Retiring Minds - Their Next Chapter(s)

Bob Kaplan was the Director of Technical Education for the American Retirement Association (ARA) from 2017 through2025.  In this role he was the Subject Matter Expert for the content of the educational programs for the ARA.  Bob was also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and on webcasts. Bob retired at the end of 2025 but still works oneducational products and exam review sessions for ARA...

FRED REISH  is an attorney whose practice focuseson fiduciary and best interest standards of care, prohibited transactions, conflicts of interest, and retirement plan issues. He is of counsel at the Ferenczy Benefits Law Center and acts as the Director of ERISA and Fiduciary Strategy for Prime Capital.  Fred is a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. He has been reco...

Professionally, Blaine Aikin retired on July 1, 2024.Immediately prior to retirement, Blaine was the Founder and Principal of Fiduciary Insights, an independent provider of fiduciary subject matter expertise for organizations that employ or provide services to investment advisors. Fifteen years prior to founding Fiduciary Insights in 2019,Blaine served in the executive leadership of Fi360. He was...

Sheldon H. Smith, attorney at law, retired from the law firm of Bryan Cave LLP where he practiced in the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation client servicesgroup and its Fiduciary Litigation client services group, advising clients on ERISA, qualified retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, executive compensation, and fiduciary duties.  Mr. Smith practiced law in private law firms...

Sal L. Tripodi maintained a consulting practice in the employee benefits area, TRI Pension Services . Through TRI Pension Services, he provided technical training and consulting services in ERISA-related areas, and conducted numerous seminars around the country, including an annual seminar in Honolulu until 2019. He is the original author of a nine-volume reference guide, “The ERISA Outline Book,”...

Jeanne Thompson is the founder of Jeanne Thompson Global, a consultancy that partners with forward-thinking organizations to create comprehensive retirement transition programs. After retiring from Fidelity Investments in December 2021, Jeanne discovered firsthand that people need support beyond financial planning to not only make the decision to retire, but to successfully transition into retirem...

Mark worked in the defined contribution industry for morethan 30 years and served as an independent advisor since 1999. Mark's career focused on providing investment advisory services to fiduciaries of corporate retirement plans. Based in Los Angeles, he served clients from New York toHonolulu. Mark has been frequently quoted in national media and regularly spoke at events on retirement, inves...

Dallas Salisbury was long synonymous with the Employee Benefit Research institute (EBRI) that he led as CEO from its founding in 1978 until 2015 when he was named Resident Fellow and President Emeritus of that organization, a position he held till year-end 2017.  He was also chairman and CEO until December 31, 2015, of the American Savings Education Council (ASEC), a partnership of public and priv...

John Rekenthaler was vice president of research for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Rekenthaler joined Morningstar in 1988 and served in several capacities. He has overseen Morningstar's research methodologies, led thought leadership initiatives such as the Global Investor Experience report that assesses the experiences of mutual fund investors glo...

Mathew Greenwald is the Founder and Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives of Greenwald Research, a market research firm founded in 1985 that specializes in retirement, life insurance, employee benefits and other financial services issues.  He has a Ph. D. in sociology from Rutgers University.  Dr. Greenwald was a Congress-appointed delegate to the 1998 and 2002 National Summits on Retirement...

Karen A. Jordan is a retired pension consultant with more than 40 years in the retirement plan business.  Formerly, she was president and an owner of Alaska Pension Services, Ltd. (APS), a pension consulting firm in Anchorage, Alaska. Karen is a past president of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), which is head- quartered in Arlington VA. With ASPPA, she earned th...

Now “retired” (whatever that means), Nevin is the former Chief Content Officer and Head of Retirement Research for the American Retirement Association.  One of the retirement industry’s most prolific writers, these days he’s “retired,” which means he writes less, but continues to keep his eye on developments in, and threats to, the nation’s private retirement system.   He’s the “Nevin” in the Nevi...

Following her unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, the Honorable Phyllis C. Borzi served as the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) during the Obama Administration from 2009 until 2017, overseeing approximately 700,000 private-sector retirement plans, approximately 2.3 million group health plans, and a similar number of other welfare bene...

One of the retirement industry’s most innovative leaders, Nelson led not one, but two major retirement companies, Voya and Great-West Life. As the Vice Chairman and Chief Growth Officer at Voya Financial, he supported the shape of Voya’s growth strategy, both organic and inorganic, including a robust customer segmentation strategy to align solutions to specific customer and market needs.  As CEO o...