Mitch Anthony, President
Advisor Insights, Inc.
Garth Bernard, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Sharper Financial Group
Mr. Bernard is President and CEO of the Sharper Financial Group LLC. He is also a Principal of the Retirement Income Solutions Enterprise (RISE®), Inc.
He has over 25 years of experience in the US and Canadian financial services industries. He is widely recognized as an expert in the field of retirement income solutions, and annuities. He has written several articles on the subjects and is often quoted in national and industry media. He has been a frequent speaker and participant at retirement industry conferences and has served on numerous retirement industry committees.
Prior to launching his own company, Mr. Bernard was a senior executive at MetLife where he was responsible for developing innovative retirement solutions including a broad array of investment and protection products, and for product management of several annuity product lines across MetLife’s retail distribution channels. He also held executive level roles at Keyport Life, ReliaStar Northern Life, Providian Capital Management, Transamerica and National Life of Vermont where he had responsibility for various functions including marketing and product management, asset-liability management, reinsurance pricing and customer relationship marketing for life and annuity lines.
Mr. Bernard is a Past President of the International Association of Black Actuaries. He has been a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries for over 20 years, holds a Masters degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Bachelors degrees in Actuarial Science and in Statistics from the University of Toronto, Canada.
Aaron Coates CFP® CIMA, Partner,
Relevant Financial Planning LLC
Aaron Coates has been featured in publications including the Journal of Financial Planning, Money Magazine, and thestreet.com. He is co-author of Tools and Techniques of Retirement Income Planning, NUCO, 2008, and has presented at numerous professional conferences. Active in the FPA, he founded FPA NexGen, a community of young financial planners, and chaired the inaugural conference in 2006. In 2007, he was recognized as one of the five most influential practitioners in the country ("Movers and Shakers" Financial Planning, January 2007). Prior to co-founding Relevant Financial Planning LLC in 2008, he served as Chief Investment Officer, CCO, and partner of Compass Wealth Advisors LLC in Elkhart. Over 90 percent of the clients he served at Compass were retired clients requiring income. Currently at Relevant, he is responsible for the delivery of financial planning, in coordination with the client's affiliated professionals.
Jonathan Cohen, Senior Fixed Income Strategist
Barclays Global Investors
Jon Cohen is a senior fixed income strategist, responsible for delivering fixed income strategies and solutions to clients in the US, Latin America, and Canada. Prior to this role, he spent two years in BGI’s London office where he was a strategist in the Global Index and Markets Group responsible for designing optimal investment and transactional solutions comprised of BGI’s beta and capital markets products.
Mr. Cohen also helped design BGI’s sales strategy in Asia ex-Japan. Before joining BGI, he was senior investment strategist for Northern Trust Global Investments where he was responsible for the development and strategy of Northern’s index, enhanced index, and structured fund products. Prior to this role, Jon was a portfolio manager for six years. Jon has a BA in political science from Grinnell College and an MBA in finance and economics from the University of Chicago.
Ann Connolly, Director
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Ann Connolly, a Director with Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Insurance Strategy and Operations Practice in the United States, has over 25 years of experience serving financial services clients. She specializes in assisting clients in the Insurance, Wealth Management and Retirement Businesses to resolve key strategic issues, improve productivity and develop capabilities for the future. Her area of focus has been in product, marketing, distribution and operating strategies in life insurance, annuity, asset management, retirement and health related products and services.
Heather Dzielak, Senior Vice President,
Retirement Income Security Ventures
Lincoln Financial Group
Heather Dzielak is senior vice president of Retirement Income Security Ventures (RISV) at Lincoln Financial Group. Retirement Income Security Ventures is a unique organization that collaborates across the enterprise to create new and innovative products, services and solutions that provide financial security beyond accumulation and protection to include income and enjoyment.
Ms. Dzielak is responsible for the strategic leadership of the retirement income security strategy across products, markets and processes within Lincoln Financial. The formation of the Retirement Income Securities Ventures group was sparked by Ms. Dzielak’s earlier coordination of a cross-enterprise effort to position Lincoln Financial as a dominant leader in the retirement income security space. She was instrumental in the successful and profitable growth of this business through the development of new products and services and the management of In-Force profitability for the company. This responsibility came in addition to her prior role as head of the variable annuity line for Lincoln Life & Annuity Company of New York.
