2023 Crystal Globe Awards Recipients and Summit Speakers
2023 Crystal Globe Award Recipients
Edward A. Kelly
General President, International Association of Fire Fighters
Ed is general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). He previously served as the union’s general secretary-treasurer from 2016 to 2021. Ed joined the Boston Fire Department as a fire fighter/EMT in 1997 and rapidly climbed the ranks of organized labor. He is known and respected for his strong dedication to the rank-and-file members of the IAFF and his visionary leadership across the labor movement.
While serving as general secretary-treasurer of the IAFF, he oversaw programs that modernized communications and database tools among IAFF affiliates in the United States and Canada, as well as organizational changes in healthcare and other expense reductions, which saved approximately $2 million. Ed also made changes to ensure compliance with various oversight and regulatory obligations which protect the union from scrutiny.
He was also among the thousands of fire fighters at Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and responded to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors for Massachusetts Iraq and Afghanistan Fallen Heroes and a trustee for the Boston Fire Department Charitable Association, first established in 1828 to ensure proper burial for indigent firefighters and which now assists widows and widowers of fire fighters of modest means. A proud military veteran, Ed served as a fire fighter in the U.S. Air Force.
William T. McDonough
CEO, Southwest Service Administrators
Bill is CEO of Southwest Service Administrators, a third-party administrator providing specialized services to Taft-Hartley Trust Funds in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Bill has a long and distinguished career in the labor movement which began when he joined the then Retail Clerks Union while still in high school. Bill worked as a union representative and organizer and in 1986, became president of UFCW Local 711 in Las Vegas.
Seven years later, Bill became president of UFCW Local 99 in Phoenix serving from 1993 to 2001 after which he was became the director of the western region for the UFCW International Union. Bill led the Southern California local unions through one of the largest and most historic strikes/lockouts in the history of the Labor Movement. He was then called to Washington D.C. and promoted to director of organizing and then director of collective bargaining for the UFCW International Union. He served as a trustee on more than 15 different benefit funds. Bill retired for 2.5 days and, in 2014, went to work in the private sector as the CEO of Southwest Service Administrators, a unionized third-party administrator of health care and pension funds managing 60 + Taft Hartley Funds in 14 states with $30 million in annual revenue.
Featuring a special presentation
CORPaTH honors Fran Drescher, the members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists as well as the Writers Guild of America.
Summit Speakers
Jacques Loveall
UFCW 8-Golden State / UFCW Trust
Jacques is president of UFCW 8-Golden State and chair of UFCW Trust, which administers pension and health care benefits for 125,000 active workers, dependents and retirees in the food and drug industries. He is a vice president of the UFCW International Union and senior vice president of the California Labor Federation. He is also chair of the Loveall Foundation for Children, a nonprofit charity dedicated to giving children an opportunity for a better life and enabling them to reach their full potential.
Defined-Benefit Plans Panel
Tyler Bond
National Institute on Retirement Security
Tyler is research director for the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). He works with the executive director to plan all NIRS research products. Since joining NIRS, Tyler has authored or co-authored numerous research reports, issue briefs, and fact sheets on a wide range of topics relating to retirement security. He regularly speaks at conferences about NIRS research and testifies before policymakers.
Previously, Tyler spent four years at the National Public Pension Coalition, where he directed the research program and authored six original research reports. He also has held positions on Capitol Hill and at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
David Brenner
Segal
David is a senior vice president based in Segal’s Boston office. He serves as the national director of multiemployer consulting and the Chair of Segal’s multiemployer leadership group and is responsible for leading Segal’s consultants who work with multiemployer plans. David has more than 28 years of experience working with plan sponsors on a wide range of employee benefit services, including benefit strategies, funding and plan management.
Hank Kim
NCPERS
Hank is executive director and counsel for the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), the largest public trade association in the United States. Prior to joining NCPERS, Hank served for six years as a governmental affairs representative for an international public-sector union, working on benefits, appropriations, homeland security and health care issues.
Nari Rhee, Ph.D.
UC Berkeley Labor Center
Nari is director of the Retirement Security Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Her current research focuses on the retirement crisis facing California and the U.S. in the context of declining pension coverage and policies to improve the retirement income prospects of low- and middle- wage workers. Nari has written on a wide range of issues related to pensions and retirement security, including public pension reform, international pension systems, and retirement plan design. Her analysis of the retirement savings crisis and its racial dimensions has received broad media coverage and informed policy debates at the state and national levels.
