Michael L. Davis
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, US Department of Labor
Michael Davis was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on May 5, 2009. Mr. Davis assists the Assistant Secretary in directing the policy, regulatory, enforcement and public assistance functions of the office responsible for administering the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and several health benefit laws. He also serves as a liaison to other government agencies and the private sector on a variety of issues relating to ERISA.
Prior to his appointment, he was managing director and head of the west region institutional client group for JPMorgan Asset Management. In this role since 2004, he managed a large, multi-sector team that served the investment needs of major institutional investors across the western US, including corporate, public and multi-employer plan sponsors. The team worked across multiple asset classes and covered defined benefit, defined contribution, insurance, and endowment and foundation clients. Previously, he spent six years with the firm as a client advisor for major institutional investor relationships across the upper midwest. Before 1998, Michael worked six years with JPMorgan Securities, Inc. as an investment banker in New York City.
Mr. Davis has served as a director or investment committee member for several organizations. Additionally, he has previously been a member of the Society for Pension Professionals, the Executive Leadership Council and has completed the Wharton School’s Pension Funds and Money Management Program (1998). In 2006, he was named one of the “75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street” by Black Enterprise and has received several other industry and civic awards.
Mr. Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He resides in Arlington, VA with his wife and three children.
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Greg Dean
General Counsel, Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee
Greg Dean currently serves as general counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). Prior to joining the HELP Committee, Greg was the staff director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Securities and Investment responsible for oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Wall Street as well as the insurance and related industries. Greg has also served as the finance counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Small Business and the Banking Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Before working for the U.S. Congress, he acted as the assistant general counsel for National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Regulation, Inc., the primary regulatory entity for the broker/dealer industry and the regulator for the NASDAQ stock market. Greg's first job in Washington, D.C. was in the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy serving as the assistant chief counsel for Banking and Finance.
Greg received his bachelor's degree in English from Villanova University and received his law degree from Widener University School of Law. In addition to his distinguished career on Capital Hill, Greg is co-author of Small Business Lending in the United States, Small Business Lending by Bank Holding Companies, and Micro-Lending in the United States for 1994-1998, using newly published call report and Community Reinvestment Act data. Greg was nominated by U.S. Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) and was selected through a highly competitive process to become a John C. Stennis Congressional Staff Fellow for the 110th Congress.
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Lynn Dudley
Senior Vice President, Policy, American Benefits Council
Lynn Dudley is senior vice president, policy, for the American Benefits Council. In this role, Lynn directs the Council's advocacy efforts regarding defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation and most health care issues. The Hill newspaper has frequently recognized her as one of the most effective advocates in Washington, D.C.
Lynn has held senior positions at the Council since 1991, including stints as vice president, retirement policy and vice president and senior counsel. Prior to joining the Council, Lynn was a legal consultant for Sungard Employee Benefits Systems, Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, she was engaged in the private practice of law for several years with the law firm of Berkowitz, Lefkovitz, Isom and Kushner of Birmingham. After earning her undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University, Lynn received a L.L.M. in taxation from the University of Florida in 1983 and a law degree from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University in 1982. She is a member of the Alabama State Bar and the Georgia State Bar. Lynn is a frequent speaker on benefits policy issues.
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Cynthia L. Egan
President, Retirement Plan Services, T. Rowe Price
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Jason Furman
Deputy Director, National Economic Council
Furman took leave from the Brookings Institution to become the Economic Policy Director of Obama for America, where he helped develop and communicate the campaign’s policies. He was a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings. He began his career in public service during the Clinton administration, as a Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers and subsequently a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the National Economic Council. In addition, he was a Senior Adviser to the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. Furman has also worked on research and in academia as a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, as a visiting lecturer at Yale and Columbia Universities, as a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and at the Brookings Institution. He has conducted research in a wide range of areas, including fiscal policy, tax policy, health economics, Social Security, and monetary policy. Published in a variety of scholarly journals and popular publications, he recently edited two economic policy books. Furman earned his Ph.D. in economics and a M.A. in government from Harvard University and an M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics. He is married with two young children.
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François Gadenne
Chairman and Executive Director, Retirement Income Industry Association
François Gadenne is co-founder, Chairman and Executive Director of the Retirement Income Industry Association, (RIIA). Based in Boston and drawing members from all segments of the financial services industry, RIIA (www.riia-usa.org ) provides “the View Across the Silos”. The association serves both as a think tank to analyze retirement income issues and as an incubator to facilitate the exchange of new ideas, concepts and knowledge between institutions interested in building retirement income businesses.
