Conversion/ImplementationTeam Leader Roundtable

2015 Annual Meeting

May 19/20/21, 2015
Greenwood Village, Colorado

Hosted by: Empower Retirement

Register On-line

Meeting Objective

Forum for Conversion / Transition / Implementation team leaders of retirement plan firms to exchange ideas and practices, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the effectiveness of business processes and team management.  This meeting will include peer discussions, committee reports, breakout sessions, and research presentations.  Questions discussed are those suggested by attendees in the registration process.  There are no minutes of this meeting.

Audience

Attendance is by invitation only.  The invitation is extended to New Business Conversion / Transition / Implementation team leaders at retirement plan service providers operating in the following markets:

• Defined contribution plan (401(k), 403(b), 457, 1165(e) and Group RRSPs)
• Defined benefit and hybrid plans
• Corporate, government, Taft-Hartley and not-for-profit markets
• Across distribution channels (bank, direct, consultant, adviser, brokerage, TPA, agent and others)
• Large and jumbo plans
• Micro, small and mid-sized plans

Planning Committee

Conversion Team Leaders:
Ray Bellucci, TIAA-CREF Financial Services
Kara Boling, VALIC
Anthony Fego, Transamerica Retirement Solutions
Shauna Finley, Fidelity Investments
Mona Harris, VALIC
David Irilli, The Vanguard Group
Steve Nolan, Wells Fargo Bank N.A.
Kim Overton, Ameritas Retirement Plans
Nancy Pieper, BMO Retirement Services
Mary Romano, MassMutual Financial Group
Steve Stillman, Empower Retirement
Diane Supernant, Ascensus
Mark Weiss, The Vanguard Group

Date and Time

May 19, 2015—Pre-event Activities
3:30 p.m. - Historical Tour of Denver
6:00 p.m. - Dinner at Euclid Hall
May 20, 2015
12:00 PM - Lunch
12:25 PM to 5:25 PM - Meeting
7:00 PM - Dinner at Cool River Café
May 21, 2015
8:00 AM - Continental Breakfast
11:45 AM - Lunch
8:30 AM to 3:30 PM - Meeting

Venue

Empower Retirement - Conference Center
8525 E. Orchard Road, B2T3
Conference Room A & B
Greenwood Village, CO  80111

Dress Code

Casual Dress for pre-event
Business Casual Dress Code for meetings and event dinner

Agenda

Wednesday May 20, 2015
12:00 p.m.   Lunch
12:15 p.m.   Opening and welcome by host Steve Stillman
12:25 p.m.   Advisor Perspective On Plan Transitions Panel

Moderator:  Eric Henon - EACH Enterprise, LLC
Panel:           Chris Griess, QPA, QKA - United Retirement Plan Consultants
                      Frank Laden – Bernstein Global Wealth Management
                      Chad Larsen – Moreton Retirement Partners
                      Daniel Nemmers – Lockton Financial Advisors, LLC

1:25 p.m.     Break
1:45 p.m.     Team Organization and Team Management

Managing the human resource function in conversion / transition / implementation teams presents unique challenges.  The function requires an exceptionally broad range of technical knowledge (systems, regulations, administration, investments), versatility, complete schedule flexibility,  peak performance under pressure, keen awareness of circumstances, tolerance of ambiguity, and openness to change.  Without the proper organization and human resource management practices, turnover increases dramatically, affecting capacity, and the company’s ability to compete for new business.  In this session, team leaders will discuss how to balance talent / technical knowledge, and staff time / capacity in human resource management practices (selection and recruiting, training and development, roles and responsibilities, scheduling, work distribution, performance measurement, evaluation, compensation, rewards and recognition, team organization, bench strength development.)

Moderator:  Eric Henon – EACH Enterprise, LLC

2:55 p.m.      Break
3:00 p.m.      Breakout Sessions 1-3 (Committee reports and discussions)
                       Each committee presents standards and / or best practices for consideration by and discussion with industry peers at the Roundtable

Defining soft and hard blackout periods (loans, hardship withdrawals, deferral changes, investment transfers, beneficiary changes, etc.) – Conference Room C

Deconversion file format – all fields including RMDs, systematic withdrawals, and other distributions. – Training Room D - E

Automatic plan features, QDIA and custom asset allocations –standard procedures and protocols (notices, etc.) – Training Room G

4:10 p.m.      Break
4:15 p.m.      Breakout Sessions 4-6 (Moderated peer discussion roundtables)

