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
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
TURNBERRY RESORT AND SPA
19999 W Country Club Drive
Aventura, FL 33180
7:00 Breakfast
8:30 Start
12:30 Awards & Luncheon
Welcome Reception
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
Grand Ballroom East
Opening Ceremony
Opening Remarks
REMARKS:
Sean McGarvey
President, North America’s Building Trades Unions
Chairman, NCCMP Board of Directors
Update from the Department of Labor
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
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
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
Grand Ballroom East
Senate Round Table
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
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
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
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
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
At ease
Option 1: Contemporary Compliance Issues
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
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
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?
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
Grand Ballroom East
Tuesday, September 24
Breakfast
Grand Ballroom East
Opening Remarks
REMARKS:
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
Multiemployer Pension Reform in 2019
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
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
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
Grand Ballroom East
Healthcare Legislative Update
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Grand Ballroom East
Opening Remarks
REMARKS:
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
Agency Updates
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
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