He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the CFA Institute and a Lecturer at Boston University’s School of Management, MS in Investment Management Program. He is a graduate of the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris and earned an MBA degree from J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
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William G. Gale
Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institute
William Gale is the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy in the Economic Studies Program at Brookings. His research focuses on tax policy, fiscal policy, pensions and saving behavior. He is co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. He is also director of the Retirement Security Project. From 2006 to 2009, he served as a Vice President of Brookings and Director of the Economic Studies Program.
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Sherrie Grabot
Chief Executive Officer, GuidedChoice
Sherrie joined with Nobel laureate, Harry Markowitz, PhD in 1999 to revolutionize the way retirement plan participants made decisions. Today, our capabilities are unparalleled, merging our expertise in the retirement plan markets with powerful analytical tools to provide easy to use solutions for plan participants.
Prior to GuidedChoice, Sherrie was Sr. Vice President at Trust Company of the West (TCW), responsible for the Defined Contribution Business Unit. Before joining TCW, Sherrie held executive positions at a variety of companies integrating pension benefits, technology and investments. These companies include T. Rowe Price, Apple Computer and Commercial Financial Services. She has served as Chairman of the ERISA Advisory Council, AeA Board member and LUPAC member.
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Brian H. Graff
Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, ASPPA
Brian H. Graff began serving as ASPPA’s Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer on November 8, 1996.
An attorney and certified public accountant, Brian was formerly legislative counsel to the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation where he provided policy and technical analysis relating to pensions and employee benefits, health care, and Social Security to members of Congress. While working for Congress, Brian participated in the development of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Brian was associated with the Washington, DC, law firm, The Groom Law Group, which specializes in employee benefits.
Brian has served as a delegate to all of the White House/Congressional National Summits on Retirement Savings. He is also a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Employee Benefits Committee, serves on the board of the Small Business Council of America, and is a founding member of the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) Advisory Council. Brian has testified several times before Congress and the DOL ERISA Advisory Council on issues affecting national retirement income policy. He is a frequent speaker at various national employee benefit conferences.
In 2006, Brian was named as Institutional Investor News’ Washington Impact Player of the Year. He is also one of 401k Wire’s “50 Most Influential Persons in the 401(k) Industry.”
Brian received his doctoral degree in law, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia. He holds a bachelor of science in accounting with distinction from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
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Kelli Hueler
Chief Executive Officer, Hueler Companies
Kelli Hueler is CEO and founder of Hueler Companies, an independent data and research firm providing reporting and systems designed for the annuity and stable value marketplace. Hueler Companies was founded in 1987 and today the firm’s data, market research and analytical reporting are considered the industry standard.
Under Kelli’s leadership, the company developed and launched Income Solutions®; a ground breaking annuity purchase platform. The platform was designed to empower transitioning employees in need of creating a personal lifetime income stream by providing on-line access to competitively bid, institutionally priced annuities. Today the Income Solutions® program is the leading model of its kind for lifetime income annuity delivery to retirees. The program has been adopted by some of the industry’s leading plan administrators and plan sponsors.
Kelli is nationally recognized as a key contributor on the topic of lifetime income creation. She has testified before the DOL ERISA Advisory Council on annuitization at the point of retirement, presented at the Wharton Pension Research Council, and was tapped to participate in the National Endowment of Financial Education’s think tank on income sufficiency. She presented at the Employee Benefit Research Institutes’ National Forum on retirement income sufficiency and addressed a national audience at the AARP’s “Divided We Fail” initiative in Washington DC.
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J. Mark Iwry
Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Retirement and Health Policy, US Department of Treasury
In April 2009, J. Mark Iwry was tapped by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as Senior Advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary. In this newly created position, Mark is responsible for executive compensation, pensions, retirement savings and health care.
Before that, Mark was a principal of the Washington-based Retirement Security Project, a joint effort of The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation. He remains a non-resident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution.
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Christine Marcks
President, Retirement Services, Prudential
Christine is president of Prudential Retirement, an industry leading, full-service retirement plan provider for small, mid and large plan sponsors in the corporate, public, non-profit and Taft Hartley retirement markets. Prior to this position, Christine has served in a number of leadership roles in retirement and related financial-services businesses, including responsibility for both institutional and individual retirement businesses.
Prior to joining Prudential, Christine was senior vice president at ING/Aetna Retirement Services for many years in the retirement and investment divisions. As an economist, she also held a variety of positions earlier in her career in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Treasury Department, Department of Labor and on Capitol Hill.