Before joining Lincoln Financial in 2003, Ms. Dzielak brought significant experience from other financial services firms, having held positions at ING Group, Aetna Corporation and Cigna Individual Insurance. Ms. Dzielak holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate from the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut.
Ms. Dzielak holds Series 6 and 26 certifications. She is passionate about working with organizations that help children, and is actively involved with the United Way and the Special Olympics in their fundraising efforts.
Eric Henderson, Senior Vice President Individual Investments
Nationwide Financial
Eric S. Henderson is Senior Vice President of the Individual Investments Group segment of Nationwide Financial. In this position he is responsible for all general management activities for the division, including managing the P&L, driving strategic positioning and product development, executing strategic initiatives, and overseeing operational efficiencies.
Prior to taking this position, Mr. Henderson was Vice President and CFO of the Individual Investment Group after holding actuarial and product leadership positions within the individual annuity area. He began his career at Nationwide as an actuarial assistant in 1985.
Mr. Henderson received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1984 and a master’s in mathematics in 1985, both from The Ohio State University. He attained his Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries in 1989 and has served on various annuity industry committees over the years, including chairing LIMRA’s Annuity Committee
Richard J. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Life & Annuities Division
Symetra Financial
Richard Lindsay, senior vice president of Symetra Financial’s insurance subsidiaries, has oversight of the Life & Annuities division. He is responsible for the operations and profitability of the Individual Life, Retirement Services and Income Annuities product lines. He also oversees the company’s Medical department.
Prior to joining Symetra in 2006, Mr. Lindsay was an executive vice president at AIG VALIC, the retirement plan subsidiary of AIG. He also served as president of VALIC Financial Advisors (VFA), the company’s affiliated broker/dealer, and oversaw the investment management, product development and investment advisory functions. In 2003 he developed and launched Guided Portfolio Services, the first managed account service delivered by an investment plan provider under the Department of Labor's SunAmerica advisory opinion.
Mr. Lindsay joined AIG VALIC in 1998 as vice president of Market Development, rapidly advancing into new roles as senior vice president of Marketing, and senior vice president of Strategy and Planning for VFA where he helped diversify VALIC and VFA into a variety of financial services.
Prior to joining AIG VALIC, Mr. Lindsay spent 11 years with CoreStates Financial Corp. — now part of the Wachovia Corp. While at CoreStates he was responsible for creating the bank's proprietary mutual fund family, managing the marketing and administrative functions of the investment advisor, and creating a consumer segment marketing function for the retail bank. During that time he also served as an investment analyst for the banking, insurance and aerospace industries, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation while also attending law school.
Mr. Lindsay earned his MBA degree with distinction from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also a teaching assistant in Management and Organizational Behavior. He was awarded his juris doctor degree cum laude from Temple University, where he focused on trust and securities law. He earned a bachelor or arts degree from Brown University and holds a number of financial services designations.
Steven R. Mabry, Vice President Annuity Product Development
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
Steve Mabry has 24 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industry. At AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, he is responsible for annuity product development and has been focused for the last 10 years on developing variable annuity guaranteed living and death benefits. He received a B.A. in Marketing from California State University - Fresno.
David Macchia, Chief Executive
Wealth2k®
Hailed as a "marketing guru" by Research Magazine, David Macchia is a leading mind in the use of web-based technology and digital media to improve education, productivity and compliance in the financial services industry.
Mr. Macchia is also a thought-leader on retirement income issues. He is Co-founder, Board member and Chair of the Member Resources Committee of the non-profit Retirement Income Industry Association. The association serves both as a think tank to analyze retirement income issues and as an incubator of cross-silo exploration of new ideas, concepts and knowledge between institutions interested in building retirement income businesses.
He regularly explores retirement security issues in his online magazine, DavidMacchiaBlog.com. He also writes a monthly column for Research Magazine featuring one-of-a-kind interviews with noted academics and executive leaders in financial services.
Briggs Matsko, CFP, Senior Planner and Executive Vice President
California Fringe Benefit
Briggs Matsko, CFP®, is a senior financial planner in addition to his management role with California Fringe Benefit, a subsidiary of Lincoln Financial Advisors (LFA). He began his career in the financial services industry in 1974 and joined LFA in Sacramento, California in 1976.
