NAFA Annuity Leadership Forum Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Kristen Soltis Anderson is a partner and co-founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Echelon Insights, a research, analytics, and digital intelligence firm. Her research on millennial attitudes has been featured in The New York Times Magazine and she regularly speaks to audiences of corporate leaders and public officials about how to reach the millennial generation. She is the host of SiriusXM’s “The Trendline with Kristen Soltis Anderson,” airing weekly on their POTUS politics channel. She also co-hosts the bipartisan weekly podcast, “The Pollsters,” featuring Democratic pollster Margie Omero.
Back by popular demand, Kristen will examine how millennials and gen Z are changing the way businesses, organizations, and political factions market and message to engage these trendsetters.
The keynote speaker presentation is proudly sponsored by:
Featured Speakers
Cliff Andrews has more than 20 years of political experience as a federal legislative strategist and advocate. He heads CapCity Advocates, LLC, a federal government relations business that he started in 2004. He offers extensive experience in legislative issues management and coalition management for trade associations and corporations. In particular, he consults with clients on advocacy plans, legislative and regulatory conferences and fly-ins, policy paper and testimony preparation, policy issue monitoring, grassroots and grasstops development, PAC strategy, and building strategic relationships with third-party groups.
In the past, Cliff served as the Director of Government Relations for Butera & Andrews, a Washington D.C. law firm, and at one time was a staffer for Senator Harry Reid. He also worked in the financial services sector for Equitable and New York Life, where he secured investments and insurance for small businesses and families.
Chuck DiVencenzo is the President and CEO of NAFA, overseeing the association’s efforts to promote and expand the utilization of fixed and fixed index annuity products through independent distribution. His work on advocacy at the state and federal levels, thought leadership, consumer education efforts and commitment to industry best practices have aided product acceptance and industry growth.
Prior to joining NAFA, Chuck was vice president at Allianz Life of North America, where he served as a national spokesperson on topics including taxation, retirement, social security, asset protection and other relevant issues. He also worked closely with the actuarial, sales and legal departments to develop content and product, and to deliver thought leadership to wholesalers and distribution partners. Formerly, he served as the COO/CMO of Paradigm Capital Management and senior vice president in Hartford Life’s Investment Products Division. Chuck has also held positions in academia, practiced tax and ERISA law, and began his career as a consultant with Ernst & Young.
Seth D. Harris is a Distinguished Professor of Practice at Northeastern University and Affiliated Faculty and a Senior Fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change (and its partner project The GovLab) where he runs the Initiative on Labor and Economic Justice. Prior to joining Northeastern University, he was the Deputy Assistant to the President for Labor and the Economy and Deputy Director of the Biden White House’s National Economic Council.
Building on almost seven years of service in the Labor Department during an earlier administration, Professor Harris was Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor (and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet) and Deputy U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2014. Between the Obama and Biden Administrations, he was an attorney in Washington, D.C. and a Visiting Professor at Cornell University’s Institute for Public Affairs and School of Industrial & Labor Relations. He was also deeply involved in retirement policy and, in particular, the role of guaranteed lifetime income for working people.
Kevin Mechtley serves as vice president, business development and chief innovation officer for North American, where he is dually focused on new product innovation and strategic relationship building. He leverages nearly 20 years of annuity industry experience to lead new product ideation processes, oversee competitive intelligence and work with annuity group leadership to prioritize business development opportunities.
Previously, Kevin was part of North American’s legal team where he led the government affairs unit. His former experiences included a stint as the head of First Consulting’s annuity practice, years as a consulting attorney for Aviva USA, which was purchased by Athene, and a role clerking for the Kansas Secretary of State. He is also the current vice chairman of NAFA’s board of directors. Kevin earned his JD from Washburn University School of Law and his undergrad from the University of Kansas.
Michael Sinacore is Pensions Policy Director for the Senate HELP Committee Republicans under Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA). He previously served as the Economic Policy Adviser for Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) where he led the legislative efforts to draft and pass the SECURE 2.0 Act. He has also worked for Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and for Representatives Dave Trott (R-MI) and Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) in their respective assignments to the House Financial Services Committee. Sinacore has also served as the Deputy Director for External Affairs at the National Credit Union Administration.
Prior to his government service, Sinacore worked at JP Morgan’s London Office. Sinacore holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Boston College.
Tyler Dunne joins Congressman Nunn’s DC office as a legislative assistant from Congressman French Hill’s office (AR-02), where he worked closely with the Financial Services Committee.
Prior to his Capitol Hill experience, Tyler worked at Starwood Capital Group as an associate for roughly three years, where he helped develop and fundraise on their SREIT product. He is originally from the DC suburbs and received his undergraduate degree from Florida State University. Tyler is an active sports fan and enjoys watching his alma mater, Baltimore Ravens, and Manchester United Football Club. Additionally, he enjoys taking his two-year-old Golden Retriever, Roman, hiking in the woods.
Legal Panelists
Bradford Campbell, partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, advises financial service providers and plan sponsors on ERISA Title I issues, including fiduciary conduct and prohibited transactions. A nationally recognized figure in employer-sponsored retirement plans, he is the former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits and head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration. As ERISA’s former “top cop” and primary federal regulator, he provides his clients with insight and knowledge across a broad range of ERISA-plan related issues.
Brad also serves as an expert witness in ERISA litigation. Brad has been listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Persons in Defined Contribution by 401kWire and has been listed as one of the top 15 ERISA attorneys in the country by a poll of the National Association of Plan Advisors. He has testified before Congress on employee benefits issues 11 times, including testimony before four different Congressional Committees regarding the effects of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary regulation.
