2026 Annual Meeting of the Participant Experience Roundtable
VENUE - MEETING AGENDA - HOTEL
VENUE
Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor
101 Harborside Drive
Boston, MA 02128
AGENDA
Click date to open Agenda
| 6:00 p.m. | Meet in lobby of Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor to take water taxi to ReelHouse. |
| 6:30 p.m. | Pre-Event Dinner at ReelHouse East Boston, 6 New Street, Boston, MA |
| 8:00 a.m. | Continental Breakfast Buffet |
| Location: Raffaello | |
| 8:15 a.m. | Welcome and Introduction Steering Committee Chair: Kim Bullock, AVP Digital Experience, Voya Financial Location: Raffaello |
| 8:30 a.m. | GENERAL SESSION: Participant Engagement Beyond Automatic Enrollment |
| This opening panel examines what meaningful engagement looks like once automatic enrollment has done its work of getting participants into the plan. Panelists explore engagement on three fronts – financial wellness, retirement plan decision-making, and account security – and consider how providers can move participants from passive enrollment to active ownership of their financial futures. Moderator: Amy Glynn, President, Viking Cove Institute Panelists: David Ogg, CISM, Business Information Security Officer, Principal Financial Group Greg Ward, Thinktank Director, Financial Finesse Brenda Robertson, Retirement Education Manager, ADP Retirement Location: Michelangelo A |
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| 9:45 a.m. | TRANSITION BREAK |
| 9:50 a.m. | Breakout Sessions Breakout 1 – Mapping the Moments That Matter Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Participants interact with their plan at a handful of pivotal moments. This session identifies the three participant journeys that most shape the participant experience and dissects where friction, drop-off, and delight occur. Discussion covers how providers prioritize design investment across these journeys and how they measure improvement over time. Moderator:Kim Bullock, AVP Digital Experience - Voya Financial Location: Raffaello Breakout 2 – Communicating Through Service Provider Transitions Track: Participant Communication Description: Plan transitions are among the highest anxiety moments in the participant’s experience. This session explores how service providers communicate mapping strategies, in-kind transfers, and blackout periods in ways that satisfy compliance requirements while keeping participants informed and confident. Attendees compare templates, timing practices, and lessons learned from recent conversions. Moderator: Noelle Denniss, Education Communication Strategist, Manulife John Hancock Retirement Location: Michelangelo A Breakout 3 – Live, Recorded, and What Actually Works Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Online education takes many forms, and each demands its own definition of success. This session compares the reach, engagement, and outcome metrics of live webinars against on-demand content and asks how providers decide which format to deploy for which topic and audience. Moderator: Nick Sparks , Director, Client Service and Retirement Education, ADP Retirement Location: Michelangelo B Breakout 4 - The Human and the Machine on the Line Track: Participant Contact Center Description: AI is reshaping the contact center, from call summarization and agent assistance to fully automated participant interactions. This session examines where AI adds value in participant conversations, where human counselors remain essential, and how providers manage accuracy, confidentiality, trust, and compliance as these tools mature. Moderator: Susan M. Reynolds - Director, Retirement Solutions – TruStage Location: Britannic |
| 11:00 a.m. | General Session: Peer discussion of trending topics |
| A member-driven discussion of the questions on everyone’s mind. Attendees select from the topics below and share candidly what is – and isn’t – working across their organizations. Proposed topics:
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| 12:15 p.m. | Buffet Luncheon Location: Raffaello |
| 1:00 p.m. | Breakout Sessions Breakout 5 - Testing Before They Tell You Track: Participant Digital Experience Description:Great digital experiences are validated with real participants, not assumed. This session surveys usability testing practices across the industry – from moderated sessions and A/B usability testing to analytics-driven iteration – and discusses how teams build testing into the product cycle on realistic budgets and timelines. Moderator: Eric Henon, EACH Enterprise LLC Location: Raffaello Breakout 6 - Speaking to One, at Scale: Customization and Hyper-personalization Track: Participant Communication Description: Participants increasingly expect communications tailored to their situation, yet personalization at scale raises questions of data, cost, and diminishing returns. This session explores segmentation strategies, dynamic content, and the line between helpful personalization and intrusive complexity. Moderators: Greg Ward, Thinktank Director, Financial Finesse Susan Weeks, Director, Key Accounts, Financial Finesse Location: Michelangelo A Breakout 7 - Where Counselors and Educators Spend Their Hours Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Education and counseling teams constantly balance dedicated support for larger plans against shared-resource models that serve many. This session examines how providers allocate counselor time, triage participant demand, and measure whether resources are deployed where they create the most value. Moderator: Ryan Merrell, Transamerica Location: Michelangelo B Breakout 8 - From Accumulation to Income: Advanced Conversations: Retirement Counseling and Income Planning Track: Participant Contact Center Description: As participants approach and enter retirement, the conversation shifts from saving to drawing down. This session explores how contact centers equip staff for advanced retirement counseling and income-planning discussions, including the training, tools, and boundaries that distinguish education from advice. Moderator: Angela Harney, The Standard Location: Britannic |