As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, Mr. Matsko believes in an objective, process-driven approach that takes into consideration not only quantitative data but client values, dreams and desires. His goal is to help people crystallize their vision of retirement from a psychological as well as a financial perspective. While he works with families and individuals of all ages, his passion lies in the area of Retirement Income Distribution. As an Income Distribution Specialist, he works closely with his clients to help them categorize expenses and link them to income sources.
He has been interviewed and featured in Research Magazine, Boomer Market Advisor, in addition to speaking at Million Dollar Round Table, the Retirement Income Industry Association, NAVA and various other national venues. As an advocate for his industry, Mr. Matsko is a founding board member of The Resource Group, whose membership includes over two hundred of some of the top estate and financial planners nationwide.
- Received his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM practitioner designation in 1994.
- He has been a Million Dollar Round Table member since 1987
- Has qualified for “Top of the Table” every year since 1992
- Has qualified for Lincoln Financial Advisors’ top producer group, “Chairman’s Council” every year since 1986.
Stephen Mitchell, Acting Chief Operating Officer
Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA)
Steve Mitchell is Acting COO for the RIIA, focusing on the coordination of RIIA’s operations, including various committees, ranging from education, methodologies, communications, membership, etc.
Prior to joining RIIA, Steve was Director of Participant Communications, Investor Education, Planning and Advice Services for the Retirement Group at Merrill Lynch, including responsibility for the Merrill Lynch Advice Access and Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Services. Additionally, he led the development of The Merrill Lynch New Retirement Studies: The 2005 Study– A Perspective From The Baby Boomer Generation and The 2006 Study - A Perspective from Individuals and Employers. Merrill Lynch was a founding member of RIIA and Steve also served as the primary Merrill Lynch representative.
He has over 30 years of broad based experience in the retirement and investment field (retail and institutional), including client service management, benefits consulting, marketing and product development.
Over the past several years he has focused extensively on investor education, developing investor education guides, seminars and planning tools for retirement, college and estate planning.
A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, Mr. Mitchell is a frequent speaker at client and industry events and a regular media spokesperson on a wide range of retirement and investing topics.
Kirby Noel, Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager
AXA Distributors LLC
Kirby John Noel is Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager for the Financial Planner Channel of AXA Distributors LLC, the wholesale distribution division of AXA Financial, Inc.
Mr. Noel is responsible for the leadership and growth of annuity sales in the financial planner channel. He began his career at AXA Distributors in October 2006.
Prior to joining AXA Distributors, Noel was the Western Division Sales Manager for the broker-dealer channel within Lincoln Financial Distributors for the Choice Plus® product series. Before that, Mr. Noel was Eastern Division Sales Manager for Lincoln’s American Legacy® product series. Mr. Noel originally joined Lincoln as an External Wholesaler of American Legacy®.
Mr. Noel began his wholesaling career at Wood Logan Distributors. He later worked at AIG/SunAmerica as an External Wholesaler for the Seasons Select® product series, where he was responsible for the new product and channel distribution launch.
Mr. Noel is a graduate of Tufts University.
Juan M. Ocampo, President
Trajectory Asset Management LLC
Mr. Ocampo is the CEO and a co-founder of Trajectory Asset Management. Trajectory Asset Management is a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC that specializes in risk-controlled alternative strategies. The firm uses proprietary, mathematically grounded, investment processes to manage portfolio risk for its institutional clients, which include mutual funds, insurance companies and retirement plans. Trajectory has been an innovator in the field of quantitative asset management – designing and launching, with AIG SunAmerica Asset Management, the High Watermark Funds, an open end mutual fund series whose alternative investment strategy protects each Fund’s high water value at maturity.
Mr. Ocampo leads the firm’s portfolio management team as Chief Investment Officer, and is responsible for the firm’s new product development initiatives. Prior to founding Trajectory, Mr. Ocampo worked as a strategy consultant and Partner at McKinsey & Co., and at Mitchell Madison Group; as a private equity fund manager at Securitas Capital (a joint venture of Swiss Re and Credit Suisse); and as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Co.