Jason Russell
The Segal Group
Jason is a senior vice president and actuary who serves as the retirement practice leader for Segal’s east region. Based in Washington, D.C., he has more than 20 years of actuarial and consulting experience working with multiemployer and single-employer retirement plans. He plays a leading role in assisting multiemployer pension plans across the country in navigating complicated situations. These situations include restructuring distressed plans, implementing alternative plan designs to ensure sustainability, exploring legislative solutions, and seeking assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Michael Scott
NCCMP
Michael is the executive director for the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP). He has broad investment banking, advisory and public policy experience from serving in senior positions in the U.S. government and the private sector. Prior to NCCMP, he ran his own advisory business where he advised clients on federal credit, infrastructure, federal budget issues, public-private solutions, legislation and regulations, as well as GSE and housing finance reform. At the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Michael was responsible for federal credit, federal and private sector restructurings, privatizations, infrastructure finance, and government financial policy.
Trustees Panel
More multi union trustees will be named shortly
Richard “Skip” Daly
LIUNA Local 169
Skip is a trustee for the Northern Nevada Laborers Pension Plan. Skip was the former business manager for Laborers Union Local 169 and retired in 2021. Skip has served as a trustee on the Local 169 pension plan since 1996 and was the co-chair for 20 years.
While on the board, his focus has always been to make sure that the promise of a secure lifelong retirement benefit made to participants will be kept.
Skip also served four terms in the Nevada Legislature representing Assembly District 31 and is currently serving in the Nevada Legislature representing Senate District 13.
Sharon Hendricks
CalSTRS
Sharon is board vice chair for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), as well as a communication studies instructor for the past 15 years at at Los Angeles City College. She was elected to the CalSTRS retirement board in 2011.
While on the board, she has advocated for the development of investment beliefs, transparency on investment fees, and managing environmental, social and governance risks like climate change, corporate board diversity and fair labor practices.
Sharon also serves faculty as Treasurer and Retirement Liaison for the 5,000 full and part-time faculty members of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, AFT 1521. She is active in the Community College Council of the California Federation of Teachers and serves on the working group for the Trustee Leadership Forum for Retirement Security at Harvard, the American Federation of Teachers Trustee Council and the California Trustee Network.
Edward A. Kelly
General President, International Association of Fire Fighters
Ed is general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). He previously served as the union’s general secretary-treasurer from 2016 to 2021. Ed joined the Boston Fire Department as a fire fighter/EMT in 1997 and rapidly climbed the ranks of organized labor. He is known and respected for his strong dedication to the rank-and-file members of the IAFF and his visionary leadership across the labor movement.
While serving as general secretary-treasurer of the IAFF, he oversaw programs that modernized communications and database tools among IAFF affiliates in the United States and Canada, as well as organizational changes in healthcare and other expense reductions, which saved approximately $2 million. Ed also made changes to ensure compliance with various oversight and regulatory obligations which protect the union from scrutiny.
He was also among the thousands of fire fighters at Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and responded to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors for Massachusetts Iraq and Afghanistan Fallen Heroes and a trustee for the Boston Fire Department Charitable Association, first established in 1828 to ensure proper burial for indigent firefighters and which now assists widows and widowers of fire fighters of modest means. A proud military veteran, Ed served as a fire fighter in the U.S. Air Force.
Jim McLaughlin
UFCW Local 99
Jim is president of UFCW Local 99, the largest UFCW local union in a right-to-work state with almost 22,000 members. Local 99 spans the entire state of Arizona and also represents members in Utah and New Mexico. He is a vice president of the UFCW International Union and is on the boards of Arizona’s AFL-CIO Executive Council and Labor’s Community Service Agency. In addition, he chairs the Desert States Pension Fund and the UFCW Arizona Health and Welfare Fund.
Jose Luis Pacheco
CalPERS
Jose Luis is serving his first term on the CalPERS Board of Administration. He’s an IT professional for the San Jose Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD) in San Jose, Calif., where he’s worked since 2015, bringing a wealth of technical experience to his role.
Jose Luis serves as president of California School Employees Association’s Chapter 363, a union founded on the principle that nobody should work their entire lives in public service and retire with nothing. He serves as a delegate for the South Bay Labor Council as well.
He gives back to his community by serving on the board of directors for both the Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union and Latinas Contra Cancer, a nonprofit addressing breast cancer health disparity in the Latina community.
David Weissman
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
David is a member of the board of directors at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC., where he represents clients in collective bargaining negotiations, labor disputes, grievances and arbitrations, as well as proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board and state and federal courts. David has negotiated with almost every major Union over the course of his career, including the IBEW, UFCW, Unite HERE, SAG-AFTRA, LIUNA, IBT, GCIU, UAW, SMW, IUOE, SEIU, CWU, OPEIU, MEBA, ILU and AFSCME.
David represents local and national companies, as well as nonprofit and think tank organizations. He has negotiated collective bargaining agreements for clients in a variety of industries, including the hotel and restaurant industry, equipment manufacturing, airline service, food, cable, waste management, pharmaceutical, television commercials, newspapers, retail, real estate, shipping, advertising and construction. His experience on both sides of the negotiating table brings a unique perspective to labor negotiations, which has proved to be effective for his clients. He serves as a national management trustee on behalf of the advertisers and ad agencies to the SAG-AFTRA Pension & Health Funds.
