September 22–26, 2018
We hope that you found the sessions to be timely, educational, and relevant as you work to provide pension and healthcare benefits to the millions of workers who rely upon the multiemployer system. We also hope that you found time to enjoy the wonderful activities and amenities available at the beautiful Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, and look forward to seeing you next year!
The full program agenda is available here, as well as below. Slides used by presenters are also available for download below.
We hope you have enjoyed the conference!
Agenda
Saturday, September 22
Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans: Implications for Healthy and Distressed Plans
The Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans was
established in February of this year to address the impending insolvency of
a small subset of multiemployer plans and the projected insolvency of the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s multiemployer fund. However, since
then the Joint Select Committee’s focus has expanded considerably to include
issues affecting all multiemployer plans. Our panelists will consider the issues
facing the Joint Select Committee, and the potential impacts for both healthy
and distressed plans.
UPDATE ON THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE
The Honorable Earl Pomeroy
Senior Partner, Alston & Bird LLP
James Young
Senior Director of Congressional Relations for Labor, HR and Safety, AGC
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
Dana Thompson
Director Political Affairs, SMACNA
APPROPRIATENESS OF CURRENT ASSUMPTIONS
Jason Russell
Senior Vice President & Actuary, Segal Consulting
IMPACT OF ALTERNATIVE DISCOUNT RATES
Mary Ann Dunleavy
Consulting Actuary, Horizon Actuarial Services
Ben Ablin
Consulting Actuary, Horizon Actuarial Services
A PRIMER ON FEDERAL CREDIT PROGRAMS
Anthony Curcio
Partner, Summit Consulting
Sunday, September 23
NCCMP Dad's Day Campaign - Charity Golf Outing
Thank you for partnering with the NCCMP Charity Golf Event again this year.
The proceeds from our charity golf benefit will go to the Diabetes Research
Institute Foundation which has been North America’s Building Trades Unions
charity since 1985. Today, the Diabetes Research Institute continues to be
the leading cure focused research facility in the world. While their mission
continues, the DRI is moving ever closer towards a cure.
This year’s event will be the NCCMP’s largest attendance and fundraising effort
to date. Thank you for making it a success and we look forward to growing it
in the years to come.
Welcome Reception
We hope that you will join us at the South Palm Court for an evening of mingling, drinks,
and entertainment. This is an excellent opportunity to engage with our attendees, speakers,
and sponsors in a more informal setting.
Monday, September 24
Opening Ceremony
Opening Remarks
Sean McGarvey
President, North America’s Building Trades Unions
Chairman, NCCMP Board of Directors
Outlook of the PBGC
The Honorable Tom Reeder
Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
As a small but significant percentage of plans face insolvency in the coming
years, there is an ever-increasing focus on the PBGC and the modest guarantee
it is intended to provide to participants in multiemployer pension funds.
However that modest guarantee is in significant jeopardy as the PBGC’s
most recent Annual Report projects a greater than 90% probability that the
multiemployer fund will be insolvent by 2025. Congress further honed that
focus by including the objective of “improving the solvency of … the PBGC” in
the task set forth for the Joint Select Committee. As the Director of the PBGC,
Mr. Reeder will comment on the PBGC’s current outlook.
Perspective from the Department of Labor
Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy,
Employee Benefits Security Administration
The work of the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the Department
of Labor affects all aspects of multiemployer plan operation and governance.
Ms. Wilson will discuss the Department’s current positions and efforts as they
impact multiemployer plans.
Break
Atlantic Ballroom
Challenges and Solutions for the Multiemployer System
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
The expansion in the scope of issues being addressed by the Joint Select
Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans represent significant
threats to the multiemployer system and to the ability of the Joint Select
Committee to achieve bipartisan support for constructive solutions. Mr. Scott will
discuss the NCCMP’s efforts to ensure that the Joint Select Committee develops
the right tools to provide a lifeline to severely distressed plans, while enabling
healthy plans to continue to provide quality benefits to their participants, and
providing Trustees with new, voluntary options to strengthen and grow the
multiemployer system.
A Primer on Federal Credit
Anthony Curcio
Partner, Summit Consulting
The Joint Select Committee process has made crystal clear that unless Congress
acts to address the looming multiemployer pension crisis, the consequences of
plan insolvencies will have devastating consequences on plan participants, plan
employers, and the broader U.S. economy. Many people strongly support a federal
credit program as a way to restore these troubled plans to solvency. As a foremost
expert in the design, implementation, and scoring of federal credit programs,
Mr. Curcio will provide an overview of how federal credit programs work and the
challenges that can occur between passage and implementation with an eye
toward careful design that can increase the likelihood that any multiemployer
rescue program passed by Congress will actually lend to distressed plans.
