Ellen Anreder is president and chief executive officer of Bleiweiss Communications Incorporated (BCI), specializing in publishing, multimedia, advertising and public relations services for Taft-Hartley trust funds, labor unions and other non-profit organizations.
From offices in California, Massachusetts and Oregon, BCI publishes dozens of periodicals that are mailed to the homes of hundreds of thousands of employees and Taft-Hartley trust fund participants monthly, bimonthly and quarterly. The company also produces videos, brochures and educational conferences. BCI is the only company of its kind that is 100% Union, including Ellen, the owner, who has been a Union member since 1984.
Products created during her leadership of the company have won dozens of national awards for excellence in writing, design and multimedia production.
Ellen is the Managing Director of CORPaTH, an international alliance of pension trustees, consultants, asset managers, administrators, elected officials and other stakeholders committed to secure retirements. CORPaTH’s primary focus is promoting, protecting and perpetuating defined benefit pensions.
She is the Director of the Food and Drug Conference, an organization that brings together all sectors of the food and drug industry — labor, management, marketing, distribution, transportation, information technology, human resources, health care, safety, pharmaceuticals, spirits and more to strategize and share best practices.
Ellen is founding president of the Coalition to Advance Working Women, a vice president of the International Labor Communicators Association, a trustee of a Taft-Hartley benefit fund and a member of the Board of Directors of the Loveall Foundation for Children. She chairs three scholarship committees and is the winner of the National Women of Influence’s President’s Award.
Early in her career, she coordinated special events and publicity for Columbia Pictures Television and the Dino DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group.
Will is the Chairman of the Arizona Public Safety Retirement System (PSPRS). PSPRS is an over 9 Billion dollar public pension fund that is responsible for providing pensions for 52,000 active and retired Police Officers, Firefighters, Correctional Officers, and Elected Officials throughout the State of Arizona. Will is also to the Vice-Chairman of the Investment Committee and is Chair of the new Arizona State Public Safety 401(a) Defined Contribution Plan. He also serves as Chair of the City’s Health Care Trust Board which is responsible for managing the City’s self-insured Healthcare trust. He has been a Police Officer since 2003; before that was a Firefighter. He was the Treasurer and Chief Contract Negotiator for the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association from 2007 to 2016. Additionally, he serve as an adjunct professor for Glendale Community College where he teaches Administration of Justice Studies courses. He holds a Master’s of Science in Finance and also a Master’s degree of Administration with an emphasis in Leadership.
Will has been a leader at JK since the day he joined in 2007. Having grown up in a union family, Will understands the importance of protecting the vital health and welfare and pension benefits that are relied on by so many participants. With his entire career dedicated to Taft-Hartley benefits, Will has extensive experience in many different areas of employee benefits including legal compliance, administration, plan design and fiduciary liability. Will also has significant experience with withdrawal liability issues, benefit denials, claims and appeals administration, DOL/IRS audits and prohibited transaction compliance. Will also advises the firm’s labor and ERISA clients regarding EEOC compliance and investment related matters.
Will also oversees the firm’s Labor practice, where he excels at representing JK’s labor clients in all aspects of collective bargaining, arbitrations, grievance resolution, organizing campaigns and unfair labor practice charges. Will has invaluable experience representing JK’s clients throughout the Midwest in both state and federal court as well as with the National Labor Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Illinois Department of Human Rights and Department of Labor. Will is also counsel to several statewide labor associations.
Honored to be recognized by his peers, Will serves as a frequent speaker with the Hoosier State Apprenticeship Conference, Illinois State Apprentices Conference, Indiana State Pipe Trades Association, Illinois Pipe Trades Association, Taft-Hartley Made in America Conference and many others.
Will is also proud to spearhead the discrimination and harassment training for JK’s clients. He’s received certifications from the Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as part of his background to provide JK’s clients with the highest level of discrimination and harassment training.
Will provides advice and counsel to several multi-employer apprenticeship programs advising JATCs and trustees as to the design, implementation and operation of the apprenticeship program, including the drafting or revising of Apprenticeship Standards, Apprentice Selection Procedures and Affirmative Action Plans for approval by the Department of Labor.
