2022 Retirement Industry Conference Agenda

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

4:15 pm - 5:15 pm: Breakout Sessions

1. The Rise of RILAs and Competitive Alternatives

Marie-Laurie Chandumont, Managing Director, Barclays

Marie-Laure Chandumont leads Barclays’ equity derivatives team and has 20+ years’ experience hedging annuities. In this session, she will compare and contrast RILAs with Structured Products and Defined Outcome ETFs, and discuss drivers of growth, cannibalization, tax, compensation, and credit risk. She will also uncover the pricing of RILAs, and why legacy VA blocks may or may not help carriers generate better pricing. Finally, she will provide an overview of unique RILA crediting strategies and features such as the Performance Lock to help attendees organize their thoughts around what has already become a crowded and complex segment of annuities.

2. Innovations for Target Date Approaches and Annuities

Benjamin Goodman, Director Actuarial Consulting Services, TIAA
Brian A. Roberts Senior Vice President Retirement, NFP
Hugh Penney, Sr Advisor Benefits Planning, Yale University

With growing trends toward default investment funds, overall retirement security, and guaranteed income in retirement, the involvement of insurance companies has been increasing in employer-sponsored plans.  This session will highlight emerging trends in approaches to providing solutions for participants on target-date funds, managed approaches to facilitate target-date concepts, and the growing trend towards annuities in qualified plans.

3. PEPs 2.0

Moderator: Deb Dupont, Assistant Vice President, Institutional Retirement Research, LIMRA, LOMA, and LL Global Inc.Ginger Brennan, Senior Vice President, Voya Financial                                                                        Christian Romano, VP, Strategic Partnerships, Vestwell
Don MacQuattie, Senior Vice President, Leader of Institutional & Retirement, Raymond James

A year in, how is the PEP market developing? Revisit a discussion from 2021 among PEP market players and the highlights of recent LLG research among smaller employers and advisors.

5:15 pm - 6:30 pm - Welcome Reception

Thursday, May 12, 2022

7:00 am - 8:00 am - Breakfast

8:00 am - 8:45 am - General Session

Welcome & Industry Update

Welcome to the conference.

8:45 am - 9:45 am - General Session

Harnessing the Power of Change

Information coming soon.

Bryan Hodgens, AIF - Corporate Vice President and Director, Distribution and Retirement & Annuity Research, LIMRA and LOMA

Alison Salka, Ph.D. - Senior Vice President and Director of Member Benefits Research, LIMRA and LOMA

Justin Singer - Principal, Retirement Leader, Ernst & Young LLP

9:45 am - 10:30 am - Break

10:30 am - 11:30 am: Breakout Sessions

4. Pick Me! How Do Recordkeepers Differentiate Themselves in a Rapidly Consolidating World?

Moderator: Chris Bailey, Principal Consultant, NMG
Kelly Hewes, Head of Core & Institutional Segments, Empower
Josh Forstater, National Sales Manager, Vestwell

“Consolidation,” “Economy of Scale,” Commoditization…” all are themes that characterize today’s recordkeeping landscape. This panel discussion of recordkeepers and industry thought leaders will explore how recordkeepers are navigating this increasingly challenging business.

5. Regulatory Priorities for the Insured Retirement Industry

Jason Berkowitz-Chief Legal & Regulatory Affairs Officer, IRI

Federal and state policymakers have spent considerable time and energy over the past dozen years in an effort to enhance the rules financial professionals must follow when working with retail clients. Great progress has already been made but the work continues. This session will provide a clear overview of the current standard of conduct landscape and a preview of how these rules might further evolve. We will also discuss the work being done to modernize the way annuities are sold and how the industry is trying to improve the client experience to suit the modern world.

11:30 am - 12:45 pm - Lunch

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm: Breakout Sessions

6. How ESG in Retirement is Evolving?

Margaret Dorn, Senior Director – Head of ESG Indices, Americas, S&P Dow Jones Indices
Thomas Bumbolow, Head of Business Development & Distribution, Midwest Holding Inc.

The last few years have been a turning point for ESG across the investment ecosystem. While you’d be hard-pressed to find a firm that isn’t thinking or talking about ESG in some capacity, we’ve yet to reach a point of broad ESG adoption within retirement solutions in the U.S. Is ESG poised for mainstream adoption within retirement? How might firms deliver ESG solutions that meet the retirement goals of end-users while navigating the challenges that lie ahead?

