Advanced Trustees and Administrators Institute

Start your conference with an assessment of the economy so you can better plan for the future. This opening session will provide a post-election economic analysis covering:

• Economic indicators
• Short- and long-term growth prospects
• Jobs
• The global economy.

With a new administration in place, this session will provide insights on:

• Post-election impact on benefits
• Potential retirement legislation
• Potential health care legislation
• Anticipated regulatory activity.

Review your fiduciary obligations as you consider current issues that require your attention, including:

• Best practices in monitoring and oversight
• Fiduciary litigation
• Succession planning
• Professional trustees.

Join your peers to tackle some of the biggest administrative challenges you face and bring your own discussion topics to add to this list:

• Managing the work from home culture
• Administrative efficiency
• Best practices for payroll audits
• Open discussion.

Institutional investing is complex, and it’s good to go back and refresh your knowledge of key terms and principles. Bring you questions and be prepared to review:

• Terminology
• Risk and return
• Asset classes
• Understanding data and benchmarks
• Investment policy statements.

In recent years, much attention has been paid to benefits that support families. This session will provide an overview of the more common topics of this area, including:

• What to offer, why and how
• Maternity benefits
• Fertility benefits
• Child care and elder care.

One of your fiduciary responsibilities is to be educated. This session will help you understand how to be deliberate about your learning so you can:

• Get the most out of your education
• Plan you path of education
• Know the many member benefits you have available to you
• Access free resources.

This session is designed to provide a review types of audits and key areas involved in benefit plan auditing, including:

• Auditing standards and SOC-1
• Remittance reporting
• DOL, IRS, payroll and internal audit
• Specialty audits

Immerse yourself in learning about some of the key issues in investing today, including:

• Private equity
• Bitcoin
• Valuations
• Fees
• Unrelated business taxable income (UBTI).

Learn about the latest trends in Rx and take away strategies to control cost as you discuss:

• Managing your PBM
• Design trends
• Injectables and infusions
• Specialty drugs
• GLP-1 drug craze.

The mental health crisis combined with the legal and regulatory environment has led to an increase in mental health awareness and benefits. This session will help you understand:

• Coverage options—Access and design
• Legal issues
• The role of wellness and well-being in mental health
• Spotlight on successful programs.

Come prepared to contribute to the conversation about finding opportunities to contain your escalating costs as you consider:

• What data you need and what it tells you
• Design options
• Educating members
• Controlling premiums
• Supplemental benefit plans.

Alternative plan designs have garnered much attention in recent years. This session will frame a conversation about how these plans can be a recruitment and retention tool. Topics include:

• New trends in plan design
• Risk and return
• Options that are attractive to employers and participants
• Pros and cons of variable benefit plans.

Stay up to date on the latest options for providing medical coverage for your retirees as you discuss:

• The future of providing retiree coverage
• Exchange options
• Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).

Your professionals and providers are your partners in delivering benefits efficiently to your members. However, you must actively manage those relationships. This session will address:

• Monitoring and oversight
• Making a change
• Request for information and request for proposals
• Timing
• Performance guarantees.

Come prepared to discuss the common issues that plan sponsors are dealing with in retirement plans. Sample topics include:

• Administering ARPA funds
• Legal fees
• Qualified domestic relation order (QDROs)
• Managing timely 401(k) contributions in a multiemployer plan.

Share the strategies you use and learn from others about the best ways to educate and prepare your plan participants for retirement. Topics include:

• Education for early-, mid- and late-career workers
• Early retirement options
• Health care in retirement
• Other issues to consider.

Have you ever considered the services and value that your banking relationship provides to the fund? This session will address:

• Custody
• Banking products
• Insured cash sweep accounts
• How to effectively manage your banking.

In the right situation, plan mergers be a win-win for all. This session will help you understand the key considerations, challenges and strategies to make a merger successful. Topics include:

• Why consider a plan merger
• Goals
• Pros and cons
• How to make a plan merger happen
• Health mergers
• Retirement mergers.

Take a strategic look at your exposures and consider strategies to mitigate your risk as you learn:

• Areas of risk
• Fiduciary issues
• Insurance coverage options
• Strategies to manage risk.

Having a robust approach to cybersecurity is an imperative to protect your trust fund assets and participant data. This session will address:

• Threats: common exposures and fraud
• Policies and insurance
• Penetration testing
• What to do when you have a breach
• Best practices and DOL guidelines

AI is in the news daily, and it seems like it’s everywhere. The purpose of this session is to consider how AI can be used in benefits and discuss:

• Threats and opportunities
• Practical applications in the fund office
• Policies
• Trends.