March 7-10, 2024
NCCMP is pleased to welcome you to our 2024 Annual Conference March 7-10 at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida.
The issues facing multiemployer pension and health plans continue to evolve. The special financial assistance program at the PBGC provided a lifeline to the most deeply troubled multiemployer pension plans, but is certainly not without political challenges. SECURE 2.0 made a number of generally helpful bipartisan changes to the operation of pension plans, but also created a number of questions and challenges with regard to catchup contributions and autoenrollment. At the same time, both Congress and the Administration are deeply focused on ensuring access and availability of mental health benefits with advancements in both regulation and enforcing legislation expected this year. And PBGC is expected to finalize new withdrawal liability regulations that will change the way pension fund trustees need to think about withdrawal liability, while plans continue to face new and inventive cybersecurity challenges.
We will hold a special seminar for Trustees on the afternoon of Thursday, March 7, followed by our Opening Reception that evening. Friday, March 8 will focus on current pension issues and Saturday March 9 will focus on current healthcare issues, with morning plenary and afternoon seminar sessions respectively. On Sunday, March 10, we will hear directly from the regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over our plans on the items on their regulatory agendas impacting multiemployer pension and health plans. For planning purposes, the plenary session on Sunday, March 10 will end at 12:00 noon.
We look forward to seeing you this weekend to share your experiences, hear from our deeply knowledgeable experts, connect with your friends and peers, and learn about issues relevant to you what the future might hold for our funds.
Full Program available for download here
Please see below for full agenda and handouts!
Agenda
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Conference Registration
Hotel Lower Lobby
Trends and Solutions in Wellness and Wellbeing
This session will explore how plans are working to meet the needs of their workforce through ongoing efforts to support wellness and wellbeing. Employers are working to address pain management, diabetes management, and mental health and substance use disorders through a range of innovative benefit offerings. We will hear the clinical perspective regarding certain conditions and treatments, including the proliferation of recent weight loss drugs and the evolving landscape of gender affirming care. Our presenters will discuss benefits and service solutions that can serve as resources.
Sarah Gunderson
Senior Consultant, Clinical Consulting, Segal
Eileen Pincay
Vice President and National Pharmacy Practice Leader, Segal
GUEST SPEAKERS:
John Lawrence
Executive Director, Nimble Health
Jen Foley
Senior Director Clinical Partnerships, Spring Health
Welcome Reception
Join your friends and colleagues on South Palm Court for our annual welcome reception.
Friday, March 8, 2024
Conference Registration
Grand Registration
Breakfast
Grand Ballroom East
Opening Ceremony & Opening Remarks
Sean McGarvey
President, North America’s Building Trades Unions
Chairman, NCCMP Board of Directors
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
Keynote from PBGC Director Hartogensis
The Honorable Gordon Hartogensis
Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Director Hartogensis will provide an update from the PBGC, including the status of the Special Financial Assistance Program and PBGC’s financial outlook.
Lessons Learned from Special Financial Assistance
Jason Russell
Senior Vice President and Actuary, East Region Retirement Practice Leader, Segal
Danielle Singer
Head of North America Pension Solutions, Invesco
Plans that have received special financial assistance have had to fundamentally reconsider the relationship between assets and liabilities as they have developed new funding policies incorporating the assistance. This session will consider the long-term funding lessons for all plans from the SFA process, the need to focus on the interplay between assets and liabilities going forward, as well as the impact of the expected decreases in interest rates over the coming year.
Break
Grand Ballroom East
Elevating Union Jobs and Labor Standards in Private Equity
MODERATOR:
Jennifer O’Dell
Assistant Director of Corporate Affairs, LIUNA
PANELISTS:
Mulissa Willette
Board Member & Trustee, CalPERS
Andrea Kramer
COO, Hamilton Lane
Mike Cairns
Partner, NEPC
Total Private Equity assets under management are estimated at close to $12 trillion. These same firms employ some 11.7 million workers at the portfolio companies they own. In the last year, NABTU, LIUNA & SEIU have led a multiunion effort to ensure more labor-friendly practices at the PE firms where our pension funds invest. We’ll hear from a pension fund leader in this space, along with an investment consultant & asset manager.
Income Adequacy in Retirement
David Brenner
Senior Vice President, National Director of Multiemployer Consulting, Segal
Larry McGann
General Secretary-Treasurer, International Union of Elevator Constructors
Speakers will explore different ways that trustees should consider whether the retirement income provided by their plans is sufficient for their members, including the interplay of defined benefit and companion defined contribution plans, the role of a defined contribution plan when there is a companion defined benefit plan as the anchor to a member’s financially secure income stream in retirement, and what trustees should think about, and prepare their members for, when facing issues such as catastrophic expenses as health deteriorates and cost escalate.
12:15-1:15
Boxed lunch is available in the Grand Foyer
Seminar 1 Option 1 - Investing Pension Assets in Private Healthcare Companies
Jacques Loveall
President, UFCW 8-Golden State and Chair, UFCW Trust
John Elliot
Partner, NEPC
Marcin Szajda
Partner, BPEA
Jen Chen
SolidaritUS, Chief Revenue Officer
Bill Stapleton
CEO, Ria Health
Multiemployer health and welfare trust funds have provided high-quality benefits to union-represented workers and their dependents for over 75 years. Collectively, these plans spend over $56B annually on healthcare benefits for their participants. Despite this immense buying power, these plans remain challenged by market forces that continue to raise prices, limit access and curb quality of care. Further, multiemployer pension funds are typically underrepresented in the ownership of these privately held companies. During this panel, we will discuss one solution for investing pension fund assets in privately owned healthcare companies. We’ll also discuss strategies for capturing healthcare fund expenditures as revenue of businesses owned in part by multiemployer pension funds and hear from two companies in which pension funds have ownership.
