2015 Featured Speakers

Presented in alphabetical order.

Seth ASeth Almaliah
Segal Rogerscasey

Seth is Senior Vice President and Consultant in Segal Rogerscasey’s New York office. He consults to both defined- benefit and defined-contribution plans and serves as lead investment consultant to many multiemployer and public funds. His responsibilities include assisting clients in development of investment policy and asset allocation strategy, selection of investment managers and custodians and evaluation of investment performance.


Steve BSteve Burd
Burd Health
Why We Should All Care About Healthcare

Steve is Founder and  CEO of Burd Health, a health care solutions company helping mid- to large-cap self-insured organizations reduce health care costs. He is the former chairman and CEO of Safeway, Inc. In his former role, he led Safeway for 20 years and helped it become a Fortune 100 company. Steve is committed and passionate about reducing costs and advancing workforce wellness for clients and their employees.


Tom Croft

Tom Croft
Heartland Strategies

Tom is an authority on innovative jobs policies and responsible capital strategies to revitalize the economy. He is the co-author of the forthcoming Responsible Investor Guidebook, to be published in 2016 by Greenleaf Publishers and commissioned by the AFL-CIO and allied sponsors. He is also the author of Up from Wall Street: The Responsible Investment Alternative (Cosimo, 2009). Tom is also the managing director of Heartland Capital Strategies (HCS), a responsible pension investment network in the United States and Canada. He oversees five offices in Pennsylvania as the executive director of the Steel Valley Authority (SVA), which manages the most successful state-based industrial turnaround program in the US.


Sue CSue Crotty
The Marco Consulting Group

Sue is a Senior Vice President and Senior Consultant at The Marco Consulting Group. She has more than 30 years experience in the investment industry. She was a member of the New Jersey State Investment Council, where she oversaw policy and management of the state’s $70 billion pension fund. She earned her MBA from the University of Connecticut.


Bailey CBailey Childers
National Public Pension Coalition
Traditional Pensions Still Provide
the Best Retirement Security

Bailey is Executive Director of the National Public Pension Coalition. She leads national and state efforts to protect and advance retirement security for working Americans. Prior to NPPC, she worked with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where she managed efforts to prevent states from giving ill-advised tax breaks to wealthy and profitable corporations instead of investing in schools and communities. She graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College.


WillDurstWill Durst
Master of Ceremonies

Will is a politically-savvy comedian who has performed at events honoring former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. His comedy has been recognized by The New York Times and the cable channel C-SPAN. He is a regular commentator for Audible.com, Air America, CNN and NPR.


John ElliotJohn Elliot
NEPC

John is a Partner at NEPC. He is a highly-respected and popular leader in the defined-benefits pension world. Since joining NEPC in 2003, he has spoken at many national conferences on the subject of Taft-Hartley plans. Prior to joining NEPC, he was the Western Regional Director for The Marco Consulting Group, where he succeeded in developing a West Coast presence for the firm in the Taft-Hartley market.


Gregg HymowitzGregg Hymowitz
EnTrust Capital

Gregg is the Founder and Managing Partner of EnTrust Capital, as well as chair of EnTrust’s Investment Committee and a member of EnTrust Securities LLC. Prior to founding EnTrust Capital, he was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co., which he joined in 1992. Gregg graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School with a juris doctorate in 1990.


Carol JeppesenCarol Jeppesen
UN PRI

Carol is a Senior US Network Manager for the United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Investment. She has more than 15 years of experience in financial services across investment banking, private equity and asset management with firms including Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. Carol holds an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.


Michael KahnMichael Kahn Ph.D.
Institute on Public Pension Solutions
Defined-Benefit Plans and Wealth/Income Inequality

Michael is Founder and President of the Institute on Public Pension Solutions, a research and education organization aimed at preserving defined- benefit pensions. For more than 25 years, he oversaw the Education, Finance and Economics program at the National Education Association, where he was the Associate Director of Research. Michael is an active member of the American Education Finance Association and the American Economic Association.


John LaneJohn C. Lane
The Ohio State University
The Design of the #1 Performing
U.S. Pension Plan (2002-2009)

John is Chief Investment Officer of the Ohio State University. He oversees the university’s Long Term Investment Pool (LTIP), which includes the institution’s endowment. John has more than 25 years of experience in investments. Prior to joining OSU, he served as CIO for the $90 billion Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and was Director of Investments for the Eastman Kodak Company. John graduated from LaSalle University with a BS and MBA.


Jacques LJacques Loveall
UFCW Trust / UFCW 8-Golden State
Welcome CORPaTHIANS!

Jacques is President of UFCW 8-Golden State and Chairman of UFCW Trust, which funds pension and health care benefits for 125,000 active workers, dependents and retirees in the food and drug industries. He is a founder of CORPaTH. In addition, Jacques is a Vice President of the UFCW International Union and a Vice President of the California Labor Federation.


Nelson PNelson Peltz
Trian Fund Management, LP

Nelson is CEO and Founding Partner of Trian Fund Management L.P., which invests in underperforming and undervalued public companies, and works constructively with those companies to create shareholder value. Nelson has served on many boards and is considered one of the most influential people in the global corporate governance arena. He attended The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.


Ron PRon Peyton
Callan Associates

Ron is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Callan Associates. He joined Callan in 1974 and actively serves on committees which encourage minorities, women and disabled-owned managers at the firm. Ron also serves on the board of the United Way in California’s Bay Area and is chairman of the CFA Institute Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct Advisory Committee. He earned his MBA from Indiana University.


Ian RIan Ruskin
The Harry Bridges Project
To Begin the World Over Again:
The Life of Thomas Paine

Ian is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He founded The Harry Bridges Project in 2000 and has performed the play From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks, based on the labor leader’s life, to more than 50,000 people. His other play, To Begin the World Over Again: The Life of Thomas Paine, continues his mission to present the stories of misunderstood heroes from American and European history. The play has been filmed and will be distributed to public television stations in 2016.


Steve Stemerman, Esq.
Davis Cowell & Bowe, McCracken,
Stemerman & Holsberry

Steve is a member of the California and the Nevada bars. He represents labor unions and Taft-Hartley pension and health funds in the Southwest, East and West Coasts, as well as in Hawaii. In addition, he has been involved in some of the largest employment class-action cases in the country as well as a mediator in assisting the settlement of major class-action cases over the past 20 years.


Ian TIan Toner
Verus Investments

Ian is Managing Director of Strategic Research at Verus Investments. He joined the company in 2013 and is responsible for ensuring research resources at the firm are focused on solving problems faced by the firm’s clients, and on maintaining an appropriate balance between academic rigor and practical real-world client solutions. Ian has a degree in law from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.