| 2:10 p.m. | Transition Break |
| 2:15 p.m. | General Session: Preparing for Old-Age: "The Retirement Income System in Transition" |
| Description: Drawing on the Center for Retirement Research's work, this session steps back to the national picture: how has the retirement income system -- mainly Social Security and employer plans -- evolved in recent decades and where might it be heading? The presentation frames the policy backdrop against which every participant-experience decision is ultimately made. Presenter: Andrew D. Eschtruth, Center for Retirement Research Location: Raffaello |
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| 3:15 p.m. | Transition Break |
| 3:20 p.m. | Next Steps and Closing: Charting a Course and Plan of Action for 2027 |
| The Steering Committee synthesizes the day’s discussions into concrete priorities, working-group commitments, and a roadmap for the Participant Experience Roundtable in 2027. Moderator: Location: Raffaello |
|
| 4:20 p.m. | Adjourn |
Click date to open Agenda
| 6:00 p.m. | Meet in lobby of Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor to take water taxi to ReelHouse. |
| 6:30 p.m. | Pre-Event Dinner at ReelHouse East Boston, 6 New Street, Boston, MA |
| 8:00 a.m. | Continental Breakfast Buffet |
| Location: Raffaello | |
| 8:15 a.m. | Welcome and Introduction Steering Committee Chair: Kim Bullock, AVP Digital Experience, Voya Financial Location: Raffaello |
| 8:30 a.m. | GENERAL SESSION: Participant Engagement Beyond Automatic Enrollment |
| This opening panel examines what meaningful engagement looks like once automatic enrollment has done its work of getting participants into the plan. Panelists explore engagement on three fronts – financial wellness, retirement plan decision-making, and account security – and consider how providers can move participants from passive enrollment to active ownership of their financial futures. Moderator: Amy Glynn, President, Viking Cove Institute Panelists: David Ogg, CISM, Business Information Security Officer, Principal Financial Group Greg Ward, Thinktank Director, Financial Finesse Brenda Robertson, Retirement Education Manager, ADP Retirement Location: Raffaello |
|
| 9:45 a.m. | TRANSITION BREAK |
| 9:50 a.m. | Breakout Sessions Breakout 1 – Mapping the Moments That Matter Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Participants interact with their plan at a handful of pivotal moments. This session identifies the three participant journeys that most shape the participant experience and dissects where friction, drop-off, and delight occur. Discussion covers how providers prioritize design investment across these journeys and how they measure improvement over time. Moderator: Kim Bullock, AVP Digital Experience - Voya Financial Location: Raffaello Breakout 2 – Communicating Through Service Provider Transitions Track: Participant Communication Description: Plan transitions are among the highest anxiety moments in the participant’s experience. This session explores how service providers communicate mapping strategies, in-kind transfers, and blackout periods in ways that satisfy compliance requirements while keeping participants informed and confident. Attendees compare templates, timing practices, and lessons learned from recent conversions. Moderator: Noelle Denniss, Education Communication Strategist, Manulife John Hancock Retirement Location: Michelangelo A Breakout 3 – Live, Recorded, and What Actually Works Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Online education takes many forms, and each demands its own definition of success. This session compares the reach, engagement, and outcome metrics of live webinars against on-demand content and asks how providers decide which format to deploy for which topic and audience. Moderator: Nick Sparks , Director, Client Service and Retirement Education, ADP Retirement Location: Michelangelo B Breakout 4 - The Human and the Machine on the Line Track: Participant Contact Center Description: AI is reshaping the contact center, from call summarization and agent assistance to fully automated participant interactions. This session examines where AI adds value in participant conversations, where human counselors remain essential, and how providers manage accuracy, confidentiality, trust, and compliance as these tools mature. Moderator: Susan M. Reynolds - Director, Retirement Solutions – TruStage Location: Britannic |
| 11:00 a.m. | General Session: Peer discussion of trending topics |
|
A member-driven discussion of the questions on everyone’s mind. Attendees select from the topics below and share candidly what is – and isn’t – working across their organizations.
