8:00 – 8:20 am Welcome & Opening Remarks

Tim Rouse, Executive Director, SPARK Institute

8:20 – 9:20 am SPARK Advisor Award Winners Announced. Hear Innovative Ideas from Winners

Tim Rouse, Executive Director, SPARK Institute

9:20 – 10:15 am DOL  & Participant Experience: How to Create Great Experiences & Comply with New Ruling

Cynthia Hayes, President, Oculus Partners, LLC

Cynthia Hayes from Oculus Consulting will present a two part session incorporating some recent SPARK survey responses on the DOL Fiduciary Rule.

10:15 – 10:45 am Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Envestnet

10:45 – 11:35 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – The ROI of a Connected Financial Network

Christen Marsenison, Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Envisage Information Systems

How do you connect with participants when most young people would rather go the dentist than to a bank? Christen Marsenison will discuss how a connected financial network leads to effective engagement strategies. The intersection of segmentation, robo-advising and fiduciary regulations will be covered. Data, and more specifically the sending and sharing of data, is going to play in increasingly important role in retirement. This session brings thought provoking ideas about how we as an industry could better and more strategically use data to increase that all-important ROI.

SESSION B – How Audits are Evolving to Reflect Cybersecurity

Jeff Schaeffer, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting (moderator)
Eddie Holt, Partner, KPMG
Scott Margolis, Director, Financial Services Cybersecurity & Privacy, PwC

Cybersecurity is an ever-increasing threat to Governments, Businesses and Non-Profits. For these organizations, preventing a breach to their information assets makes this issue a key priority. In this session you will hear from two of the World’s largest audit firms on what organizations are doing to minimize these threats and about the AICPA’s new guidelines for recognizing the risks cybercrimes pose to the overall financial health of an organizations.

11:40 – 12:30 pm Rollovers: Considerations & Opportunities Under the New DOL Fiduciary Rule

Colleen Bell, First Vice President, Fiduciary Services, Cambridge Investment Research
John Leis, Vice President, Personal Financial Solutions, American Century Investments
Larry McQuaid, Director of Sales, Retirement Solutions, DST
Chris Robino, Vice President, ERISA Compliance, Boston Financial

The DOL fiduciary rule is compelling providers, recordkeepers and sponsors to carefully review their practices around giving advice and the handling of rollovers. This panel will provide a cross-section of expertise and perspective to discuss how the fiduciary rule is accelerating trends and changing the rollover landscape. Discussions will highlight the challenges with how to offer choice, education versus advice, integration at the plan level and how automation can streamline the process and minimize time out of market. This session will tie the servicing challenges back to the participant’s experience, including ease of use, education for better decision making and greater control of their assets.

12:30 – 1:30 pmLunch – Sponsored by LifeCents

1:30 – 2:20 pm The Plan Sponsor’s Perspective

Heather Lavallee, President of Tax-Exempt Markets, Voya Financial (moderator)
Dan Kimmel, Finance & Operations Program Manager, State of Delaware
Andrea Romisher, SVP, Compensation & Benefits, Kindred Healthcare
John Scott, Director, Retirement Savings, Pew Charitable Trust

Three plan sponsors will share their views on what they need and want from service providers. They will also provide you with a glimpse into their larger world and what is important to plan sponsors like them. So come hear from the State of Delaware, Kindred Healthcare and John Scott from the Pew Research Center, who just finished research into what small and mid-size employers think about retirement plans.

2:20 – 2:50 am Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Voya Financial

2:55 – 3:45 pm BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – Client Onboarding: Best Practices, Challenges and SPARK Member Survey Results

Peter Lohri, Partner, Enterprise Iron Industry Financial Solutions, Inc.
Tim Scott, Partner, Enterprise Iron Industry Financial Solutions, Inc.
Brian Smerdell, COO, Enterprise Iron Industry Financial Solutions, Inc.

If you are facing the headache of manual client onboarding or having data issues in transitioning clients to your system, please join Enterprise Iron experts, Brian Smerdell, Tim Scott and Peter Lohri, for a facilitated group discussion of client onboarding issues. During this session you will learn what challenges your peers are facing, compare best practices and review results from a SPARK member survey addressing their onboarding experiences. The session will also explore ways to streamline the onboarding process through automation resulting in reduced costs and implementation time.

