Speaker Highlight
Chris Thixton, QPA, C(k)P®
Pension Consultants, Inc.
Mr. Chris Thixton started with Pension Consultants, Inc. (PCI) in 1995. Over that time, Chris has used his passions and skill sets to educate clients, plan sponsors, and fiduciaries on how to deliver a top-performing retirement plan.
Chris created, developed, and implemented a wide variety of systems that have improved clients’ retirement plans. He created the firm’s vendor research system that includes a robust service provider comparative analysis system. He developed the firm’s first investment search methodology, and created the first QP Review® - which expanded into PCI’s proprietary compliance service for clients.
Session Summary
As a fiduciary you want a good plan for your employees, but is your plan good enough? The industry shares a lot of information, but is your plan management focused on the things that really matter? Attendees joined us for this eye-opening session, where we question the currently accepted ideas of a “good plan”, and examine what critical areas of the plan every plan fiduciary should be measuring.
Eric Namee, JD
Hinkle Law Firm LLC
Mr. Eric Namee’s primary areas of practice include employee benefits, taxation, and tax litigation. He has been with the firm since its founding in 1987 and heads its taxation, employee benefits, and employment law practice group. He has practiced in employee benefit matters for 33 years and represented clients before the IRS for more than 35 years.
Mr. Namee is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a former president of the Kansas Bar Association Tax Section, a member of the Gulf Coast IRS TE/GE Employee Benefits Council, and a member of the Kansas Society of Certified Public Accountants Kansas Tax Conference Steering Committee.
He was the co-author of the Tax Law chapter of the annual Survey of Kansas Law from 1990 to 2006. Mr. Namee is a frequent speaker on employee benefit and IRS practice topics and is a guest instructor for the Tax Procedure course offered by the University of Kansas School of Law.
Session Summary
Attendees joined Mr. Namee in an interactive breakout session discussing the current legal landscape. This breakout session reviewed the current legal landscape of the retirement plan industry including review of recent litigation. Attendees also had the opportunity to engage in interactive case studies regarding best practices for retirement plan administration and fiduciary oversight.
Felicia Finston, JD
Principal, Wilkins Finston Friedman Law Group LLP
Ms. Felicia Finston is a founding partner of Wilkins Finston Friedman Law Group, a firm that practices exclusively employee benefits and executive compensation law. Ms. Finston has over 24 years of experience handling benefit and compensation issues for Fortune 500 and other public and private companies and tax-exempt entities, and regularly provides legal counsel on qualified plan regulatory concerns, including fiduciary compliance issues. An important part of her practice is representing clients before the IRS, the DOL and the PBGC in connection with employee benefit plan audits and under voluntary submission programs such as VFCP, EPCRS and DFVC.
She regularly advises clients regarding executive compensation and governance matters, such as SEC disclosure and filing issues, shareholder approval issues, and proxy disclosure requirements involving compensatory arrangements. Ms. Finston also provides legal counsel on health plan regulatory concerns, including HIPAA compliance issues and Medicare coordination of benefit matters.
Ms. Finston has been listed in Best Lawyers of America for 10+ years and was honored by Best Lawyers of America as the 2014 and 2018 Dallas Litigation-ERISA “Lawyer of the Year.” In 2011 and 2016 she, was honored by Best Lawyers as Dallas Employee Benefits Lawyer of the Year.
Session Summary
Attendees joined Ms. Finston in an interactive breakout session discussing the current legal landscape. This breakout session reviewed the current legal landscape of the retirement plan industry including review of recent litigation. Attendees also had the opportunity to engage in interactive case studies regarding best practices for retirement plan administration and fiduciary oversight.
E. Thomas Foster, Jr., JD
National Spokesperson, Workplace Solutions, MassMutual
Mr. E. Thomas Foster Jr., is National Spokesperson for MassMutual’s Workplace Solutions business division. Mr. Foster works directly with MassMutual financial advisor and plan sponsor clients to educate them on 401(k) plans and other qualified plan products, and has more than 30 years of experience working with retirement plans, covering product development, training, marketing and relationship management. He is an expert in retirement plan legislation, regulation, and compliance testing.
Mr. Foster travels extensively throughout the United States, lecturing to major trade organizations, national and regional broker dealers, banks and financial organizations, advisers, CPA’s, attorneys, and plan sponsors. He has been published and/or quoted in a variety of publications, including: The Wall Street Journal, On Wall Street, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, National Underwriter, American Banker, Investors Business Daily, Registered Representative, Forbes, Smart Money.com, Kiplinger, Personal Finance, Dow Jones, Associated Press, London Stock Exchange and more than one hundred others. He has also appeared on Bloomberg television, TheStreet.com, MainStreet.com, Sirius radio and a variety of local television, radio stations, and co-authored a book entitled To Sell or Not to Sell…Employer Retirement Plans.
Session Summary
Conference attendees joined Mr. Foster in a discussion about the economic and financial value of Plan Health. As the American workforce ages, this will have real cost implications to employers. We will delve into these cost implications and the financial value of taking proper actions toward retirement for individual employees. We will discuss strategies to help participants retire, how to take action on the sponsor and employee level, review the current retirement plan industry and the circumstances in America.