital transformation with ultimate aim of increased sales and service effectiveness through lowering costs via technology enablement. Today VIDEO is a key ingredient in making this possible. The goal: every customer becomes their own segment through platforms that connect to people. Rebuilding digital experiences to power Martech, Fintech, Telco and more. Combining AI into personalization platforms. Journey in progress, to be continued.
Don MacQuattieSales & Distribution LeaderRaymond James - Institutional Fiduciary Solutions
Don is Vice President and Head of Sales at Institutional Fiduciary Solutions within Raymond James. He’s been tasked with building-out and executing a long-term sales strategy to grow the DC, endowment & foundation and institutional businesses. He manages a team of fourteen professionals working with both generalist advisors as well as the firm’s elite RPAC advisors.
Prior to joining Raymond James, Don was Managing Director and Head of Retirement within the Global Strategic Relationships Group at JPMorgan Asset Management. Before JPMorgan, he served briefly at The Capital Group and held several leadership positions at The Hartford’s Retirement Plans Group. Don began his retirement industry career at Merrill Lynch in New York City. His first job after college was with U.S. Senator James Jeffords (Vermont) in Washington, DC. Education and Affiliations University of Vermont, B.A., Economics The College of William & Mary, MBA NASD Series 7, 65, 63 and 26 registered Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS)
Fred MakonnenDivision Vice PresidentEquitable
Manish MalhotraFounder & CEOIncome Discovery
Manish Malhotra is the Founder & CEO of Income Discovery, a platform for intelligent distribution of a personalized tax-optimal paycheck in retirement. Intelligence that may increase a retiree’s safe spending by as much as 30% or increase a bequest by as much as five times.
Prior to forming Income Discovery, Manish was a Sr. Vice President at Citigroup Global Wealth Management (Smith Barney and Private Bank) leading the application architecture function for strategic initiatives. Before Citigroup, he architected market and credit risk systems at Nomura Securities and Bank of America.
Manish started his career underwriting credit for greenfield projects at ICICI in India, before switching to financial technology at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson's Indian subsidiary.
Manish holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur (India) and an Engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
Howard ManzonSenior Director, Financial Wellness & InnovationTIAA
Jamie McInnesPresidentOculus Partners, LLC
Jamie McInnes is a recognized leader with over thirty years of experience working in several firms across asset management, banking, and insurance. His leadership roles have focused on a variety of business models and markets covering retirement, wealth management and protection. In 2018, he joined Oculus Partners as a Senior Consultant and, in January 2021, Jamie acquired the firm.
Prior to joining Oculus, Jamie spent 10 years at Prudential Financial. Initially, he worked within Prudential Retirement ultimately leading its full-service business which delivered defined contribution, defined benefit, deferred compensation, IRA and advisory services to 4,000 institutional clients and 2.5 million individual participants. His final three years at Prudential were spent in Prudential International Insurance developing and leading its market entry to Indonesia's life insurance market. As the CEO he developed the local senior leadership team while expanding distribution inclusive of bank assurance, tele-marketing, and a direct-to-consumer digital channel.
Jamie joined Prudential from Merrill Lynch where he led its Retirement Group's institutional offerings covering DC, DB, NQDC and trust and custody. This followed his return from Japan where Jamie had initially been leading the platform development for CIGNA'S joint venture pension business as their CIO and later as the firm's Executive Director advising multi-national firms around pension risk issues and the benefits of transferring benefit programs to a DC framework.
Jamie began his career in management consulting focused on banking and insurance company back-office operations and entered the retirement business initially with Putnam Investments and then joining a VC backed on-line 401(k) company prior to relocating to Japan.
Jamie earned his undergraduate degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College, has a MPhil degree in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, a MSc in Finance from the Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst
Adam McMahonPartnerDavis & Harman LLP
Adam McMahon is a partner with Davis & Harman LLP. Adam advises clients on a wide range of employee benefit plan issues, particularly focusing on the design and administration of retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, and IRAs. Adam also keeps clients up-to-date on the latest legislative and regulatory developments affecting employee benefit plans.
Pete McNellisManaging Director, FounderdailyVest
Pete McNellis is Managing Director, Product Manager and Founder at dailyVest. He has two decades of experience in safely and responsibly leveraging data to create digital engagement solutions for retirement plan recordkeepers and financial service providers. Pete's areas of expertise focus on meeting two key needs of recordkeepers: personalized investment and performance reporting to enable and engage plan participants; and plan health reporting to help sponsors and advisors manage their plans and participants. Before DAILYVEST, Pete co-founded and led a software company which produced custom retirement planning solutions for recordkeepers and asset managers, which he sold to Thomson Reuters. Pete earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of Arizona. He loves exploring the desert southwest and is an avid fan of house music.