Michael J. Devine, Ph.D. Director, Special Investigations Unit
L.A. Care
Michael Devine has been a member of the LA Care Special Investigations Unit (SIU) since November, 2018. In July of 2019, Devine was selected for the position of Director of the SIU at LA Care. He brings a wealth of experience in the area of healthcare fraud investigation. Prior to joining LA Care, he was the Director of the SIU Western Region at Anthem Blue Cross. Devine also served as a Senior Investigator for the SIU at Anthem and had a reputation as a tenacious Investigator with numerous criminal prosecutions and multiple recoveries in the millions of dollars.
Devine is a former Federal Law Enforcement Officer with a 24-year career as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Devine was also a task force member at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for 12 years, serving as a Senior Investigator of the Espionage Squad. During his career, Devine was nominated Agent of the Year three times and received a Life-Saving Award from the American Heart Association. Devine was also a Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer and retired as a Navy Captain after a 30-year career in the Naval Reserves. He has served as the Commanding Officer of a Defense Intelligence Agency Unit, the Deputy Chief Staff Officer for Inspections, as a member of the Military Intelligence Support Team for the 2004 Olympics and was recalled to active duty following the tragic events of 9/11.
He has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University; a Master’s Degree in Police Science and Administration from Sam Houston State University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Westfield State with a double major of Criminal Justice and Social Science.
Charles Hamilton joined Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW in 2003 as their Funds Administrator in charge of the 14,000-member union’s Health and Welfare, Retirement, Annuity, and Benefits Funds. His mandate at Local 338 was to improve service to the membership while controlling costs, particularly in the Health and Welfare Fund. During his tenure, he lead a number of projects, including the re-design of the Funds’ benefit plans and Summary Plan Descriptions, changing PPO networks and pharmacy benefit managers, working with his team to implement a new IT system, reorganizing the workflow and staffing of the Fund Office, and introducing several new benefits and programs designed to improve outcomes and control costs.
Retired from Local 338, Charles has continued working as a consultant. He is also President of the Association of Benefit Administrators, and has previously been a speaker at several conferences, as well as a guest lecturer at a local college.
Charles has a JD from Boston University School of Law, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, majoring in political science, also from Boston University. He lives on Long Island, New York, is married over 39 years, has two daughters, and one 12 year old granddaughter.
Laura Josh
Area President
Gallagher Benefits Services on behalf of California Schools VEBA
Mr. Kamp is the managing director and Senior Fixed Income Manager for Ryan ALM, where he is primarily responsible for sales, marketing, and client service. Mr. Kamp has 39 years of experience in the retirement industry. Prior to joining Ryan ALM, he was the managing partner for Kamp Consulting Solutions (KCS), a full-retainer asset and liability consulting firm focused on providing services to defined benefit and defined contribution plans, endowments,
and foundations. Mr. Kamp is a passionate advocate for pension reform and legislative efforts in Washington, D.C., frequently writing and speaking on the subject. Prior to launching KCS, he was a senior vice president and director, asset management, for Two Sigma Investments, where he helped launch a long-only business. Before joining Two Sigma, Mr. Kamp was CEO of Invesco Quantitative Strategies Group (IQS). IQS was a quantitatively oriented equity, alternative and global macro investment group that managed more than $30 billion for institutional clients. He began his career as an analyst for Janney Montgomery Scott’s Investment Management Control division, an asset consulting firm that was later acquired by Evaluation Associates, Inc., where he became a senior vice president, senior consultant and partner, serving the defined benefit community.
Samuel W. Krause is a counsel in the firm's Corporate, Health Care, Tax, and Labor & Employment groups in Crowell & Moring’s Los Angeles office. Sam has more than 20 years of experience writing, speaking, and advising on pensions, employee benefits, executive compensation, national and international corporate transactions, bankruptcy reorganizations, securities laws, corporate governance, deferred compensation, and structured finance matters related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Prior to entering private practice, Sam was an investigator for the New York Regional Office of the arm of the U.S. Department of Labor that is responsible for ERISA.