Mr. Ocampo is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree, and Harvard University, where he received an MBA.
Mr. Ocampo is the co-author of Securitization of Credit (John Wiley & Sons), an early pioneering book on structured financial products, and the author of articles published in the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance and The McKinsey Quarterly. He holds patents and patents pending covering quantitative investment methods.
Will Prest, Chief Marketing Officer
SecurePath by Transamerica
As Chief Marketing Officer, Will Prest brings extensive senior-level leadership and strategic planning experience in the financial advising and services industries.
Prior to joining Transamerica Retirement Management, Inc., Mr. Prest served as Vice President of Field Development and National Sales Support for H&R Block Financial Advisors, where he developed the strategic direction for the delivery of the company’s financial advice through a sales force of 1,000 advisors across a national network of 140 branches.
Mr. Prest also served as Vice President of Financial Planning for MetLife Financial Services, where he built and implemented a fee-based, financial planning platform across a field force of 6,200. He helped construct a workplace financial education strategy providing face-to-face financial advice to MetLife’s 33 million institutional employee customers.
Mr. Prest also spent more than eight years in various regional, sales management and marketing roles for American Express Financial Advisors, including region director for the Eastern U.S.
Mr. Prest holds an M.B.A. from Boston University, Graduate School of Management, and a B.A. in psychology from Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. He holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation from the Center for Fiduciary Studies.
Dan Randall, CLU, ChFC, Senior Product Sales Associate
National Life Insurance Company
Dan Randall joined National Life in 1995 as a personal history interviewer in the New Business area. In 1997, he transferred to the Sales Department, assuming the position of Proposal Analyst, was promoted to Product Sales Associate in 1999 and Senior Product Sales Associate in 2001.
He graduated from New Haven University in Connecticut, receiving a bachelor’s degree. Dan Randall has earned his CLU, ChFC, CSA, and FLMI, as well as securities license 6,7, 66, and is an Investment Advisor Representative with Equity Services.
Srinivas D. Reddy, CFA, Head of Income Strategies
ING Wealth Management
Sri Reddy is Head of Income Strategies for the ING U.S. Wealth Management business, which is comprised of Retail Annuity, Retirement Services, and ING Advisors Network. He is charged with providing leadership and strategy related to Retirement Income Management across the various businesses. Additionally, he is responsible for Third Party Relationships, the focus of which is nontraditional distribution channels for Wealth Management products.
Prior to this role, Mr. Reddy was responsible for the Horizons Distribution & Product Management group at ING Retirement Services which included oversight of product development as well as various distribution teams. Sri has also held several other roles at ING including Product Development within the Defined Contribution markets, Portfolio Analysis at ING Furman-Selz Asset Management, and has worked in the Netherlands focusing on Business Development in Central Europe. Prior to joining ING, he served as a consultant with Ernst & Young and has also worked in a consulting capacity in Asia for Critikon, a division of Johnson & Johnson.
Sri Reddy has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Baylor University and a Masters degree in International Management from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and the CFA Institute. He currently serves as the Treasurer and a member of the board of directors for the Retirement Income Industry Association
(RIIA) and on the board of directors for Junior Achievement New England.
Michael D. Reese, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, President and Founding Principal
Mentor Laureate, LLC
An accomplished author, presenter, mentor and advisor, Michael D. Reese, CFP®, CLU, ChFC is reshaping the way the financial services industry regards traditional retirement planning. As President and Founding Principal of Centennial Wealth Advisory, LLC, Mr. Reese’s personal success through non-conventional planning strategies has led to the development of Mentor Laureate, LLC; a mentorship organization for advisors who want to learn how to better serve their clients through atypical planning strategies.
Author of “The Big Retirement Lie”, Mr. Reese challenges conventional wisdom with investing in 401ks and IRA’s – and clearly articulates the long-term disadvantages of these tax-deferred savings vehicles. He specializes in tax-free IRA distributions, and offers his client base a proprietary planning strategy entitled “Total Wealth Optimization.” This includes a comprehensive analysis of a client’s financial situation and lifestyle; to which a customized report is produced, identifying assets, liabilities and opportunities to extract dollars out of retirement plans and accounts with little to no taxation. This diversified approach to client-relations and account management has spearheaded his success in the financial services industry, and increased the demand of his personal instruction and mentorship.
