• 2019 Annual Conference

    September 21-25, 2019

    The Diplomat Beach Resort
    Hollywood, FL

    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. We look forward to seeing you next year in Chicago!

    The full program agenda is available here, as well as below. Slides used by presenters are also available for download below.

    2019 Annual Conference Program

     

     

     

    Agenda

    Saturday, September 21

    MANAGING RISK FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

    1:30 - 4:30

    Multiemployer plans provide lifetime retirement benefits to their participants in order to offer them a secure and dignified retirement. Our speakers will offer an in-depth exploration of some of the risks that can challenge that security, as well as ways in which multiemployer trustees manage the risks inherent in providing retirement benefits to participants, including strategies for traditional plans, consideration of variable defined benefit plans and other alternative plan designs.

    STRATEGIES FOR TRADITIONAL PLANS:
    David Dean
    Senior Vice President, Benefits Consultant and Actuary, Segal Consulting

    Jason Russell
    Senior Vice President and Actuary, Segal Consulting

    VARIABLE BENEFIT PLANS IN DEPTH
    Kelly Coffing
    Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman

    “OH CANADA” MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS IN CANADA
    Kevin Rozek
    Vice President and Consulting Actuary, Segal Consulting

    A TALE OF TWO PENSION PLANS
    Randy Bauslaugh
    Partner, McCarthy Tétrault

    WHAT COMES NEXT?:
    Moderator:
    Joshua Shapiro
    Senior Actuarial Advisor, Groom Law Group

    John “Rocky” Miller
    Partner, Cox, Castle & Nicholson
    Member, NCCMP Board of Directors

    Joseph Sellers
    General President, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers
    Member, NCCMP Board of Directors

     

    Sunday, September 22

    NCCMP Dad's Day Charity Golf Event

    7:00 - 2:30

    TURNBERRY RESORT AND SPA
    19999 W Country Club Drive
    Aventura, FL 33180  

    7:00 Breakfast
    8:30 Start
    12:30 Awards & Luncheon

    Welcome Reception

    6:30 - 9:30

    SOUTH PALM COURT
    Join your friends and colleagues on the patio for our annual welcoming reception featuring a buffet dinner and refreshments.

     

     

    Monday, September 23

    Breakfast

    7:00 - 8:00

    Grand Ballroom East

    Opening Ceremony

    8:00 - 8:15

    Opening Remarks

    8:15 - 8:30

    REMARKS:
    Sean McGarvey
    President, North America’s Building Trades Unions
    Chairman, NCCMP Board of Directors

    Update from the Department of Labor

    8:30 - 9:00

    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.

    REMARKS:
    Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson
    Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Employee Benefits Security Administration

    Outlook of the PBGC

    9:00 - 9:30

    As a small but significant number 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 multiemployer guarantee fund also faces insolvency. As the newly confirmed Director of the PBGC, Mr. Hartogensis will comment on the PBGC’s current outlook.

    REMARKS:
    The Honorable Gordon Hartogensis
    Director, Pension Benefits Security Benefit Guaranty Corporation

     

    View from the Hill - The Need for Unity

    9:30 - 9:45

    Mr. Miller will discuss the legislative calendar and process looking out over the remainder of the year.

    REMARKS:
    The Honorable George Miller
    CEO, GM Strategies, LLC and Former Congressman (D-CA)

    Break

    9:45 - 10:00

    Grand Ballroom East

    Senate Round Table

    10:00 - 10:45

    Key Senate staff tasked with addressing the multiemployer solvency crisis will discuss the likely direction and considerations for multiemployer pension reforms during 2019.

    REMARKS:
    Chad Bolt
    Legislative Assistant, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown

    Kendra Isaacson
    Senior Counsel, Pensions, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

    Other invited Senate Staff

    Update from the NCCMP

    10:45 - 11:00

    Mr. Scott will discuss the NCCMP’s efforts to assist legislators in understanding the need 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 tools to strengthen and grow the multiemployer system.

    REMARKS:
    Michael Scott
    Executive Director, NCCMP

    Excessive Fee Litigation in Defined Contribution Plans

    11:00 - 11:30

    The panel will discuss the breach of fiduciary duty fee litigation related to 401(k) and 403(b) plans, and the recent expansion of litigation to include multiemployer participant-directed annuity and 401(k) plans.

    MODERATOR:
    Jim Cody
    Partner, Reynolds Consulting

    PANELISTS:
    Anthony Cacace
    Senior Counsel, Proskauer LLP

    John Hume
    Vice President, Segal Marco Advisors

    Creating Good Jobs and Secure Retirement Through Responsible Investment

    11:30 - 12:00

    The panel will discuss the adoption of Responsible Contractor Policies by asset owners and investment managers to enhance job creation, mitigate investment risk & strengthen plan funding & risk adjusted returns.