Justin Chretien is a litigator with decades of experience handling high-stakes regulatory investigations, formal disciplinary proceedings, and litigation on behalf of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He was most recently a FINRA enforcement senior director who oversaw hundreds of cases against broker-dealers and associated persons involving all manner of violations of federal securities laws and the rules of FINRA and U.S. stock exchanges. His broad experience includes addressing violations related to firm supervisory systems and procedures, market access and risk management controls, market manipulation, best execution, short sales, intermarket sweep orders, trade reporting, trading ahead, anticipatory hedging, due diligence, excessive markups (in equities, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and treasuries), suitability, money laundering, as well as payment for order flow and gamification issues.
Andrew Payne is vice president and general counsel of CreativeOne, where he works closely with compliance and in-house actuaries to protect and further the company’s business interests. He is frequently featured on webinars and podcast episodes providing updates on regulatory and legislative issues impacting the industry, including the ongoing evolution of the DOL fiduciary rule. Andrew concurrently serves as the treasurer of NAFA’s Board of Directors and is a former chair of NAFA’s Government and Legal Affairs Committee.
Prior to joining CreativeOne, Andrew worked in private practice and clerked for the Kansas Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Washburn University School of Law.
Eric Taylor serves as senior vice president, distribution – independent annuities for Corebridge Financial Distributors (formerly AIG Financial Distributors). Corebridge Financial Distributors is the U.S. life and retirement distribution organization for Corebridge Financial. In this role, Eric is responsible for providing strategic and tactical leadership for the internal and external sales activities for Fixed Annuity sales within Independent Distribution.
Prior to joining Corebridge Financial in 2016, Eric’s 20+ years of experience included a variety of roles at GE Capital and Genworth Financial including audit, risk management, product development, marketing and distribution leadership. Eric earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California in San Diego, and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a board member for the National Association for Fixed Annuities (NAFA) and a member of the NAFA Education Committee.
Economic Panelists
Alan Grissom is a managing partner and insurance consultant with 12 South Capital. Previously, he spent over a decade with S&P Dow Jones Indices as the Head of Sales, North America and Global Head of Insurance. During his tenure, he was responsible for leading and directing the commercial interests of S&P Dow Jones Indices, which included over $15 trillion of investment assets. Alan’s team was responsible for introducing and monetizing passive-based concepts such as the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, S&P 500 ESG, 500 Buffer Protect, VIX, Case Shiller Home Price Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and over one million other index methodologies to investment banks, asset managers, insurers, exchanges, hedge funds and pensions/endowments.
Alan previously established and led the Independent Distribution Channel at AIG after guiding the retirement products division to record sales and profits for over six years. He has a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama where he is a member of the Board of Visitors for the Culverhouse College of Business.
Peter Miller is an Insurance Research Strategist with the Invesco Global Investment Solutions team. Prior to joining Invesco, he served as a senior vice president with PIMCO’s financial institutions group, where he focused on general account investments and risk-managed fund solutions for insurance clients. He previously spent nine years in variable annuity hedging and risk management, as well as insurance portfolio management and pension liability-driven investing, with The Hartford.
Pete earned a BS degree in actuarial science from the University of Nebraska. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA).
Pratik Pareek is head of insurance coverage and sales within the equities business in Global Markets. He was previously head of the Financial Institutions Group Strats team in the Investment Banking Division, and was responsible for cross asset financing and derivative solutions for insurance companies and banks. Pratik joined Goldman Sachs as an associate in 2012 and was named managing director in 2019.
Prior to joining the firm, Pratik worked at Citigroup for three years as an ABS research analyst. He earned a BTech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2008 and a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012.
Igor Zamkovsky is Head of Indexed Annuities and Insurance within BlackRock’s Retirement Insurance Group, where he focuses on product development, index partnerships, research and platform initiatives. Prior to BlackRock, he worked in Barclays Investment Bank’s cross-asset solutions business focusing on distribution of quantitative investment strategies (QIS). He also worked with insurance companies on annuity hedging and product development. Igor began his career with Deutsche Asset Management’s hedge fund business.
Igor holds an MBA degree from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BS from Binghamton University, and is a CFA charterholder.
Roundtable Moderators
Bryce Biklen serves as vice president and chief distribution officer for North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Company. He is responsible for leading sales growth for the North American and Midland distribution channels through building and maintaining relationships with key independent marketing organization (IMO) partners and financial professionals.
Bryce has been working in annuity distribution since 1997 and previously served as vice president and national sales manager for Sammons Institutional Group’s Midland Retirement Distributors. He spent the past 18 years at SFG’s member companies in a variety of roles across multiple distribution channels. That experience includes positions as vice president of sales, director of broker dealer distribution, and director field training and sales support. In addition to SFG, Biklen has been an independent financial advisor, a regional vice president with an IMO and a regional vice president for another insurance carrier. He is a licensed investment professional certified through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and is a licensed insurance agent.
Jason Kestler serves as executive vice president, head of cross-channel distribution, for Highland Capital Brokerage. Since starting in the financial services industry in 1997, Jason has employed innovation and determination in his marketing efforts. His goal is to build the organization every day, ensuring a long and prosperous future for Highland and its representatives. Jason’s unique management style and outside-the-box thinking have been featured in magazines such as Inc., Direct Marketing, Fortune Small Business and Senior Market Sales.
Continuing with his busy lifestyle, Jason is a founding Annexus Group partner, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a founding Market Synergy Group partner, based in Topeka, Kansas. In addition, he is a two-term board member with the National Association of Fixed Annuities (NAFA) and formerly served as board secretary. Jason has also served on multiple insurance carrier advisory boards.