Mr. Reese is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant, as well as an Investment Advisor Representative (IAR). He belongs to a number of industry and local organizations, most notably the Financial Planning Association. Throughout his decade plus tenure in the financial services industry, Mr. Reese has been awarded multiple “top” producer awards from various insurance carriers as well as his former Broker-Dealer.
Prior to starting his own company in 2001, Reese was a financial advisor for Northwestern Mutual. He attended the University of Missouri where he studied finance.
Dr. Gregory Salsbury, PhD., Executive Vice President
Jackson National Life
Gregory Salsbury, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President of Jackson National Life Distributors LLC, and Chief Sales Officer for two of Jackson’s key distribution channels. He received his master’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois, and a second master’s degree in communication technologies from the Annenberg School of Communications. He received his doctorate in organizational communication from the University of Southern California and is widely published in the areas of sales, marketing, employee motivation, behavioral finance and America’s retirement crisis.
Matthew H. Scanlan, CFA, Head of Americas Institutional Business
Barclays Global Investors
Matt Scanlan serves as head of Americas Institutional Business at Barclays Global Investors. Prior to joining BGI in 1997, he worked as a senior portfolio manager at The Northern Trust Company in Chicago. He received his MM in accounting and finance from the J.L. Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and his BA in economics from the University of Southern California where he was Phi Beta Kappa.
Mr. Scanlan is a CFA charterholder, Chair of the Education Advisory Committee of the CFA Institute, and a recent recipient of the Institute’s C. Stewart Sheppard Award for contributions to the investment industry’s body of knowledge. He also serves on the
Board of Trustees for The Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco.
Kevin S. Seibert, CFP, CEBS, CRC®, Managing Director
International Foundation for Retirement Education
Kevin Seibert joined the International Foundation for Retirement Education (InFRE) in 2003 and serves as Managing Director. He works closely with retirement plan sponsors, providers and advisors to offer a curriculum that will allow candidates to obtain an InFRE certification. He has more than 25 years of experience in retirement benefits, financial planning and financial education, and since 2004 has addressed more than 10,000 advisors from dozens of companies nationally about managing retirement income.
Prior to InFRE, Mr. Seibert was co-founder of Balance Financial Services, a Chicago area financial planning and consulting firm. Before founding Balance in 1988, he worked as a consultant for William M. Mercer, Inc. and was responsible for the implementation of compensation and employer provided benefit plans. He was also Director of Marketing for a New Jersey based company specializing in the development and distribution of defined contribution and financial planning programs.
Mr. Seibert is recognized as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) by the College of Financial Planning, and is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS), and has been awarded the Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) certification from InFRE. He earned his MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin and received his undergraduate degree in finance from Miami University of Ohio. Serving as Treasurer and Executive Board member for the Greater Chicago Chapter of the International Society of Retirement Planners, he played an active role in providing on-going retirement planning education to professional and employer members of this organization.
Marjorie Snelling, Vice President, Head of Sales, Retirement Income Security Ventures
Lincoln Financial Group
Marjorie Snelling is vice president and head of sales, Retirement Income Security Ventures for Lincoln Financial Group. Ms. Snelling is responsible for leading an enterprise team to develop and implement a retirement income security planning process across all of Lincoln Financial. In her role, she works with Lincoln’s distribution arms to develop specialized distribution capabilities to enable the execution of a retirement income security planning focus.
In her previous role at Lincoln Financial, Ms. Snelling was head of internal sales and partner sales for Lincoln Financial Distributors, the wholesaling distribution organization for Lincoln Financial Group. Ms. Snelling managed a sales force unit of 250 internal wholesalers where she was responsible for driving internal sales while improving customer service.
Ms. Snelling joined Lincoln Financial in 2005, prior she served in several management capacities for Corestates Bank, including CEO for two years of Corestates Bank of Delaware and two years as President and CEO of SynapQuest, L.P., a division of Corestates Bank. She spent five years as an independent consultant where she was exposed to many projects primarily involving management diagnosis, process improvement and project implementation.
Ms. Snelling holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently resides in Center City Philadelphia.