Kara MelberResearch Manager, Retirement & WorkplaceCorporate Insight
Kara Melber heads the Retirement and Workplace team at Corporate Insight, which consists of the Retirement Plan Monitor, Retirement Plan Monitor — Institutional and Workplace Finance Monitor research services. She has conducted extensive research on the retirement and workplace finance industry during her time at Corporate Insight, examining the online platforms and technological innovations leading firms offer clients. Kara earned an MA in History from East Stroudsburg University in 2016, and has been a member of the Corporate Insight team since 2019.
Nate MilesHead of RetirementAllspring Global Investments
Nathaniel (Nate) Miles is head of Retirement for the Systematic Edge Investment Solutions team at Allspring Global Investments. As the leader of this business, Nate spearheads the firm’s retirement strategy and distribution efforts. Nate joined Allspring from its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). He joined WFAM from WisdomTree Asset Management, where he served as U.S. head of retirement solutions.
In this capacity, he oversaw the creation and execution of marketing strategies and distribution for retirement business across all platforms. Prior to this, Nate worked as a managing director at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) and as head of U.S. investment strategy with its defined contribution (DC) team, where he began his investment industry career in 2005. In this role, he led a team of DC investment strategists who specialized in expanding SSGA’s sales efforts across DC clients and prospects. This team also served as experts on DC strategies, plan design architecture, and key regulatory and legislative topics affecting the retirement industry. Nate earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and financial management with honors from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation and is a member of CFA Society Boston.
Vicky MitroiExecutive Director, Total RewardsNCCI
Vicky Mitroi is the Executive Director of Total Rewards for NCCI, Holdings Inc. She joined the company in 2019, with over 20 years of experience in the field of Human Resources, with a focus in the areas of Benefits, Compensation, Retirement, and corporate governance. In prior roles Vicky has managed teams that span across functional areas of strategy, programs design and administration, retirement planning, HRIS, and employee wellbeing. Prior to joining NCCI, Vicky was the Director of Total Rewards at Eastern Michigan University with exposure to union negotiations and HigherEd. She also worked at NuStep Inc. as the Director of Human Resources. Vicky studied Marketing at Truman State University, holds a BA in Human Resources Administration from Concordia University, and an MBA from University of Phoenix.
She enjoys staying active in the field as a speaker, board advisor, educator and a contributor to Ann Arbor Monthly magazine. She is the recipient of the Michigan Governor's Corporate Wellness Award.
Sean MurrayHead of RetirementEnvestnet
As the Head of Retirement for Envestnet, Sean plays a key role in the ongoing growth and alignment for Envestnet’s solutions for the workplace. Sean has over 25 years-experience in the financial services industry serving in a multitude of executive roles for some of the top firms in the asset management space. Prior to joining Envestnet Sean was a Managing Director with BlackRock and led their Retail Defined Contribution Investment group while also serving on a variety of executive committees across the firm. Before BlackRock Sean established and led the Retail Defined Contribution business for both PIMCO and Goldman Sachs. Sean has also spent time in various sales and marketing roles for Fidelity Investments, Delaware Investments, Retiree Inc, and Pilgrim Baxter.
Sean is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Sean lives with his wife Jennifer and their 3 sons in Laguna Beach, CA.
Profile Statement:
Shawn leads the U.S. Retirement research practice, which focuses on the defined contribution (DC) and individual retirement account (IRA) markets. He also leads and supports strategic consulting projects for asset managers on their DC-related market entry and product distribution strategies.
Prior to joining Cerulli Associates, Shawn worked as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School, where he co-authored case studies on investment management for professional and personal investors and managing and innovating in financial services. Prior to that, he worked in the Currency Management group at State Street Global Markets, employing currency overlay strategies for large asset managers and asset owners.
Patrick O’MearaChairman & CEOInveniam Capital Partners
Patrick O’Meara is the Chairman and CEO of Inveniam. He leads the business development efforts and is product manager for the firm’s proprietary and patent-pending transaction platform – Inveniam IO. Inveniam IO is a powerful technology platform that assists financial professionals in digitizing and modeling securities as data not code. Inveniam Capital Partners lays the foundation for digitizing Private Markets at the intersection of Capital Markets, Blockchain and Big Data.