7. What will it Take for Fee-Based Annuities to Grow?

Matt Chiccuarelli, Commonwealth

Myles Womack – Jackson National

The interest in fee-based annuities continues to climb, but sales still remain a small sliver of overall annuity sales. Our panel will provide the viewpoint from a distributor and manufacturer view on this segment of the market, discussing the hurdles in today’s market, and what they feel it will take for fee-based annuities to grow in the future.

1:45 pm - 2:15 pm - Break

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm: Breakout Sessions

8. How Digital Platforms are Revolutionizing Annuity Distribution

Scott Stolz -Head of Insurance Solutions, SIMON
Brent Mondoskin, Chief Platform Officer, FIDx

Digital technology is rapidly evolving and to stay relevant insurance carriers must adapt to how and where advisors want to do business. Our panelists will discuss how annuity platforms are leveraging technology to marry digital and human interaction and create efficiencies that effectively reshape the advisor and consumer experience.

9. New Frontiers in Financial Wellness

Deb Dupont, Assistant Vice President, Institutional Retirement Research, LIMRA, LOMA, and LL Global Inc.
Greg Ward, Director Financial Wellness Think Tank, Financial Finesse

The notion of “Financial Wellness,” and how the workplace – and workplace vendors – fit into it has gained enormous traction in the past couple of years. Recent LIMRA research looks at employers and employees and their perceptions and expectations of how wellness and the workplace fit together.

3:15 pm - 3:45 pm - Break

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm - Longevity Risk Management Post Pandemic: Purpose, Products, and Strategies

Moshe Milevsky will draw on his expertise in the field to address behavioral biases that impede decumulation, some of the strategic challenges the retirement income industry is facing, what new products might disrupt the status quo for incumbents, and much more in this timely keynote address.

Moshe Arye Milevsky, Ph.D. -

4:45 pm - 5:45 pm - Women Leaders' Reception

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Reception

Friday, May 13, 2022

7:00 am - 8:00 am - Breakfast

8:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakout Sessions

10. Addressing Retirement Fraud and Cybersecurity - Protecting Society’s Most Vulnerable

Russell Anderson, Head of Financial Crimes Services, LIMRA, LOMA & LL Global, Inc.
Gary Mottola

How many phony calls have you received from the IRS threatening to arrest you and freeze your assets? COVID-19 has accelerated the risk of fraud in retirement and the growing need for greater cybersecurity. LIMRA and the SOA collaborated on a recently released research report that focused on fraud identification and prevention by major retirement plan recordkeeping firms. Concurrently, the FINRA Foundation has been collaborating with neuroscientists and researchers at Rush University Medical Center to gain insights into the role of aging and cognition on financial and health decision-making and scam susceptibility. Results from the work of these organizations will be presented in this session along with a discussion of FraudShare, a fraud prevention tool developed by LIMRA to fight third-party account takeover fraud.

11. Fireside Chat – The Retirement Income Tier: A Recordkeeper Journey

Trevor Gary, CEO, Micruity

If you are creating income products for DC plans and building in a vacuum, STOP! Put everything down, and attend this session. Recordkeepers are the gatekeepers for income, and you will do yourself a favor to know what they see as the dream partner.

9:00 am - 9:30 am - Break

9:30 am - 10:30 am - Shaping the Future of Retirement

Marla Capozzi, McKinsey

The future has arrived early as companies have accelerated digitally-enhanced customer offering by 7 years and digitation of operations by 3-4 year. In this session, we will challenge the orthodoxies that stifle creativity and change in retirement, see around corners to how the future might unfold at the collision of technology and market trends as well as consumer and customer behaviors. Lastly, how to begin to create a portfolio of initiatives to innovation in your organizations.  

10:30 am - 10:45 am - Break

10:45 am - 11:45 am: Special Focus Sessions

1. Regulatory Special Focus Session

Paul Richman, Chief of Government and Political Affairs, IRI
Tim Rouse, Executive Director, the SPARK Institute

The more things change, the more… things change and create challenges for recordkeepers to meet. Regulatory watchers and industry experts offer insights about the 2022 environment.

2. Bringing it All Together - Annuity Market Overview, & Redefining the Future

Todd Giesing, Assistant Vice President, Annuity Research & Secure Retirement Institute, LIMRA, LOMA, LL Global Inc.
Teddy Panaitisor, Sr. Research Analyst, LIMRA, LOMA, LL Global Inc.

Please join Todd Giesing and Teddy Panaitisor to bring it all together. This session will explore the dynamics that have impacted the individual annuity market, and a look at what will redefine the future for individual annuity sales.

11:45 am - Adjournment