Roger Abramson

Roger Abramson has been a practicing attorney since 1996 and has specialized in employee benefits law for much of that period. Roger is presently General Counsel for AmeriFlex, a national third-party benefits administrator with headquarters in Frisco, Texas. Roger received his undergraduate degree from the University of Evansville and his law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law. Roger has also worked as a freelance writer with articles published in the Nashville Scene, the Nashville City Paper, Health Insurance Underwriters Magazine and SHRM.org. Roger lives in Brentwood, Tennessee with his wife, Lisa, and two sons, Thomas and Benjamin.

Jay Butcher

Jay Butcher is the Managing Partner for Netchex-Benefits, a full service provider that delivers Payroll, HR, Benefits, COBRA and Time& Attendance for their clients and broker partners. He began his benefits career in 1989 with the Equitable in Dallas, TX. Netchex helps agents bring technology to their clients that better connect that Agent to the Client and their carriers. You can contact Jay, view a demo at http://netchexjbutcher.digbro.com or visit their website at www.netchexonline.com.

Jim Christenson

Jim has been in the insurance industry for 24 years, 20 of those years in workplace insurance benefits, Section 125 and employee benefits communication. Jim obtained his Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1998.

Jim personally enrolled over 10,000 employees at the worksite and implemented voluntary benefit plans for over 800 business clients. He has sold voluntary benefits at the worksite through associations, unions, insurance brokers and enrollment firms. He instituted voluntary benefits at the worksite in Malaysia. He has also worked extensively with online enrollments and enrollment systems.

Jim has served as an Executive Board Member of the Workplace Benefits Association since 1998 and as its President in 1999. He is the Past President of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists. He has served on the “Benefit Selling Magazine” editorial advisory board since 2006. He is a member of the LIMRA worksite committee. Jim has spoken and written as an expert on the subject of Voluntary Employee Benefits at the Worksite, Sales, and e-Distribution of employee insurance benefits at among others: Content Seminars International, Disability Consulting Group, Institute for International Research, National Association of Professional Enrollment Specialists (NAPES), Life Insurance Marketing Research Association, International, Life Insurance Selling Magazine Worksite Marketing Forum, American Society of Health Human Resource Administrators (ASHRA), Employee Benefit News and Benefits Selling Expo.

Jim was featured on the cover of Benefit Selling Magazine in February of 2005. Jim was inducted into the Workplace Hall of Fame in 2010. Jim has 4 incredibly intelligent and good looking children and is married to the angel Susan for 24 years. He is an accomplished cook. When he isn’t working or cooking, he spends his spare time playing and watching basketball.

Robert Gaydos

Bob became an independent insurance agent in 1990, and after many years of building a strong clientele joined forces with Deb Loughlin, creating The Benefit Group of New England (now called BGNE) which now serves more than 200 employers with nearly 20,000 members. In 1999, he co-founded Choice Plus of New England, which was a plan manager of ERISA health plans. Choice Plus of New England grew to over 100 employer groups when in 2003 the company was sold to a larger third party administrator. In 2001, Bob co-founded The Choice Care Card. Based in Waterbury, Vermont, Choice Care Card employs over 100 employees and is considered a national leader in debit card administration for Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Bob served as member of The Public Oversight Commission from 2001 to 2003. Since 2006, Bob has serviced on the CIGNA National Producer Advisory Council, and in 2008 was appointed to the MVP Healthcare Broker Advisory Group. Bob’s primary focus at BGNE is strategic planning for our clients and the coordination of new business.

Peggy Hayes

In her twenty years in the industry, Peggy Hayes has seen the Voluntary Benefits business grow exponentially. Now, in the post Health Care Reform world, interest in voluntary benefits is spiking to unprecedented levels, putting seasoned pros like Peggy in high demand.

Peggy’s two decades in the industry have been spent with the American Fidelity Group, and she currently serves as Director of Marketing for American Public Life. In the past two decades she has seen APL develop from a regional carrier into a national player in the voluntary benefits marketplace, providing benefits solutions to brokers in 49 states.

Peggy’s experience in the industry spans all arenas, from field sales to the executive office. Having prospected to employers, closed sales, and conducted enrollments for a variety of voluntary products, Peggy knows the front line of the industry. As a sales manager, she used her training skills to manage and motivate an award-winning staff of agents selling voluntary benefits. In her positions as Regional, then National Sales Director, she recruited, trained, and supported brokers and agents nationwide. As Director of Marketing she provides sales tools that meet the needs of brokers, agents, employees, and employer clients nationwide.

Peggy is a frequent speaker at industry trade shows and has written articles for several national trade publications. She lives in Chesapeake, Virginia with her husband Joe and their two dogs. She loves traveling, reading, and the outdoors, and considers a perfect day to be one spent reading outdoors on a sandy beach.

