Speakers for our 10th Annual Employee Benefits Symposium

This year, we had a range of speakers like Tim Hayden, Corporate Synergies Regional Vice President, who talked about the Continued Rise of HSAs to Kate Livingston, CMS Associate and Keynote Speaker who helped shed light on "How Your Employees Think!" who will be presenting on the to who will shed light on As you can see from our list of speakers, there's a wide range of subject matter to discuss.

Jeff Bograd is the Director, Senior ERISA Consultant for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services and has been with the company for more than 27 years. In this role, Jeff serves as a technical resource to John Hancock’s client service and sales teams, plan sponsors and financial advisors on complex compliance matters and optimal plan design. He provides ERISA and fiduciary training classes to John Hancock employees, plan sponsors and financial advisors and speaks at industry conferences on legislative and regulatory matters and achieving financial independence through plan design. Prior to his current role, Jeff managed the ERISA Consulting Group, served as an ERISA Consultant and managed the ERISA Compliance Department, responsible for all compliance testing, Forms 5500, and IRS and DOL plan audits. Jeff received a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Middlebury College. In addition, he is a Registered Representative and maintains his Series 65, FINRA Series 6 and 63 registrations. Outside of work, Jeff enjoys reading about behavioral economics and personal finance, and playing and coaching lacrosse.

As a partner in Covington’s employee benefits practice group, Mike Francese focuses on counseling clients in matters arising under their employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements with respect to ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, and related federal and state laws. He also represents clients before agencies and courts on both the federal and state level, and consults with them in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.

Mike’s practice covers a broad spectrum of employee benefit plans and programs, as well as a variety of executive compensation arrangements, such as:

Tax-qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including traditional and hybrid pension plans, 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, and ESOPs;

Non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, including top-hat plans, 457(f) arrangements for employees of non-profit employers, and other types of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements;

Equity-based compensation arrangements, including stock options, restricted stock, and phantom equity awards;

Health and welfare plans, including cafeteria, medical, disability, and severance plans and arrangements; and

Executive employment and consulting agreements, including change in control, and parachute payment arrangements.

Richard Walzer is the Chief Information Security Officer for Putnam's Information Security Program. He is responsible for managing enterprise-wide security services as it pertains to Cyber Policies and Risk Assessments, Security Architecture and Engineering, Security Operations and Incident Response, Controls and Governance, and Disaster Recovery Planning. Richard is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and holds his Series 99 license with FINRA. He has been in the investment industry since he joined Putnam in 2000.

Prior to joining Putnam, Richard was with The MITRE Corporation as a Section Leader and Principal INFOSEC Engineer leading the development of security program at numerous defense department organizations. He was also a key member of the International Common Criteria Implementation Board that delivered Version 2 of the Common Criteria which has now been adopted by nearly 30 nations.

Tim Hayden provides executive leadership, direction and support to the Sales and Account Management team for the DC office of Corporate Synergies. His primary role is to ensure that clients receive the focus and resources needed for optimal results. Tim is an accomplished healthcare executive with more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience in all phases of the employee benefits industry. He has earned an industry-wide reputation as a creative developer of benefits solutions. He has overall management responsibility for the team of benefits professionals serving Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Tim is the author of benefits best practice articles on topics such as FSA rules, specialty drug cost-control, health and wellness trends and consumer-driven health plans with HSAs. His articles have been published by Plan Sponsor and Employee Benefit News.

Alexander G. Assaley is Managing Principal and the Lead Advisor for Retirement Plans with AFS 401(k) Retirement Services. He specializes in the design, implementation, and counsel to retirement plans for non-profit organizations, trade associations, as well as public and private corporations.

Alex has established continued recognition from peers and industry practitioners as a top retirement plan advisor and national thought leader for 401(k), 403(b), and pension retirement plans. Some accolades include: Retirement Advisor of the Year Finalist (2016), by PlanSponsor Magazine*; Dig|Benefits Technology Innovator Awards (2016), by Employee Benefits News**; Top 75 Retirement Advisors under 40,” (2014 – 2018) by the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)***; as well as others.

Alex received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from West Virginia University and holds the FINRA Series 7, Series 63, and Series 66 securities registrations as an Investment Advisor Representative with Commonwealth Financial Network. He has also earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) professional designation, awarded by the Center for Fiduciary Studies, which is associated with the University of Pittsburgh.

Alex is a member of the NAPA (National Association of Plan Advisors) Leadership Council (elected in 2016), the highest appointed volunteer position within the organization, and for 2015 and 2016 served as the co-chair of the NAPA 401(k) Summit, the industry’s national convention. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and regularly participates in industry meetings with policymakers and Congressional leaders. He is the active President of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rotary Club, part of Rotary International. Alex lives in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife, Jamie. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar, tennis, and golf, and trying new restaurants.

As an organizational development consultant and executive coach, Kate Livingston’s focus is on helping teams and clients build effective working relationships to improve performance. Operating across a range of industries, Kate has found that what many professionals share in common is the desire to better communicate and to realize that these skills evolve over one’s lifetime. Using research from adult development, Kate adopts an interactive approach to stimulate collaboration, active listening and meaningful conversations.

Her industry experience ranges from financial services to pharmaceutical/biotech and health care. In addition to Amundi Pioneer, Kate’s clients include Merrill Lynch, AXA, Morgan Stanley, Harvard Management Company, Cannon Financial, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Chaloub Group (Dubai). She is a regular presenter in Executive Education programs internationally, including Universidad de la Empresa (Argentina), Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico) and Ibero University (Mexico).

Kate holds a master’s degree in adult development and psychology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in art history from Pennsylvania State University. She draws from both of these fields when helping clients see how they frame and address their challenges. Trained in executive coaching at Columbia University, she works with clients to identify strengths while exploring behavioral patterns and unchallenged assumptions that can limit professional growth and personal aspirations.

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