Sam is also a judge pro tem of the Superior Court of California and is a co-author of the books Equity Compensation for Limited Liability Companies (NCEO 2013) and the Section 409A Handbook (BNA Books, 2010 & 2016).
James “Jim” Maloney was an elected Trustee for the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund. Jim served as Chairman of the Investment Committee and also as Acting CIO. Jim retired from the Chicago Police Department as a Lieutenant assigned to the Detective Division after over 35 years. He was appointed to Mayor Richard Daley’s “Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pensions” which met from 2008-1010. He attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico,VA. He has an MBA and an MPA from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also has a Masters Certificate in Financial Fraud from St. Xavier University.
He serves on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association (IPPFA).
David McFarlane is an ERISA partner in the Los Angeles office of international law firm Crowell & Moring LLP. David has more than 25 years of experience in the U.S. and Canada advising on matters related to ERISA, the ACA and Internal Revenue Code including retirement plans, health and welfare plans, VEBAs, fringe benefits, stock option and deferred compensation plans, prohibited transactions, private equity investment, ERISA fiduciary protection and cybersecurity risks. David pioneered a unique Fixed-Fee ERISA Fiduciary Protection Program for union and plan sponsors of retirement, health, and other employee benefit plans to ensure compliance with ERISA and tax law in order to best protect plan fiduciaries from personal liability under ERISA.
David has been active in leadership roles for a variety of public and private institutions and organizations including president of the Canadian American Bar Association, judge pro tem of the Superior Court of California, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors at Barlow Respiratory Hospital and President of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles. Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, David was a former partner in the Canadian law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt before joining Skadden Arps in Los Angeles. David is a frequent speaker and writer on matters related to his practice as well as diversity in the practice of law. He was recently recognized in the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the “Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Los Angeles.”
Patrick Pine
Administrator
R.F. Kennedy Medical Plan, Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan
R.F. Kennedy Medical Plan, Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan
Patrick Pine is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan and Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan. Both are Taft Hartley benefit trusts serving employees and dependents of firms having collective bargaining agreements with the United Farm Workers (UFW). He has served in these roles since 2010.
Mr. Pine previously served as the manager of corporate and union benefits for organizations including Adidas America and multiple union trusts in the Northwest for American Benefit Plan Administrators. Prior to his career in the benefits arena, he spent 20 years in the public sector in Oregon and Nevada. He worked for the late Oregon Governor Straub and also former Nevada Governor and US Senator Bryan. He managed budget and finance for Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada and for municipal utilities in Nevada and Oregon. Mr. Pine has an MBA and BA from Willamette University, Salem OR.
Mr. Pine is the current Vice Chair of the California Health Care Coalition. He is a past president of the Oregon Health Care Purchasers Coalition and past president of the Oregon Municipal Finance Officers Association
Mr. Shanklin joined NEPC in 2006 and has over thirty years of investment experience working with institutional investors.
Prior to joining NEPC, John was a Senior Consultant with Segal Advisors and with Alan D. Biller & Associates. John was a Vice President with Prudential Investment Management, where he worked for 13 years prior to joining Segal Advisors. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
John earned a Masters of Management in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BS in Biology from the University of Illinois. John is a CFA charter holder and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designee. He is President of the CFA Society of Nevada. He is an Adjunct Professor of Finance in the Lee Business School at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Laura is the Benefit Coordinator for I.A.T.S.E. Local 99 Health Trust. Laura manages benefits for a large, diverse population with the I.A.T.S.E Local 99 Health Trust, a not for profit trust. Her duties are to maintain, advise and support the population of the I.A.T.S.E. Local 99 union located in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the last 12 years she has advanced from an entry level data clerk to the Benefit Coordinator within the organization. She graduated with an associate degree from the University of Phoenix in business foundations and accounting. She manages and maintains benefits for over 1000 lives. Her ability to find unique solutions to a non-traditional benefit population makes her a key asset to the organization. Her ability to find the root of a problem then propose and execute solutions have propelled her growth within the organization.
“My participants know that they can come to me with anything and I will do my best to advise, support, or just listen. Our members are comforted in knowing how much I truly care.”
