SAN FRANCISCO — The impact of legislative changes on plan sponsors, the continuing shift from defined benefit plans and the renewed push to offer services addressing the retirement crisis will be the major topics at Pensions & Investments' Defined Contribution/401(k) 8th annual West Coast Conference Oct. 9-11 in San Francisco.
James M. Delaplane Jr., partner at the law firm of Davis & Harmon LLP, Washington, will open the conference with a review of the current policy debates in Washington. He is also expected to outline the opportunities and obligations defined contribution plan sponsors will face.
Mark D. Perlow, former senior counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission and now a partner in the law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, Pittsburgh, will discuss the recent SEC investigation of consultants' conflicts of interest.
The keynote address will be given by William F. Sharpe, founder of investment advice provider Financial Engines, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. Mr. Sharpe is a Nobel laureate in economics and emeritus professor of finance at Stanford University.
The second morning will be devoted to efforts under way to make defined contribution plans more like defined benefit plans.
Jeffrey Miller, president of Mercer HR Services, New York, will discuss what strategies and products are emerging to ease the retirement crisis. He will also talk about employers continuing to abandon the defined benefit plan system, and what could be learned to create better defined contribution plans.
Other sessions on that topic are:
• the increased use of automatic systems for enrollment, default options, rebalancing and deferral increases;
• managed accounts; and
• annuities as investment options.
The conference will also feature a panel of Eddy Award winners who will explain how they created their investment education campaigns. The Eddy Awards are sponsored by P&I and its sister publication, WorkForce Management. The awards recognize the best practices in investment education of DC plan participants.
The conference is co-sponsored by International Business Forum. To register or to get more information, visit IBF's website, www.ibfconferences.com, or contact Craig Simak at (516) 765-9005, ext. 17, or [email protected]