Mr. O’Meara began his career at Raymond James and Bear Stearns & Co before founding his own financial advisory firm and building it into a niche leader for more than 14 years and employing over 80 finance professionals. As founder and President of O’Meara, Ferguson, Whelan & Conway he ran the firm’s advisory services; leading the structuring and execution of transactions for 42 Catholic dioceses and dozens of other faith-based, donation-driven nonprofits in the US. Prior to founding Inveniam Capital, he served as Chief Investment Officer for the University of Mary.
Jim O’ShaughnessyPresident of Retirement and Private WealthSheridan Road Financial
As President of Retirement and Private Wealth, Jim O’Shaughnessy serves as a strategic and operational leader for both the institutional and private wealth management teams. Jim has over 30 years of experience in the retirement plan industry. In 2005, he co-founded Sheridan Road Financial, growing the company to over $13 billion in assets under management before joining HUB International Retirement and Private Wealth through acquisition at the end of 2018.
Jim's consistent focus on the intersection of client needs and industry innovation has garnered him industry recognition as a thought leader. He contributes regularly at conferences and in the press as a thought leader and advocate for the retirement plan industry.
In his spare time, Jim is an avid Cubs fan and enjoys playing paddleball. He is committed to the search for a cure for Type 1 Diabetes and supports his son Kyle's annual participation in the JDRF One Walk®.
Kasey PricePresidentFuturePlan by Ascensus
Kasey serves as President of FuturePlan by Ascensus, a market-leading national TPA supporting 45,500+retirement plan sponsors with more than $104 billion in estimated assets under administration. A successful entrepreneur and retirement industry pioneer, Kasey co-founded the Georgia-based powerhouse firm RSI in 1997. In 2017, she brought her strategic leadership skills and exceptional team of plan professionals to FuturePlan, where she was appointed Head of Institutional Sales.
After spearheading a major expansion of FuturePlan's institutional partnerships and services, Kasey rose to lead the firm’s national sales team as Head of Sales and was ultimately selected as FuturePlan's new president in 2022. Kasey is a passionate leader and advocate for expanding access to high quality retirement plans for all Americans. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Corporate Finance from Augusta State University.
Perrin QuarshieFounder & CEORealBlocks
Perrin is the Founder & CEO of RealBlocks, an alternative investments platform that now services $77B of assets and provides asset managers with a digital experience for expanding their firm’s distribution footprint. Perrin began his career as a civil engineer at NAC International, where he focused on real estate development and finance for energy infrastructure projects. While there, Perrin began successfully investing in private real estate but was disappointed that access for retail investors was either not available or was marred by outdated, complex, often paper-based processes. Following his time at NAC, Perrin began graduate studies at MIT, during which he conducted research on the implications of Blockchain Technology as he sought to find a solution that could help to improve the world’s access to the alternative investments market. During his time at MIT, Perrin worked at Barclays as a summer associate in Real Estate Investment Banking, where he conducted M&A Transactions for various REIT sponsors.
In 2017, Perrin founded RealBlocks in order to leverage blockchain technology to build a better alternative investment experience for fund managers and their investors. In his spare time, Perrin remains a competitive athlete and stays busy with Crossfit, skiing, and several intramural sports leagues within NYC. Perrin also enjoys spending time mentoring students about the benefits of careers in STEM.
Kelli ReedPrincipal ConsultantEnterprise Iron Financial Industry Solutions, Inc.
Kelli has worked in the retirement industry for over 35 years. Over the years, Kelli has been responsible for, and proficient in, many facets of retirement plans including: vendor relationship management, plan document generation system testing and support, pre-approved plan document content and review, individually designed plan analysis, compliance training for operations staff, writing and maintaining department procedures, analyzing effects of new legislation on plan design and plan operations, development and ongoing support of a custom change management system, workflow management, nondiscrimination testing and 5500 returns.
Lee ReganDirector of Product ManagementFinancial Fitness Group
Lee Regan has over 20 years of product development, graphic design, UX/UI, and advertising experience. He leads Product Development at Financial Fitness Group, working closely with financial service firms to create financial education experiences. Lee has worked with such large companies as Lockheed Martin building training simulators for the US Navy as well as played a major creative role in branding products lines such as Qualcomm – Mirasol. Lee spent 3 years before arriving at Financial Fitness Group as a Public speaker with Google traveling the country for the Google Partner program.
Michelle RichterExecutive DirectorInstitutional retirement income council
Michelle Richter is Executive Director, Institutional Retirement Income Council, and Founder of MRG Advisors, LLC. She has twenty years of experience inventing, deploying, advocating for, and growing innovative products (trademarkable IP) and programs (servicemarkable IP) that create a scalable intersection between the historically disparate worlds of Insurance and wealth management.