Ja’Nene Kane

Ja’Nene Kane serves as the President/COO for benefitsCONNECT®, one of the nation’s leading online enrollment and eligibility tracking systems for health insurance brokers. Ja’Nene has led the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) team, assisted in the accounting department, facilitated partnerships with carriers such as Colonial Life, HSA Bank, ING, and Unum, managed the sales and marketing department as Director of Sales and Marketing, and assisted in expanding the company as Vice President of Operations. She now oversees the senior management team in providing cutting-edge technology that enhances client relationships and benefits communication within the broker community. She is a professional resource for benefits enrollment and administration technology for hundreds of brokers and carriers across the nation. Ja’Nene has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Long Beach State.

Alan Katz

Alan Katz, RHU is a highly respected speaker and writer on issues ranging from sales and marketing to strategic planning to health care reform. Alan is the author of Trailblazed: Proven Paths to Sales Success (to be published January 2010) revealing the perspectives, processes, and procedures professional producers use to achieve substantial sales growth. His consulting firm, the Alan Katz Group, specializes in providing sales development and business strategy support to enterprises both large and small.

Alan has led sales teams to exceptional results for enterprises ranging from start-ups to publicly traded corporations. As a senior vice president for sales at WellPoint his creative approach to supporting broker sales was instrumental in the company being named one of “America’s Top 25 Sales Forces” by Sales & Marketing Management magazine.

A past President of both the California and the National Associations of Health Underwriters (NAHU), Alan was named the state association’s Member of the Year in 2000 and 2007. He received NAHU’s highest honor, the Harold R. Gordon Memorial Award as Health Insurance Person of the Year, in 2003. Alan writes a popular blog on health care reform (www.AlanKatz.WordPress.com) which was selected by the Sacramento Bee’s for its “collection of the top blogs covering California politics” and named by LexisNexis one of the “Top 50 Blogs for Insurance.”

In addition to his career in sales, Alan served as an investigating attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Chief of Staff to California’s Lt. Governor and a member of the Santa Monica City Council. Alan received his J.D. from the University of California at Davis, a Masters in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and his B.A. from UCLA.

Dr. Ronald S. Leopold

Ronald S. Leopold, MD, MBA, MPH, is Vice President and National Medical Director of MetLife U.S. Business.

Dr. Leopold is an industry thought leader for MetLife focusing on the future of work, health and benefits. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and is recognized for his entertaining style that blends thought-provoking industry insight with compelling illustrations and humor.

He is a Board Certified Occupational Medicine Physician who holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Public Health from Boston University.

His recent book on the future of employee benefits entitled The Benefits Edge: Honing the Competitive Value of Employee Benefits has been described as a blueprint for benefits in the decade of health care reform.

Dr. Leopold speaks to industry audiences on a variety of topics, including: the strategic value of employee benefits, the four generations in the workplace, and the value of financial wellness.

He is also the author of A Year in the Life of a Million American Workers, an almanac of absence data that provides a comprehensive picture of one million American workers and their health conditions, illnesses and absence patterns over a one-year period.

Brian Passon

Brian Passon is the Director and one of the principal partners of Corporate Fitness & Health, where he consults with businesses to develop wellness and health & productivity management programs. Brian received a Bachelor’s degree in the Psychology of Sport and Exercise from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, and a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Drawing from the company’s 25 years of experience, Brian has designed, implemented, and helped maintain customized wellness programs for businesses and organizations. His expertise in developing wellness programs extends to for profit and not for profit businesses as well as Chambers of Commerce and municipalities. With a firm knowledge of the fully insured and self-insured markets, Brian believes that a creative and “out of the box” approach establishes a healthy and fun environment that supports his motto that wellness programming must be “Edutaining”, both educational and entertaining.

Brian is a Certified Worksite Wellness Consultant with the National Wellness Institute, a National Strength and Conditioning Association – Certified Personal Trainer and has served as an adjunct faculty member for Elms College in Massachusetts. Brian conducts wellness presentations and training seminars throughout the U.S. for a variety of insurance, health management and employee organizations and serves as a co-presenter for WellSource, a premier provider of health risk assessments, at their 2-day Successful Health Management System Seminars. He also has extensive experience working within both the Y.M.C.A and Boys & Girls Clubs where he focused his efforts on helping children learn to enjoy physical activities throughout their lives. Originally from Oregon, Brian currently resides in Windsor, Connecticut with his wife and 2 daughters.

Mike Smith
President & CEO of ConSova

Michael is the President and co-founder of ConSova Corporation. Prior to joining ConSova, Michael served as a Vice President at Clark Consulting, a leading Health and Welfare Benefits firm. Michael held positions in Finance and Labor Relations for US Airways. He also worked for a global consulting firm as a Manager developing a health care cost containment practice. Throughout his professional career, Michael has developed his skills through evaluating and reengineering processes within various employer operating units and third-party vendors designed to improve financial performance. Michael initially obtained his health and welfare consulting experience while working on several medical and psychiatric third party administrator projects as an internal auditor for the self-insured medical plan. These efforts were sponsored by his employer and other organizations within the industry. The purpose of these projects was to review the administrator’s claim adjudication process, their ability to manage the company’s financial resources, health plan cost containment practices, service agreement compliance, and communicate those opportunities identified to improve overall plan performance. Michael is a Certified Public Accountant and an IIA Member.