Real Assets - A Multiemployer Perspective
MODERATOR:
Dan Pedrotty
Director, Capital Strategies, North Americas Building Trades Unions
PANELISTS:
Michael D. Cairns, CEBS
Partner, NEPC
Michael Joyce
Senior Vice President, Segal Marco Advisors
Jeff Covell
Area Senior Vice President, Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors, LLC
Among defined benefit plans, multiemployer pensions are unique in that an
asset allocation in infrastructure and real estate can provide market returns
while generating significant new plan assets, and furthering the economic
interests of the plan, participants, and beneficiaries. This panel will consider
multiemployer asset allocation decisions to real assets, such as infrastructure
and real estate in light of guidance provided in the recent DOL Field Assistance
Bulletin 2018-01.
Washington Legislative Update
The Honorable Earl Pomeroy
Senior Partner, Alston & Bird LLC
The Honorable Norm Coleman
Senior Counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP
The issues currently under consideration by the Joint Select Committee on
Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans extend far beyond those affecting plans
facing insolvency to include potential changes to the way multiemployer plans are
funded that would have severe consequences for all multiemployer plans – healthy
and distressed alike. Our speakers will give their insights into the legislative
process under way, and the numerous potential outcomes.
Option 1: Contemporary Compliance Issues
Paul Green
Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC
Kathy Bakich
Senior Vice President, National Director Health Care Compliance, Segal Consulting
Serena Simons
Senior Vice President, National Retirement Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting
Carolyn Smith
Counsel, Alston & Bird LLP
This workshop on compliance issues of interest to retirement and health
plan sponsors is intended to provide an informal forum for trustees and plan
professionals to address a range of current issues relevant to plan administration.
Among other issues, the panelists will lead discussions on: DOL guidance on
ESG and ETI investing and proxy voting; IRS guidance on a 401(k) plan-based
student loan repayment program; Executive Order on multiple employer plans and
RMDs; recent developments with respect to the IRS determination letter program
and DOL lost participant audits; “Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
(MHPAEA) challenges, including transgender coverage and reporting and disclosure
issues; common findings from audits of health plan operations by the Department
of Labor; wellness programs, focusing on wellness notices and what we are
expecting from the EEOC; and issues surrounding paid leave laws, and the impact
of new state laws, including Paid Family Leave and “surprise” bill legislation.
Option 2: Appreciating Longevity Diversity
Douglas Anderson
Founder, ClubVita UK
Spencer Williams
Founder, President, CEO, Retirement Clearinghouse
As the Joint Select Committee completes its work, a strong focus on actuarial
assumptions has developed – in particular on the selection of the discount
rate and mortality tables used to develop the plan’s liabilities. Mr. Anderson
will discuss the significant differences in lifespan observed among different
types of workers in the UK, beyond a simple blue/white collar designation. He
will discuss what’s driving the difference, how different approaches can assist
in efforts to address missing participants, and possible considerations for US
multiemployer plans.
Option 1: Lawyers and Administrators Meeting
Paul Green
Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC
Toni Inscoe
Fund Administrator, Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund
As always, one of the most important aspects of this conference is the ability
to bring each of your in-depth knowledge and experience of the issues that
you are facing to the conversation. This session offers you the opportunity
raise those issues, and to leverage the knowledge of the group to see how
others are confronting them.
Option 2: Keeping Healthy Plans Healthy
David Dean
Senior Vice President, Benefits Consultant & Actuary, Segal Consulting
Jason Russell
Senior Vice President & Actuary, Segal Consulting
While much of the public attention recently has focused on multiemployer
plans that are in severe financial distress, the majority of multiemployer plans
are currently in the Green Zone. Mr. Dean and Mr. Russell will discuss what
constitutes a healthy plan (which may not simply be a plan that is in the
Green Zone) and how you can determine the financial health of your plan.
In addition, they will review a number of options that can be implemented
to keep your plan healthy (or make it healthier) such as adopting a plan
management policy, de-risking your plan, or implementing a variable benefit
plan for future accruals. Using case studies, they will illustrate how these
options have worked for other funds and may be an option for you.
Reception
South Palm Court
Tuesday, September 25
Opening Remarks
Eric Dean
President, International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers
Secretary, NCCMP Board of Directors
Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans
The Honorable Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
Member, Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans
The Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans (JSC)
was established in February of this year to address the impending insolvency
of a small subset of multiemployer plans and the projected insolvency of the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s multiemployer fund. However, the
Joint Select Committee’s focus has since expanded considerably to include
issues that will affect both healthy and distressed multiemployer plans.