Workers’ Capital Panel
Sarah Bernstein
Meketa Investment Group
Sarah has nearly 20 years of experience as an institutional investment consultant who is focused on ESG and sustainability issues. She joined the Meketa Investment Group in 2019 as part of the merger between Meketa and Pension Consulting Alliance (PCA). Prior to joining PCA in 2002, Sarah was an equity analyst with several Wall Street firms, including Kaufman Bros., First Union Capital Markets Corp., and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
Tom Croft
Heartland Strategies/SVA
Tom is managing director of Heartland Capital Strategies (HCS) and executive director of the Steel Valley Authority (SVA). He has authored many articles and is co-author of The Responsible Investor Handbook: Mobilizing Workers for a Sustainable World. His previous works include Up from Wall Street: The Responsible Alternative with a foreward by Richard Trumka and “Targeted Responsible Investments,” a chapter in The Next Generation of Responsible Investing.
Erin Hutson
LIUNA
Erin is director at LIUNA’s Corporate Affairs Department. LIUNA has more than 80 multi-employer pension plans with a combined value of $40 billion. LIUNA has invested in infrastructure for more than 10 years. Erin directs and coordinates LIUNA’s Capital Stewardship and Corporate Governance programs; develops education and training for fund trustees; and provides capital market research for LIUNA. LIUNA—the Laborers’ International Union of North America—is the most progressive, aggressive and fastest-growing union of construction workers, and one of the most diverse and effective unions representing public service employees.
Hugues Létourneau
Committee on Workers’ Capital
Hugues is associate director of the secretariat of the Global Unions’ Committee on Workers’ Capital, a global network of trade unions and pension fund trustees. He developed the CWC Asset Manager Accountability Initiative, which convenes asset owners from around the world to engage with global asset managers on investment stewardship practices. He coordinates trade union and investor participation into key policy consultations and in the nascent Labour Rights Investor Network with a view to ensuring that workers’ capital does not undermine workers’ rights. Hugues joined the SHARE team in 2013.
Brandon Rees
AFL-CIO
Brandon is deputy director of corporations and capital markets for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The AFL-CIO is a federation of labor unions that represent 12.5 million working men and women. Brandon also serves as the supervisory committee chair of the AFL-CIO Employees Federal Credit Union, a trustee of the AFL-CIO Staff Retirement Plan, a member of the Council of Institutional Investors’ U.S. Asset Owners Advisory Council, a governing board member of Heartland Capital Strategies, and a leadership team member for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility’s Advancing Worker Justice program.
Consultants Panel
Thomas Garrett
Verus
Thomas is responsible for leading the firm’s capital markets research efforts, including the creation and oversight of market reviews and outlooks, topical white papers and capital market forecasts and models. He directs the development of both shorter-term and longer-term top-down portfolio views in collaboration with portfolio management, research, and consulting staff. Thomas oversees the publication of research materials on topics such as capital market opportunities, strategic asset allocation, and active management. Prior to joining Verus, he held a career in the life insurance industry where he served as underwriting manager.
Brian Morandi
Alan Biller & Associates
Brian is a senior consultant with Alan Biller & Associates. He joined te firm in 2021 with 37 years of investment experience and a background in fundamental and quantitative credit and equity portfolio management. His focus involves helping defined benefit, defined contribution and other employee-benefit plans execute their strategic plans. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Financial Risk Manager designation and is a member of the CFA Society of New York and the Society of Quantitative Analysts.
John 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.
Mika Malone
Meketa Investment Group
Mika is managing principal and consultant at Meketa Investment Group. She joined Meketa in 2003. She currently works as the lead consultant on a select number of clients on their defined benefit, endowment, and defined contribution portfolios. Mika is a member of Meketa’s board of directors, the investment policy and corporate responsibility committees and pension practice group. She is passionate about helping clients achieve their asset allocation, policy and governance goals.
John Marco
Segal Marco Advisors
John is a senior vice president at Segal Marco Advisors. He has more than 15 years of investment consulting experience. He consults to defined benefit, defined contribution, and health & welfare plans. John also leads Segal Marco Advisors’ western U.S. consulting team. He started his career at the Marco Consulting Group as an investment manager analyst where he developed expertise in both traditional and alternative asset classes.
Tim McCusker
NEPC
Tim is chief investment officer at NEPC, where he oversees investment research and strategy development. In 2015, he topped CIO magazine’s rankings of the world’s most influential investment consultants, and in 2016 he was listed again by the magazine as one of the world’s most influential investment consultants. Tim earned his B.A. in mathematics from Colgate University.