Micro-Small-Mid and TPA Markets – Conference Room C

Kim Overton – Ameritas Retirement Plans
Bill Reynolds – Ascensus

Large- Jumbo  - Training Room D - E

David Irilli – The Vanguard Group

5:25 p.m.      Adjourn for the day
7:00 p.m.      Dinner at Cool River Café

Thursday May 21, 2015
8:00 a.m      Continental breakfast buffet
8:30 a.m.     Breakout Sessions 7-9

SESSION FULL Company practices survey presentation and discussion – Conversion / Implementation process  - Conference Room C

Presenter: Brian Neligan - EACH Enterprise, LLC

Interactions with payroll providers  and TPAs - Participant-driven transfers / 1035 exchanges/Asset Gathering Operations – strategies to overcome major hurdles  (peer discussion roundtable) – Training Room E - F

Co-Moderators:
Kara Bowling – VALIC
Shauna Finley – Fidelity Investments

9:45 a.m.     Refreshment Break
10:00 a.m.   Systems, Technology, Resource Allocation and Project Management Tools

Peer Discussion Roundtable General Session

In this session, attendees will discuss the adoption of technology to enhance efficacy of business. The focus will be on systems beyond the recordkeeping platform such as project management, queue management, relationship management tools, and communications technology in general.  Technological innovation affects how members of the implementation team (data management and implementation staff) interact with each other, and how they interact with clients, advisors, TPAs, and incumbents.  Where does project information reside?  How is access shared to reduce the need for ad-hoc follow-up conference calls?  What steps does the team leader take to distribute information on a need-to-know basis to avoid information overload.   Lack of adoption can make productivity tools frivolous and excessive use reduces their effectiveness.  On the other hand, with the proper support, technology can substantially enhance productivity, improve client experience, and increase team capacity.

Moderator: Eric Henon – EACH Enterprise, LLC

Co-Moderators:
Anthony Fego – Transamerica Retirement Solutions
Steve Nolan – Wells Fargo Bank N.A.

11:45 a.m.    Lunch Break
12:45 p.m.    General Session

Team management – developing a career path to alleviate staff burnout (Peer discussion roundtable)

Moderator: Steve Stillman – Empower Retirement

2:00 p.m.    Refreshment Break
2:15 p.m.    General Session – Defining quality service and quality client experience in the conversion process

Peer Discussion Roundtable – General Session (no minutes)

Defining quality in the conversion / implementation process requires a discussion of the right mix of client interactions through the process (too little and clients may feel we don’t care; too frequent and clients may feel overwhelmed.)  Going beyond client interactions, defining quality means balancing subjective impressions with objective measures.   Short-term efficiency and long-term effectiveness play an important role in the quality scorecard.  This peer discussion will help understand the many ways in which conversion team leaders use standards, documented client expectations, record of meeting service guarantees, objective data hygiene / error rate, on-time delivery, on-budget delivery, client satisfaction, net promoter score, client retention, referenceability, and delighted client testimonials to measure service quality.

Moderator: Eric Henon - EACH Enterprise, LLC

3:30 p.m.     Adjourn

Event Networking Dinner

Dinner included in the registration.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
Cool River Café
8000 East Belleview, C-10
Greenwood Village, CO  80111
(303) 771-4117

Hotel / Transportation

For accommodations, we recommend the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, located two and a half  miles  from the meeting site.  Please contact the hotel directly by April 27, 2015 by calling 1-888-421-1442 for reservations and ask for the Conversion/Implementation Team Leader Roundtable rate which is $149 not including taxes.

Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center
7800 East Tufts Avenue
Denver, CO  80237
(888) 421-1442
(303) 779-1234

To make your reservations, please Click Here

Register

Register on-line

Registration requires an invitation code.  Payments by credit card, debit card, check or bank transfer

Registration deadlines for meetings:
Cost Per Attendee    
    On or before December 31, 2014: $1,250.00
    After  December 31, 2014: $1,500.00

Pre-Event Activities:  Additional $160.00 SOLD OUT

Cancellation policy:

EACH Enterprise, LLC will refund your entire meeting fee if you cancel on or before November 30,  2014.   For cancellations between  December  1, 2014 and May 5, 2015, EACH Enterprise, LLC will refund your  registration fee minus an administration fee of $175.  No refunds for cancellations after May 5, 2015.

Related Project

Conversion/Transition/Implementation Company Practices Survey