Michelle earned a bachelor's degree in Economics from Wesleyan University, and an MBA in both Management and Finance from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Michelle is both an investment adviser and an insurance advisor, and she is neither an agent nor a currently registered representative.
Emmanuel RomanChief Executive OfficerPIMCO
Mr. Roman is PIMCO's chief executive officer and a managing director of the firm. As CEO, he serves on PIMCO's Executive Committee and has executive oversight of the firm's client and business areas, including broad strategy-setting and resource management.
Prior to joining PIMCO in 2016, Mr. Roman was CEO at Man Group PLC, one of the world's largest publicly traded alternative asset managers and a leader in liquid, high-alpha investment strategies. Previously, he was chief operating officer at Man Group from 2010–2013, and co-chief executive officer at GLG Partners, Inc., prior to the firm's acquisition by Man Group in 2010. Earlier in his career, he was with Goldman Sachs for 18 years, serving as co-head of worldwide global securities and co-head of the European services division. He has served as a trustee of the Hedge Fund Standards Board Ltd. as well as a trustee of the Paris Review of Books, the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Tate Foundation and the University of Chicago. He has 33 years of investment experience and holds an MBA in finance and econometrics from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from the University of Paris IX Dauphine.
Tim RouseExecutive DirectorSPARK Institute
Tim has over thirty years of experience in the financial services industry mainly within retirement services of large mutual fund companies. For the past twenty-five years Tim has worked with major plan sponsors in state and local governments, corporations, Taft-Hartley plans, nonprofit hospitals, colleges and universities. Over his career Tim has worked with Voya Financial, Fidelity Investments, ICMA Retirement Corporation and The Vanguard Group.
Tim is a former President of the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators' Industry Board and a graduate of Villanova University.
Jacqueline RynnHead of Product DevelopmentSS&C Technologies
Jacqueline Rynn is a highly accomplished product and marketing executive with 25 years’ experience in the defined contribution and retirement services industry. Ms. Rynn joined SS&C RS through the acquisition of DST Systems in 2018, and currently oversees product development and client implementations in support of all rollover, retirement income, retirement intelligence and advisor practice management solutions. Previously, Ms. Rynn held various executive level positions with industry leaders including Wealth Management Systems Inc. (WMSI), CIGNA, Fidelity Investments and Bankers Trust. Ms. Rynn has extensive consultative experience working with clients to implement platform solutions designed to achieve targeted revenue and market share objectives.
Ms. Rynn holds a B.A. in Economics from Fordham University in New York and holds both series 6 and 63 designations.
Tina SanchezNational Accounts, RetirementBlackRock
Tina Sanchez, Managing Director, is head of BlackRock Retirement Group’s U.S. & Canada Defined Contribution National Accounts team. Her team is responsible for formulating and executing the home office strategy with BlackRock’s DC clients and for developing and maintaining relationships with all recordkeepers and insurers including investment placements, product development and distribution within the client’s retirement business.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Sanchez worked at Legg Mason in the Defined Contribution Group. At Legg, she was a senior member within relationship management in the DC and sub advised space. Prior to her time at Legg Mason, Tina worked at Pioneer Investments in numerous sales and relationship management roles within both retail and defined contribution. Ms. Sanchez graduated from Saint Michael’s College, cum laude, with a major in International Business Administration.
Troy SandeSenior Director, New MarketsAllianz Life
Sonya SbarSVP, Chief Product and Strategy OfficerMissionSquare Retirement
Lee Ann SchwartzManager - Retirement Plan DesignSS&C Technologies
Lee Ann Schwartz is the manager of the Plan Design team at SS&C. Lee Ann has over expert with 25 years in the industry, with experience ranging from plan administration, plan design, new client implementations, product development, admin team and call center training, technical design, client and participant communications and relationship management.
Joe SmolenSenior Vice President, Core & Institutional MarketsEmpower
Joe Smolen is a Senior Vice President for Empower Retirement. In his role, he leads the core market segment, which consists of retirement plans with under $50 million in assets and includes some 26,000 plans and 2 million participants. Joe is responsible for strategy development as well as all new business acquisition, client satisfaction, retention and financial results.
Since 1999, Joe has held numerous sales and leadership positions with the organization. As Vice President of Sales Strategy, he led an initiative to recast the core market’s internal sales strategy, and as Regional Vice President for the western territory, he grew sales roughly 24% a year over 10 years. He has also served as a Pension Consultant covering 21 states and was named national salesperson of the year twice.