    MODERATOR:
    Dan Pedrotty
    Director, Capital Strategies, North Americas Building Trades Unions

    PANELISTS:
    Michael Cairns
    Partner NEPC

    Jane DiGiacomo
    Managing Director, Alternative Specialists, BlackRock

    David Kazansky
    Trustee, Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York (TRS)

    Managing Risk in Defined Benefit Plans

    12:00 - 12:30

    This session will explore the various strategies undertaken by traditional defined benefit multiemployer plans to manage risk in order to provide secure retirement benefits to their participants.

    REMARKS:
    David Dean
    Senior Vice President, Benefits Consultant and Actuary, Segal Consulting

    Jason Russell
    Senior Vice President and Actuary, Segal Consulting

     

    Break for Lunch

    12:30 - 2:00

    At ease

    Option 1: Contemporary Compliance Issues

    2:00 - 3:15

    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: state retirement savings initiatives for private sector employees; recent pension related litigation; IRS guidance on tax treatment of uncashed pension checks; Affordable Care Act implementation challenges, including retaining grandfathered status and new preventive benefit requirements; common findings from audits of health plan operations by the Department of Labor; and new rules concerning Health Reimbursement Arrangements.

    PANELISTS:
    Kathy Bakich
    Senior Vice President, National Health Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting

    Serena Simons
    Senior Vice President, National Retirement Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting

    Carolyn Smith
    Counsel, Alston & Bird LLP

    Melanie Walker
    Senior Vice President, National Compliance Practice, Segal Consulting

    Option 2: Lost Participants and the Department of Labor Audit Process

    2:00 - 3:15

    The Department of Labor (DOL) continues its ongoing initiative investigating missing participants as part of its Terminated Vested Participant Project. This session explores the DOL investigative process and provides insight and best practices to consider in handling missing participants should your plan be subject to an audit.

    REMARKS:
    Paul Green
    Attorney, Mooney, Green Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC

     

    Option 1: Lawyers and Administrators Meeting

    3:30 - 4:45

    As always, one of the most important aspects of this conference is the ability to contribute to the conversation your in-depth knowledge and experience regarding the issues you are facing. This session offers you the opportunity to raise those issues, and to leverage the knowledge of the group to see how others are confronting them.

    FACILITATORS:
    Eunice Washington
    Executive Director & Legal Counsel, SEIU Benefit Funds

    Andrew Lin
    Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC

    What the Heck is Going on at the NLRB?

    3:30 - 4:45

    The NLRB is the federal agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act and serves to safeguard employees’ right to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. This session highlights developments at the NLRB, including recent Board appointments and decisions, which may indicate an important shift in the NLRB’s position away from positions taken under the previous administration.

    MODERATOR:
    Paul Green
    Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC

    PANELISTS:
    Richard Griffin, Jr.
    Of Counsel, Bredhoff & Kaiser

    Diana Bardes
    Partner, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch, PC

    Katie Roberson-Young
    Associate General Counsel, SEIU Healthcare Division

     

    Reception

    5:00 - 6:00

    Grand Ballroom East

    Tuesday, September 24

    Breakfast

    7:00 - 8:00

    Grand Ballroom East

    Opening Remarks

    8:00 - 8:15

    REMARKS:
    Michael Scott
    Executive Director, NCCMP

    Multiemployer Pension Reform in 2019

    8:15 - 8:45

    Following the passage of H.R 397 in the U.S. House of Representatives in July, multiemployer pension reform is now under consideration in the U.S. Senate. The issues currently under consideration have the potential to impact all multiemployer plans – healthy and distressed alike. Our speakers will provide their insights into the current political environment, and the potential for legislative reform this year.

    REMARKS:
    The Honorable George Miller
    CEO, GM Strategies, LLC
    Former Congressman (D-CA)

    The Honorable Joe Crowley
    Senior Policy Advisor, Squire Patton Boggs
    Former Congressman (D-NY)

    Whose Data is it Anyway?--A Fiduciary Perspective

    8:45 - 9:30

    Our panelists will discuss whether data is a “plan asset,” the plan and participant data on claims activity, how that data impacts the coverage offered, and some considerations on ensuring that multiemployer health funds are able to use claims data to the fullest extent possible.

    MODERATOR:
    Tina Fletcher
    President, Ullico Casualty Group, Inc.