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Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
As North Dakota’s lone representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1992, Congressman Earl Pomeroy has earned a reputation as an independent-minded leader who brings North Dakota common sense to the debate over issues that affect our nation.
During his time in Congress, Pomeroy has made the concerns of North Dakota his top priority. Called “articulate, cheerful and sincere” by the Almanac of American Politics and a “billboard for North Dakota values” by the Bismarck Tribune, Pomeroy’s leadership and hard work earned him a spot on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. This post gives him influence over key policy decisions on taxes, trade, Social Security and Medicare issues.
In addition, Pomeroy is one of the few members of the Ways and Means Committee to secure a post on a second House committee. His leadership and advocacy on behalf of rural America earned him a special waiver allowing him to also hold a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.
With his dual roles in the House committees that oversee tax and agriculture policy, Pomeroy was in a unique position to shape the last farm bill to provide a stronger safety net for family farmers and ranchers in North Dakota. His ongoing work has made him one of the nation’s most respected advocates of producers and rural America.
Pomeroy is the Co-Chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Care Coalition, where he is working for policies that strengthen rural hospitals so they can continue their vital service to our smaller communities.
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Robert Reynolds
President and Chief Executive Officer, Putnam Investments
Robert is President and Chief Executive Officer of Putnam Investments, a member of Putnam Investments' Executive Board of Directors, and President of the Putnam Funds. He has more than 30 years of investment and financial services experience.
Prior to joining Putnam Investments in 2008, Mr. Reynolds was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Investments from 2000 to 2007. During this time, he served on the Board of Directors for FMR Corporation, Fidelity Investments Insurance Ltd., Fidelity Investments Canada Ltd., and Fidelity Management Trust Company. He was also a Trustee of the Fidelity Family of Funds. From 1984 to 2000, Mr. Reynolds served in a number of increasingly responsible leadership roles at Fidelity.
Robert serves on several not-for-profit boards, including those of the West Virginia University Foundation, Concord Museum, Dana- Farber Cancer Institute, Lahey Clinic, and Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in Boston. He is a member of the Chief Executives Club of Boston, the National Innovation Initiative, and the Council on Competitiveness.
Robert received a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from West Virginia University.
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Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Born and raised in the community of Janesville, Paul Ryan is a fifth-generation Wisconsin native. Currently serving his sixth term as a Member of Congress, Paul works to address the many important issues affecting Wisconsin residents and serve as an effective advocate for the First Congressional District.
He is the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, where he works to bring fiscal discipline and accountability to the federal government. He is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, Social Security, health care and trade laws. Paul has focused his recent legislative efforts on addressing our long-term fiscal crisis: the explosion of entitlement spending.
Paul is a graduate of Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville and earned a degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Ohio.
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Dallas L. Salisbury
President and Chief Executive Officer, Employee Benefits Research Institute
Dallas Salisbury, President and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), joined EBRI as the chief staff executive at its founding in 1978.
Dallas regularly testifies at congressional and commission hearings and appears in print and broadcast media around the world. Dallas serves on a number of advisory groups and boards. He is currently a Social Security Administration Appointee to the Outside Scholar Panels for the SSA's Financial Literacy Research Consortium, the Securities and Exchange Commission Investor Advisory Committee, the Board of Advisors to the Comptroller General of the United States, and the Board of Directors of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR) and a member of the Board of Directors of NAHR. He has served on the Secretary of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council, the presidentially appointed PBGC Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the Society for Human Resources Management, the U.S. Advisory Panel on Medicare Education, the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and numerous other commissions and advisory groups.
Prior to joining EBRI, Dallas held full-time positions with the Washington State Legislature, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). He holds a B.A. degree in finance from the University of Washington and an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Dallas grew up in Everett, Washington, and now resides in Washington, D.C.
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Paul Schott Stevens
President and Chief Executive Officer, Investment Company Institute
Paul Schott Stevens has served as president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute (ICI) since June 2004. From 1993 to 1997, he was ICI's general counsel. Outside ICI, Stevens' career has included varied roles in private law practice, as corporate counsel, and in government service. From 1999 to 2004, he was a leader of the financial services practice of Dechert LLP, an international law firm. He was general counsel for mutual funds and international enterprise at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. in San Francisco from 1997-99. Earlier in his career, he was a partner and associate of Dickstein Shapiro & Morin in Washington. Between 1985 and 1989, Stevens served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to President Reagan, as Executive Secretary and Legal Adviser of the National Security Council, and in other senior positions at the White House and the Pentagon. Upon leaving government service, he received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, DOD's highest civilian decoration.