Joe holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Kansas State University. He is on the board of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, Great-West Capital Management, Advised Assets Group and the Plan Administrative Committee – Welfare Benefits at Empower. In addition, Joe is involved with the Tim Tebow Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.
David StedmanCEOBrightDime
Leah SylvesterPartner, Director of Retirement Plan ServicesShepherd Financial
Leah Sylvester is a partner and the Director of Retirement Plan Services at Shepherd Financial in Carmel, Indiana. Aside from spending time with her husband, Aaron, and their kids, Cameron and Claire, Leah loves a great glass of wine, a snazzy pair of heels, and cheering for her beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish!
Stacy ThompsonLead Manager, Plan DocumentationFIS
Stacy Thompson is a Senior Operations Manager at FIS for a team responsible for providing administrative policy and plan document services to plan sponsor clients. Stacy earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Marshall University and has served the retirement plan industry for more than twenty years, originally working with third party administrators before joining T. Rowe Price in 2015, and subsequently FIS in 2021, where he continues to focus on retirement plan operations and compliance.
Chris TinsleyVP Private Fund LiquidityNasdaq
Stacey TovrovHead of Investment Strategy, Retirement Solutions Within Multi-Asset Strategies & SolutionsBlackRock
Stacey Tovrov, Director, is the Head of Investment Strategy on the Retirement Solutions ("RS") team within BlackRock's Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions ("MASS") group. RS serves as the center for Lifecycle investing, bringing together expertise in research, portfolio management, strategy, and technology. She is responsible for representing the global LifePath target date fund franchise and delivering solutions drawing from BlackRock's broader retirement capabilities to institutional investors, consultants, and financial professionals. Prior to joining Retirement Solution, Ms. Tovrov was focused on product development and strategy as a member of the Multi-Asset Strategies group focusing on the firm's sustainable investment solutions, as well as a member of the Strategic Product Management group.
As a member of the BlackRock Portfolio Management group, she was responsible for executing strategic projects and business management initiatives across all of the firm's investment teams. Ms. Tovrov joined BlackRock in 2008 as part of the institutional client business in New York and London, where she was responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with the firm's central bank, sovereign wealth fund, and other official institution clients. Ms. Tovrov earned a BA degree in economics and international relations from Tufts University.
Jennifer Van HimbergenSr. Product ManagerCharles Schwab
Jennifer Van Himbergen joined Charles Schwab in 2000 and serves as a Workplace Financial Services Digital Product Manager. Jennifer is responsible for improving all customer-facing applications and services, including conceptualizing, and overseeing new products through the development and launch. She leads the ongoing management of the Retirement Plan Services customer-facing websites, which entails continued involvement with our clients and Advisory Board to understand what is most important and impactful for our clients.
Jennifer has been a key driver in the creation of many current features of Schwab’s workplace websites. She spearheaded the new semi-annual certification process to ensure only contacts who require access to the site retain their access and adding trends and peer comparisons to the analytical reporting on the plan sponsor site.
Before joining Schwab, Jennifer had five years experience in the retirement planning industry with KeyBank, where she served as the Team Lead of large market operations.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Cleveland State University. Has her Qualified Pension Administrator and Qualified 401(k) Administrator certificates from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). Has her Series 7 and 63.
Charles Van VleetAssistant Treasurer, CIOTextron Inc.
Charles Van Vleet is Assistant Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer of Pension Investments at Textron Inc., Providence RI. Together with an investment team of four, Charles has Trustee oversight of $14.6BN in defined benefit and defined contribution assets for Textron's U.S., Canada and UK Plans providing retirement security for over 65,00 current and past employees. The Textron retirement Plans are well funded with broadly diversified investments including private equity, hedge funds, real estate, fixed income, and public equity. In addition to investment oversight, Charles serves as a Member of Textron's Investment Committee, Investment Management group, Trustee and Chair of Textron’s UK Plans.
Prior to Textron, Charles spent 8 years as Director, Pension Investments at United Technologies in Hartford CT. Prior to pension investment Charles spent 25 years in the asset management divisions of Credit Suisse, Putnam Investments, Alliance Capital, Brown Brothers Harriman, and Nomura Securities. At different times -living and working in New York, London, and Tokyo- he has had the opportunity to manage ‘40 Act mutual funds, high net worth, endowment, public pension and corporate pension funds.