Seminar 1 Option 2 - New Trustees Seminar
Rob Projansky
Partner, Proskauer
Josh Shapiro
Senior Actuarial Advisor, Groom Law Group
Craig Abbott
Vice President/Director, Defined Contribution Services, Manning & Napier
Actuarial liabilities, zone statuses, investment decisions, fiduciary obligations – the responsibilities and decisions facing trustees are complicated! This session will lay the groundwork for the complex policy discussions facing Congress and the multiemployer community today. Our panels of experts will break down these tricky topics to their manageable and approachable basics. Come learn what you need to know to tackle your new role as a trustee, or brush up on the basics as you prepare for the discussions ahead.
Seminar 2 Option 1 - Investing in Ourselves - Promoting Leading Labor-Friendly Funds That Serve Our Plans
MODERATOR:
Monte Tarbox
Former President, AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation
PANEL:
John Doherty
Senior Advisor, International Union of Painters & Allied Trades
Jim Darcey
Managing Director, Ullico
Jorge Ramirez
Managing Director, Grosvenor
Chang Suh
CEO, AFL-CIO HIT
Labor’s Family of Funds provide competitive risk-adjusted returns & create good union jobs, across a range of asset classes. These jobs strengthen the health of our funds through contributions & paying down accrued liabilities. We’ll hear from leading practitioners at firms that ensure a secure retirement & create good union jobs.
Seminar 2 Option 2 - Contemporary Compliance Issues
Lauren McDermott
Member, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy and Welch
Lori Waichman
Associate, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy and Welch
This session will address compliance issues of interest to retirement and health plan sponsors, and 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, panelists will lead discussions on topics including: proposed technical corrections to SECURE 2.0, No Surprises Act IDR process, RFIs on zone certification issues and on over the counter preventative services, discount rate for withdrawal liability assessments, amendment to Fiduciary Rule PTE, Proposed Data Requirements for NQTLs under MHPAEA, new Pre-Examination Compliance Pilot, health plan fiduciary breach pricing litigation, PBM legislation and preemption, proposed legislation on SFA funds, and more.
Reception
Grand Ballroom East
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Registration
Grand Registration
Keynote from DOL Assistant Secretary Gomez
The Honorable Lisa Gomez
Assistant Secretary for EBSA, Department of Labor
Assistant Secretary Gomez will provide an update from the Department of Labor on the Department’s regulatory activity impacting multiemployer plans, including the DOL’s proposed rule on mental health parity, the fiduciary rule, and other EBSA priorities
State and Federal PBM Legislation & ERISA Preemption
Brigen Winters
Principal, Groom Law Group
Over the past year, there has been an increased focus at both the federal and state level on implementing guardrails on common practices of pharmacy benefits managers. This session will discuss the state and federal level legislation, as well as the impacts on plans, recent court decisions, and implications for ERISA preemption that go beyond health plans.
Healthcare Legal and Regulatory Update
Kathy Bakich
Senior Vice President, Health Compliance Practice Leader, Segal
Tom Leibfried
Legislative Representative, AFL-CIO
This session will discuss the legislative and regulatory outlook for issues impacting multiemployer health plans, including mental health parity, pharmacy benefits manager transparency and reforms, and other issues.
Break
Grand Ballroom East
Navigating Mental Health Benefits
Elena Lynett
Vice President, Segal
Michael Powers
Partner, O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue LLP
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requirements, including detailed proposed rules issued in 2023, add to a complex landscape for plans working to address mental health and substance use disorders for workers and their families. Meanwhile, these benefits are critical to the well being of the workforce and highly valued by the individuals receiving them. In today’s session, we will discuss challenges plans face and how they continue to work to provide access and targeted resources to address the mental health and substance use disorder treatment needs of their populations, while keeping abreast of the evolving regulatory landscape.
George Meany Awards Luncheon
REMARKS:
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
ACCEPTANCE:
Monte Tarbox
Former President, AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation
Seminar 3 Option 1 - Patient Advocacy - What it is and why we all need it!
Vanessa Flynn
Vice President and Senior Benefits Consultant, Segal
Betty Long
President/CEO and Founder, Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates
Tony Saguibo, Jr.
VP of Sales, Labor, Quantum Health
Navigating healthcare can be complicated, frustrating, and costly. And that’s on a good day! People who are sick or injured often feel ill-equipped to deal with insurance requirements, making appointments, getting tests, securing second opinions, and just BEING in the healthcare system. Your members deserve an expert guide making sure they understand their options and get the best care. In this session we will hear from two experts on how to make advocacy a reality for your members.
Seminar 3 Option 2 - Lawyers and Administrators Meeting
Paul Green
Senior Counsel, Mooney, Green, Saindon, Murphy & Welch
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.
Seminar 4 - Ask the Regulators
MODERATOR:
Mariah Becker
Director of Research and Education, NCCMP
PANELISTS:
Jim Donofrio
Chief Negotiating Actuary, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
John Ginsberg
Assistant General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Bruce Perlin
Assistant Chief Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Helen Morrison
Benefits Tax Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Kyle Brown
Deputy Benefits Tax Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Amber Rivers
Director, Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, U.S. Department
of Labor
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.
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Conference Registration
Grand Registration
Breakfast
Grand Ballroom East
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
SESSION 1: PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
Jim Donofrio
Chief Negotiating Actuary, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
John Ginsberg
Assistant General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Bruce Perlin
Assistant Chief Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
SESSION 3: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Amber Rivers
Director, Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, U.S. Department of Labor
Open Forum
MODERATOR:
Mariah Becker
Director of Research and Education, NCCMP
Closing Remarks & Adjournment
Michael Scott
Executive Director, NCCMP