|
|
| 12:15 p.m. | Buffet Luncheon Location: Raffaello |
| 1:00 p.m. | Breakout Sessions Breakout 5 - Testing Before They Tell You Track: Participant Digital Experience Description: Great digital experiences are validated with real participants, not assumed. This session surveys usability testing practices across the industry – from moderated sessions and A/B usability testing to analytics-driven iteration – and discusses how teams build testing into the product cycle on realistic budgets and timelines. Moderator: Eric Henon, EACH Enterprise, LLC Location: Raffaello Breakout 6 - Speaking to One, at Scale: Customization and Hyper-personalization Track: Participant Communication Description: Participants increasingly expect communications tailored to their situation, yet personalization at scale raises questions of data, cost, and diminishing returns. This session explores segmentation strategies, dynamic content, and the line between helpful personalization and intrusive complexity. Moderators: Greg Ward, Thinktank Director, Financial Finesse Susan Weeks, Director, Key Accounts, Financial Finesse Location: Michelangelo A Breakout 7 - Where Counselors and Educators Spend Their Hours Track: Participant Education & Counseling Description: Education and counseling teams constantly balance dedicated support for larger plans against shared-resource models that serve many. This session examines how providers allocate counselor time, triage participant demand, and measure whether resources are deployed where they create the most value. Moderator: Ryan Merrell, Transamerica Location: Michelangelo B Breakout 8 - From Accumulation to Income: Advanced Conversations: Retirement Counseling and Income Planning Track: Participant Contact Center Description: As participants approach and enter retirement, the conversation shifts from saving to drawing down. This session explores how contact centers equip staff for advanced retirement counseling and income-planning discussions, including the training, tools, and boundaries that distinguish education from advice. Moderator: Angela Harney, The Standard Location: Britannic |
| 2:10 p.m. | Transition Break |
| 2:15 p.m. | General Session: Preparing for Old-Age: "The Retirement Income System in Transition" |
| Description: Drawing on the Center for Retirement Research's work, this session steps back to the national picture: how has the retirement income system -- mainly Social Security and employer plans -- evolved in recent decades and where might it be heading? The presentation frames the policy backdrop against which every participant-experience decision is ultimately made. Presenter: Andrew D. Eschtruth, Center for Retirement Research Location: Raffaello |
|
| 3:15 p.m. | Transition Break |
| 3:20 p.m. | Next Steps and Closing: Charting a Course and Plan of Action for 2027 |
| The Steering Committee synthesizes the day’s discussions into concrete priorities, working-group commitments, and a roadmap for the Participant Experience Roundtable in 2027. Moderator: Location: Raffaello |
|
| 4:20 p.m. | Adjourn |
STEERING COMMITTEE
Kim Bullock - AVP Digital Experience - Voya Financial
Kim Creason - Vice President of Marketing - ADP Retirement
Angela Harney - The Standard
Julie Jarabek - Senior Director of Education and Planning Services - Transamerica
Susan M. Reynolds - Director, Retirement Solutions - TruStage
Brenda Robertson - Retirement Education Manager - ADP Retirement
PRE-EVENT DINNER
Tuesday, September 22nd at 6:30 p.m.
ReelHouse East Boston
6 New Street
Boston, MA 02128
HOTEL
Hotel Reservations
Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor
101 Harborside Drive
Boston, MA 02128
$329.00 per night not including taxes/incidentals - Hotel Reservation link coming soon