    PANELISTS:
    David Brenner
    Senior Vice President and National Director of Multiemployer Consulting, Segal Consulting

    John Long
    Partner, Cavanagh & O’Hara LLP

     

    Controlling Prescription Drug Costs

    9:30 - 10:15

    The ever-rising costs of prescription drugs present an extreme challenge to multiemployer health funds. Mr. Taylor will discuss various efforts used by multiemployer plans to control prescription drug costs.

    REMARKS:
    Nick Taylor
    Vice President and National Pharmacy Practice Leader for Consulting Services, Segal Consulting

     

    Break

    10:15 - 10:30

    Grand Ballroom East

    Healthcare Legislative Update

    10:30 - 11:00

    Ms. Smith will discuss the outlook for healthcare legislation impacting multiemployer plans leading into the 2020 election.

    REMARKS:
    Carolyn Smith
    Counsel, Alton & Bird LLP

     

    Surprise Medical Bills and Out of Network Claims

    11:00 - 11:45

    Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Bakich will discuss implications for multiemployer health plans of legislative proposals to limit surprise out-of-network billing.  They will also review current challenges for plans concerning excessive out-of-network charges and ways to help avoid abuse by non-network providers.

    REMARKS:
    Kathy Bakich
    Senior Vice President, National Health Compliance Practice Leader, Segal Consulting

    Ed Kaplan
    Senior Vice President, National Health Practice Leader, Segal Consulting

     

    Update from Fight the Forty

    11:45 - 12:15

    In July, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (419-6) to repeal the 40% excise tax on healthcare deemed “too generous” by Congress – the “Cadillac Tax.” Ms. Bradshaw will discuss the efforts of the Fight the Forty coalition to engage with the Senate for a full repeal of the 40% excise tax.

    REMARKS:
    Tara Bradshaw
    Executive Director, Washington Council Ernst & Young

    George Meany Award Luncheon - Presented to Terry O'Sullivan

    12:30 - 2:00

    REMARKS:
    Sean McGarvey
    President, North America’s Building Trades Unions
    Chairman, NCCMP Board of Directors

    Michael Scott
    Executive Director, NCCMP

    ACCEPTANCE:
    Terry O’Sullivan
    General President, Laborers’ International Union of North America

    Option 1: Healthcare Alliances

    2:00 - 3:15

    This session will discuss how joining together in healthcare alliances can help multiemployer health plans to reduce costs

    REMARKS:
    The Honorable Rob Andrews
    CEO, Health Transformation Alliance

    Option 2: Mental Health Matters

    2:00 - 3:15

    This session will explore the components of an effective mental health program and benefits, as well as the dual benefits of controlling medical expenses and improving quality of life for your members.

    REMARKS:
    Patricia DeSa
    Director, Mental Health & Wellness Institute, Kaiser Permanente

     

    Option 1: Genetic Testing and Gene Therapy

    3:30 - 4:45

    Soon, genetic testing may tell you more than just where to where to search on Ancestry.com This session will explore the growing field to gene therapy to treat disease, and how this might impact multiemployer health funds.

    REMARKS:
    Sadhna Paralkar
    Senior Vice President and National Medical Director, Segal Consulting

     

    Option 2: Ask the Regulators

    3:30 - 4:45

    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.

    MODERATOR:
    Paul Green
    Attorney, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch PC

    PANELISTS:
    Bruce Perlin
    Assistant Chief Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

    Barbara Stampul
    Deputy Regional Manager, Acting Regional Manager, Office for Civil Rights, Southeast Region U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    Danielle Norris
    MPRA Director, U.S. Department of the Treasury

    Wednesday, September 25

    Breakfast

    7:30 - 8:30

    Grand Ballroom East

    Opening Remarks

    8:30 - 8:45

    REMARKS:
    Michael Scott
    Executive Director, NCCMP

    Agency Updates

    8:45 - 11:00

    This session provides an opportunity for the agencies with jurisdiction over our plans to update members of the multiemployer community on activities on their agenda affecting our plans.

    MODERATOR:
    Mariah Becker
    Director of Research and Education, NCCMP

    REMARKS:
    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
    Danielle Norris
    MPRA Case Team, U.S. Department of Treasury

    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
    Barbara Stampul
    Deputy Regional Manager, Acting Regional Manager, Office for Civil Rights, Southeast Region U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
    William Hunt
    Senior Employee Plan Specialist, Internal Revenue Service

    PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
    Bruce Perlin
    Assistant Chief Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

     

    NCCMP Open Forum

    11:00 - 11:45

    This is your chance to raise any topics or questions that you would like to discuss with the NCCMP or your colleagues and peers that you did not hear addressed during the formal program.

    MODERATOR:
    Mariah Becker
    Director of Research and Education, NCCMP

    Adjournment

    12:00

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