Charles holds bachelors' degrees in Economics and Political Science from UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA, and an MBA from the University of CT (UCONN) in Storrs, CT. Charles serves on the investment advisory board for the Lifespan endowment, Rhode Island's largest nonprofit health care system. In addition, he serves on the advisory board for Rhode Island’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), advisory committee for the Washington DC based, Managed Fund Association (MFA), and Defined Contribution Alternatives Association (DCALTA).
Cindy VolkerVP, Product Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory CommunicationsBroadridge
Cindy Volker is the Vice President of Product Strategy for marketing and regulatory communications with Broadridge's Mutual Fund and Retirement business. In this role, she leads a team of experts who work with leading retirement providers to help them develop best-in-class digital marketing and regulatory experiences for their plan participants, advisors and sponsors.
Cindy has over 20 years of financial marketing experience and is a leading expert on marketing and regulatory trends in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Broadridge, Cindy held similar roles in strategy, digital marketing, business transformation and benefits management positions with fortune 500 firms.
Cindy is a frequent author, speaker and contributor to industry associations on the topic of digital transformation, customer experience design and regulatory strategy in financial firms.
Josh WeinsteinVice President, Retirement Income SolutionsFidelity Investments
Josh Weinstein is a vice president at Fidelity Investments responsible for bringing Lifetime Income Solutions to the Workplace. Josh joined Fidelity in 2000 and has since been focused on supporting customers as they plan for and transition into retirement. He is a strategic and visionary product leader with 20+ years of experience delivering advisor and self-led digital experiences.
In 2008, Josh left Fidelity for almost 5 years to join Morgan Stanley where he was responsible for implementing a new planning platform. He then joined BOA/ML to lead the team focused on building and delivering Wealth Management Tools across all channels from High Net Worth through Merrill Edge. Prior to joining Fidelity, Josh worked at Reed Elsevier as part of a global team based in London tasked with building out a global sales platform.
Josh received his undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut, and his MBA from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University .
Mike WesthovenManaging Director, Corporate Retirement SolutionsTIAA
Mike Westhoven has been at the forefront of connecting lifetime income to retirement plans for over 16 years. His in-depth knowledge of lifetime income product design, risk and operation has been instrumental in an industry leading number of successful income launches across multiple institutional platforms.
Mike brings more than 25 years of operational, financial and insurance business experience to this role. Most recent to joining TIAA, he worked with a number of Fintech companies and came directly from his Product Leader role at Micruity helping employers add lifetime income to retirement plans through cutting-edge technology. Prior, he led DST Retirement Income Solutions and served as Vice President, Institutional Retirement Income Group, for Genworth Financial after leading GE Financial Assurance’s fixed deferred and immediate annuity products lines.
Mike earned an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth and a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He is a USAF veteran and currently resides in Richmond, VA with his wife. His three children are (mostly) out of the house.
Concetta YatesVP Customer Strategy and Industry SolutionsSS&C Technologies
As our Vice President of Customer Strategy and Industry Solutions - Americas, Concetta is responsible for leading a cross functional team focused on building repeatable industry market opportunities and strategic relationships, delivering industry focused solutions, and driving customer centric value through the adoption and expansion of our SS&C Blue Prism portfolio. Concetta is also responsible for developing new innovative ways to help customers achieve their business outcomes with our technology.
Concetta has over 25 years in the software and hardware business and graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Masters of Science in Information and Telecommunication Systems, as well as Stevenson University with a B.S. in Business Information Systems.
Prior to joining SS&C Blue Prism, Concetta lead the Global Pursuit Strategy team at Cohesity where she increased market penetration by expanding business and financial value creating solutions for customers and partners taking the business to triple-digit growth.
Jerry YenCEO, FounderdailyVest
Jerry Yen leads strategy for dailyVest, a fintech firm delivering plan health analytics, intuitive reporting, and automated participant email personalization tools for recordkeepers, plan advisors, and plan sponsors. Since 2019, he has successfully raised capital, led strategic planning, launched new products, and acquired users for multiple innovative startups, including crypto/blockchain analytics, DeFi, estate planning, video streaming, and his own firm, Advice Analytics. Prior to founding Advice Analytics, Yen developed and expanded digital managed accounts services and revenues for GuidedChoice. Previously, Yen held executive roles in strategy, sales, marketing, and product management at HP, Gateway, and multiple startups across fintech, consumer electronics, video streaming, and software. Yen also created rocket trajectory innovations that later became standards for the U.S. launch vehicle fleet. Yen holds degrees from UCLA, Northwestern, and Stanford University in aerospace engineering and business.