From 1995-98, he chaired the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security. Stevens serves on the board and executive committee of ICI Mutual Insurance Co. He is a member of the finance council of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, and chairs its investment committee. He also is a member of the Life Guard Society of Mount Vernon, and serves on the Council of the Yale Library Associates and the Yale University Librarian’s Development Council. A Scholar of the House at Yale University, Stevens received his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1974; he received a J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1978.
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Jody M. Strakosch
National Director, Retirement Products
Jody is the National Director responsible for developing and servicing strategic alliances through co-branding and private labeling partnerships for retirement income programs with major financial services firms. Jody speaks frequently on behalf of MetLife about retirement income with the press, public policymakers and at conferences.
Jody has been spearheading this effort for the last six years and has been with MetLife for over 25 years. Prior to her current position, Jody was the National Director, Client Investment Consulting & Relationship Management. She managed several of MetLife’s largest 401(k) recordkeeping clients. Prior to that, Jody held many client-facing roles including direct sales, client management, and investment consulting in the defined benefit, defined contribution, and 403(b) markets. She has also directed diverse marketing functions including developing marketing support materials, product development, market research, and advertising and public relations.
Jody graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts. She has the CLU designation and holds FINRA Series 6, 63, & 26 licenses.
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Stephen P. Utkus
Director of Retirement Research, Vanguard
Stephen P. Utkus is the director of the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research. The Center, part of Vanguard Strategic Retirement Consulting, conducts and sponsors research on retirement savings and retirement benefits in the United States. Its work is designed to assist employers, consultants, policymakers, and the media in understanding developments in the U.S. retirement system. The Center conducts its own research on individual savings and investment behavior, and collaborates with leading academic and industry researchers on topics of mutual interest.
Stephen is a member of the advisory board of the Wharton Pension Research Council, and is currently a visiting scholar at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He received an undergraduate degree in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School.
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Michele Varnhagen, Esq.
Labor Policy Director, House Education and Workforce Committee
Michele has been the labor counsel and coordinator for the US House Committee on Education and Workforce since 1999. She received her BA in Economics from New York University. She then went on to receive her JD from Catholic University School of Law.
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Lina Walker
Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, AARP Public Policy Institute
Lina Walker is a Senior Strategic Policy Advisor in AARP's Public Policy Institute, where she works on issues relating to long-term care and economic security. Walker’s more recent work examines the ways in which individuals are preparing for, and financing, retirement and long- term care expenses. Previously, she was the Research Director for the Retirement Security Project – a joint project between the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University, and Research Assistant Professor at Georgetown Public Policy Institute. Prior to her tenure at the Retirement Security Project, she worked at the Congressional Budget Office on Social Security and disability issues. Walker also worked at the Office of Policy Analysis of the Maryland General Assembly, where she focused exclusively on Medicaid and long-term care. Walker has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Walter C. Welsh
Executive Vice President, Taxes & Retirement Security, American Council of Life Insurers
Walter C. Welsh joined the American Council of Life Insurers as executive vice president, taxes and retirement security in November 2007. Walter previously served as senior vice president and director of corporate and government relations for Hartford Life Inc., a subsidiary of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. At ACLI, Walter oversees policy development on federal tax and retirement security issues facing the life insurance industry. Earlier in his career, he worked in private law providing tax, estate and retirement planning for clients and as a trial attorney for the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.
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Debra Bailey Whitman
Staff Director, Senate Special Committee on Aging
Debra Bailey Whitman serves as the Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging where she works to advance Chairman Herb Kohl’s agenda to improve our nation’s nursing homes, lower the cost of health care and increase retirement security for all Americans. Previously, Dr. Whitman worked for the Congressional Research Service as a specialist in the economics of aging. In this capacity, she provided members of Congress and their staff with research and advice and authored analytical reports describing the economic impacts of current policies affecting older Americans, as well as the distributional and intergenerational effects of legislative proposals. From 2001 to 2003, Whitman served as a Brookings LEGIS Fellow to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, working as a health policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Earlier in her career, Debra conducted research on savings and retirement for the Social Security Administration, helping to establish the Retirement Research Consortium and serving as the founding editor of the Perspectives section of the Social Security Bulletin. She holds a Masters and Doctorate in Economics from Syracuse University and a Bachelors in Economics, Math and Italian from Gonzaga University.
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