SESSION B – 401(k): Time To Get Personal

Tim McCabe, Senior Vice President, Stadion Money Management

In the 10 years since the PPA was enacted, target date funds have claimed most inbound plan assets. The Act itself and TDFs accommodate the historical reality that participants often don’t participate in active ways. Its time now to recognize that any solution that doesn’t consider the individual may not be personal enough. The time is now to consider the individual preferences, means and goals of each participant rather than mass-maneuvering them into the one-size-fits-all approaches of the past.

3:50 – 4:50 pm Retirement Industry Trends & Insights

Barbara March, CEO, BridgePoint Group, LLC

While most firms are actively engaged in managing the changes imposed by the DOL fiduciary rule, few are as focused on the collective impact of broad industry trends and potential market disruptors. Barbara will share insights into how the retirement industry is continuing to evolve. The session will highlight emerging market factors for consideration as you look beyond the DOL deadline, toward strategies for long-term success.

5:00 – 7:00 pm Reception with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Ascensus

7:00 – 8:00 am Continental Breakfast with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Keystone Partners

8:00 – 8:15 am Opening Remarks

Tim Rouse, Executive Director, SPARK Institute

8:15 – 9:15 am Economic Update

Dr. David Kelly, Chief Global Strategist, J.P. Morgan Funds

Dr. Kelly will provide a current guide to the state of the financial markets and review the implications for retirement plan service providers. Specifically, he will: assess the equity markets, examining earnings, valuations and a tailwind of cash; discuss fixed income trends; take a look at what is happening in Europe and in emerging markets; and examine the risks to the outlook.

9:20 – 10:10 am BREAKOUT SESSIONS

SESSION A – Future Shock: The Retirement Loan Default Crisis

Tom Schendt, Partner, Alston & Bird
Tod Ruble, CEO, Custodia Financial

Loan defaults are a serious problem in the 401(k) industry and are a leading cause of retirement “leakage,” potentially setting up many hard-working Americans for future shock instead of retirement security. Involuntary loan defaults and subsequent cash outs are unnecessary and can be eliminated. Learn about solutions to the loan default problem that will improve retirement outcomes and provide proactive plan fiduciaries with much deserved peace of mind.

SESSION B – The Healthcare Industry Approach to Cybersecurity & Privacy

Dan Nutkis, Founder and CEO, HITrust Alliance
Mike Parisi, HITrust National Services Lead, PwC

HiTrust is the Health Information Trust Alliance . It was born out of the Federal HIPPA requirements and the need for data security controls in among healthcare providers. The DOL introduced HiTrust to SPARK and suggested their Data Security framework could be beneficial to our industry as we look to create a similar framework for defined Contribution plans. In this session Dan Nutkis, the CEO and Founder of HiTrust will provide his thoughts and insights into what our Industry should consider.

10:15 – 10:45 pm Break with Exhibitors – Sponsored by Social Security Solutions

10:45 – 11:35 am Innovations in Plan Administration & Services

Joe Rathgeb, Vice President, Product Strategy, DST (moderator)
Brian Hamilton, Vice President, Financial Wellness, Ramsey Solutions / SmartDollar
Allegra Heyligers, EVP Client Service & Engagement, BrightScope
William Meyer, CEO and Founder, Social Security Solutions
Elaine Varelas, Managing Partner, Keystone Partners

The purpose of this session is to think beyond current ways of servicing plan sponsors and participants. In this session you will hear from innovators who offer products and services that target the retirement market and can be added to existing products and services offered by SPARK members today. Each panelists presents a very different and unique product or service that some might find intriguing and creative. In the end this session is meant to encourage members to imagine new and different things that plan sponsors and participant might find useful.

10:35 – 10:55 pm Break / Check Out

11:55 – 12:45 pm Legislative & Regulatory Update

Bruce Wolfe, Managing Director, BlackRock Retirement Institute
Chris Gaston, Senior Policy Director, Davis & Harman LLP
Mike Hadley, Partner, Davis & Harman LLP

Davis & Harman LLP, The SPARK Institute’s outside counsel, will provide an up-to-the-minute update on activities in Congress including breaking retirement policy developments.