Representative Norcross will give his insight into the JSC process to date,
as well as his outlook for the future as the deadline for the JSC’s report
approaches at the end of November.
Legislative and Legal Health Update
Kathy Bakich
Senior Vice President, National Health Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting
Carolyn Smith
Counsel, Alston and Bird LLP
Now that the ACA survives, what is the health care landscape going into the
midterm elections of 2018? This session will discuss the new Medicare for All
caucus, what survives from the ACA and what doesn’t, and new enforcement
efforts to address the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and
opioid abuse.
Break
Atlantic Ballroom
Association Health Plans
Carolyn Smith
Counsel, Alston and Bird LLP
Kathy Bakich
Senior Vice President, National Health Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting
Stephen O’Sick
Fund Administrator, Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local #2
How does the Trump Administration’s new rule affect multiemployer plans?
This session will give an overview of the new regulation expanding the
ability of employers and working owners to form associations to offer
health coverage – will it destroy collectively bargained arrangements? Will
contributing employers be able to use them for their non-bargained people?
This session additionally will cover the potential of AHPs to affect health
care delivery.
Providing Enrollment Choices in a Multiemployer Plan
Pam Kowalski
Director of Communications and Member Education, Midwest Operating Engineers Fringe Benefit Funds
In April 2016, the Midwest Operating Engineers Welfare Fund launched its
“Midwest Operating Engineers Health Plan Marketplace” to allow more member
choice while addressing rising health care costs for the Welfare Fund. Two
years later, the Fund has expanded options in the Marketplace and has had
the opportunity to study the results. This session will discuss how the choice
program was implemented, lessons learned, and the impact on the Fund’s
bottom line.
Opioids and the Multiemployer System
Chris Trahan Cain
Executive Director, The Center for Construction Research and Training
The Opioid Epidemic has ravaged the nation and unfortunately those within
the multiemployer system are not immune to this growing issue. This session
will discuss efforts within the multiemployer community to identify and help
those with opioid addiction.
The Opioids Crisis from a Legal Perspective
Mark Dearman
Partner, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, LLP
Mark Dearman, a partner at Robbins Geller, will discuss how we ended up
with a full-scale epidemic in the US and why litigation against the opioid
manufacturers and distributors is part of the solution. He will talk about
the cases his firm has brought against Purdue Pharma and other major
pharmaceutical companies on behalf of a number of public and private
entities, including Taft-Hartley multiemployer health and welfare funds.
John L. Lewis Awards Luncheon - Joseph LoCicero
REMARKS:
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
ACCEPTANCE:
Joseph A. LoCicero
Chairman and Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Segal Consulting
Option 1: Drug Pricing and the Next Big Thing
Ed Kaplan
Senior Vice President & National Health Practice Leader, Segal Group
President Trump and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
published their Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices in May 2018. Multiemployer
plan trustees have been fighting higher drug costs for many years. What
are the most important new deterrents to high prices, how should trustees
confront their PBMs about drug spend, and what’s happening in the fight to
make drug prices transparent? How can plan sponsors form coalitions to help
address drug costs?
Option 2: Data Works for You!
MODERATOR:
Bridget Gibbons
Principle, Onward Healthcare Consulting, LLC
PANELISTS:
Lyle Berkowitz, MD
Executive Vice President Product Strategy, MDLive
James Kanary
Senior Director Population Health, Cerner Corporation
This session will explore the ways that multiemployer healthfunds can utilize
“big data” to provide better clinical outcomes and service for participants, and
better financial outcomes for funds.
Option 1: Ask the Regulators
MODERATOR:
Paul Green
Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC
PANELISTS:
Sam Alberts
Special Master, Department of the Treasury
Bruce Perlin
Assistant Chief Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Louisa Soulard
Attorney, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
A perennial favorite, this workshop provides an opportunity for you to
participate in an open dialogue with representatives of the various regulatory
agencies with jurisdiction over our plans regarding the most important topics
you are facing.
You bring the issues. They bring the answers.
Wednesday, September 26
Opening Remarks
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
Agency Updates
MODERATOR:
Mariah Becker
Director of Research and Education, NCCMP
REMARKS:
PBGC
Bruce Perlin
Assistant General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Theresa Anderson
Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Internal Revenue Service
Tom Petit
TE/GE Employee Plans Area Manager–Gulf Coast, Internal Revenue Service
HHS
Nicholas Heesters
Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Treasury
Danielle Norris
MPRA Case Team, U.S. Department of Treasury
NCCMP Open Forum
Mariah Becker
Director of Research and Education, NCCMP
This is your chance to raise any topics or questions that you would like to
discuss that you did not hear addressed during the formal program.
Closing Remarks
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP