Keynote Speaker

MONICA ROTHGERY

Author and Keynote Speaker

From managing shifts at Taco Bell to making history as the first female Chief Operations Officer of KFC in the U.S., Monica has spent over 30 years in the restaurant industry, growing and inspiring those around her. She proudly became the first LGBTQ leader to ascend to the C-suite at Yum! Brands, one of the world's largest restaurant companies.

Speaker

David Jordan

Shareholder/Co-Chair, Hospitality Industry Group, Littler

David B. Jordan is a preeminent class and complex litigation attorney, focused primarily on wage and hour, independent contractor and tip-related issues. His practice spans the continent, litigating complex matters from Alaska to Texas to Puerto Rico. He also litigates across all venues, including federal district and appellate courts, the United States Supreme Court, and in bet-the-company private arbitrations. 

Speaker

Geoff Rowson 

SVP of Consulting, Totem

Geoff Rowson leads Totem’s health plan strategy, providing expert guidance on plan design, vendor integration, clinical partnerships, pharmacy programs, and more. With a focus on delivering innovative solutions for Totem’s clients, Geoff ensures that Totem's health plans are well positioned to deliver better benefits at a lower cost.

Speaker

Jason Jeter 

Director, Rewards Advisory, Aon

Jason has over 15 years of compensation experience across private, public, and not-for-profit organizations. His consulting expertise includes job architecture, job leveling, job evaluation, competitive benchmarking, and more. Restaurant clients Jason has consulted for include McDonald’s, Torchy’s Tacos, In-N-Out Burger, Peet’s Coffee, and Amy’s Kitchen. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an MBA. from the University of Maryland Global Campuses.

Speaker

Greg Hubbell

Senior VP, Aon

As a Health Solutions leader within the Cleveland office, Greg’s focus is assisting employers that want to develop, implement, and benefit from a business strategy that focuses on the relationship between improved employee health/productivity and organizational business results. At Aon, Greg helps clients in a variety of ways, primarily as it relates to human capital initiatives – within Talent, Retirement and Health & Welfare benefits. His expertise is based on many years of HR/Benefit-related experience, tied to strategic planning and broker-consulting services. He is also responsible for organizational growth through new-business initiatives and onboarding new clients to Aon.

Speaker

Rachel Silverman

Data Solutions & Product Strategy Leader, Aon

Rachel Silverman leads Data Solutions and Product Strategy for the Retail / e-Commerce and Healthcare sectors in Aon’s Human Capital practice and has over 25 years of experience as a workforce strategy and compensation professional. Rachel began her career at Accenture and has had a variety of both internal and external roles, which included a focus on incentive pay and salary structure design, defining career frameworks, developing rewards strategies, and creating and implementing benchmarking programs.

Speaker

Regan Stanley 

Senior Account Executive, Take Command

Regan comes with a background in the employee benefits health care industry. After finishing her business degree at the University of Sioux falls, South Dakota, she started her career at one of the largest privately-owned risk management firms, Holmes Murphy & Associates. Regan joined the employee benefits account management team and later moved into a new-hire training role.

Speaker

Angie Woody 

Director of Human Resources, Leblon Franchising Holdings, LLC, d/b/a Popeyes

Angie Woody is the Director of Human Resources at Leblon Franchising Holdings LLC, where she oversees HR strategy and benefits administration for a team of 500 Popeyes employees. Based in Charlotte, Angie brings more than a decade of HR experience, with a strong focus on employee relations, benefits management, and organizational development.

Speaker

Danielle Winieicki

Director, Business Development, Centene/Ambetter

Danielle Winiecki has 15 years of experience in group benefits, benefits administration and developing solutions to meet employee’s healthcare needs. As a Director of Business Development for ICHRA at Ambetter Health she's passionate about ICHRA and how it can transform the way healthcare is provided to employees.

Speaker

Brandi Kelly

Vice President, Lockton

Brandi Kelly, is a Vice President at Lockton and has over 20 years’ experience of pharmacy benefit management. She is a pharmacist and has served as a member of an executive leadership team providing strategic and operational direction for pharmacy benefit management. Brandi brings a brings a depth of experience in helping clients better understand their prescription benefits, while also collaboratively working to identify savings opportunities and ensure plans are managed most effectively.

Speaker

Rebecca Krauland

Vice President, Lockton

Rebecca serves as a leader for the Lockton’s HR Solutions practice and has a background in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Drawing on her expertise and passion for making a positive impact, Rebecca is known for her ability to develop forward-thinking strategies that drive business results.

Speaker

Trey Darby

President - Partner, Lockton

Trey is a longtime partner of CRTRA and a restaurant practice leader. He has over 35 years of employee benefits experience and is passionate about finding unique solutions for complex and challenging problems for his clients.

Speaker

Tommy Jones

Global Benefits Manager, Wingstop

Tommy Jones is an experienced HR and benefits professional, currently serving as the Global Benefits Manager at Wingstop Restaurants. Based in Dallas, Texas, Tommy oversees the health and wellbeing strategy for Wingstop’s global employee population, ensuring that benefits programs are comprehensive, inclusive, and aligned with the company's mission to care for its people. With over 15 years of insurance and benefits experience, Tommy brings a deep understanding of the industry from multiple perspectives. His career spans work with insurance carriers, insurance brokers, and in-house employee benefits teams, giving him a well-rounded approach to building effective and sustainable programs.

Speaker

Michael A. Espenlaub

Co-Owner & Principal, Veracity Benefits

Michael and his partners at Veracity created the firm with a goal of helping employers save money on their medical spend without reducing quality of care. Michael brought with him over 30 years of vast insurance background, including individual insurance sales and employer group brokerage. He is knowledgeable in all aspects of the business but excels in finding innovative solutions and “connecting the dots” to help employers with various aspects of their health plans. His solutions include innovations in pharmacy plans, finding best in class vendors for compliant bill review, telemedicine, and payment methodologies.

Speaker

Marilynn E. "Pepper" Schafer

Co-Owner & Co-Owner & Principal, Veracity Benefits

Pepper began her career with the Prudential Insurance Company in group insurance sales in Houston. After rising to VP of Marketing, she moved to Atlanta as CEO of the Georgia HMO operations for Prudential. In 1997, she left and started her own TPA, primarily consisting of provider consulting and capitation administration. In 2006, the company migrated into employee benefits with the development of its proprietary network. Pepper sold her TPA to HealthSCOPE Benefits in 2016 and then left HealthSCOPE in 2019 upon their sales to UHC. At that point, she and her partners formed Veracity Benefits, a company that is dedicated to working with and through brokers to help self-funded employers save money on both their medical and pharmacy spend without sacrificing quality of care.

Speaker

Kobby Amoah

CEO, River Health

Kobby Amoah is the CEO of River Health, a healthcare company offering affordable plans tailored to the everyday needs of hourly workers. River Health combines high-quality care with cost-effective coverage options that help reduce out-of-pocket expenses for frontline employees.

Speaker

Shayla Frechette

Director of Strategic Growth and Partnerships, River Health

Shayla Frechette leads strategic growth at River Health, where she helps employers evaluate how River Health plans can lower healthcare costs while expanding coverage for their teams. She oversees the sales and strategic marketing teams. Before joining River Health, Shayla held roles at Cargill and Indigo, a Boston-based ag-tech startup, where she led efforts to digitize contracts between farmers and grain merchandisers.

Speaker

Kim Moshlak 

Senior Principal Management Consultant, Helios HR

Kim Moshlak is a Senior Principal Management Consultant with over 20 years of experience in Human Resources after serving in the US Navy for nearly a decade. In her role, Kim is responsible for providing strategic HR support and guidance to senior leadership with creative and effective solutions to everyday workforce challenges across industries and sectors. She has a strong understanding of business operations and leadership, giving her the expertise to provide counsel on strategic initiatives that drive efficiency and support organizational success. Kim has crafted numerous redesigns of pay for performance systems that remain in place for long periods with the organizations with which she has supported.

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She has a master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in Industrial Organizational Psychology and several certifications to support the growth and development of employees in a variety of industries. Kim is a Senior Certified Professional through SHRM and holds her Senior Professional in HR certification from HR Certification Institute.

Speaker

Dan Pliskin 

Partner, Corporate Governance Consulting, Aon

Dan Pliskin is a Partner in the Corporate Governance advisory practice within the Human Capital business unit of Aon plc (which includes Radford and McLagan). With a holistic perspective, Dan frequently counsels clients on institutional investor and proxy advisor policies, as well as securities, tax and accounting considerations and peer practices. Dan proactively works with clients to understand potential risks and to develop strategies to accomplish objectives in light of applicable investor, proxy advisor and legal provisions. He is a seasoned advisor to boards of directors, committees and management on governance, executive compensation and equity matters.

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Previously, Mr. Pliskin served as principal corporate governance counsel at a NYSE-listed REIT and as chief securities counsel and investor relations manager at a Nasdaq technology company. He also was Of Counsel in the Corporate and Securities Department of an AmLaw 100 law firm and an Associate in the Corporate and Securities Department at another AmLaw 100 law firm. In addition, his previous experience includes investment management work with a registered investment advisor. Dan earning a B.A. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Speaker

Dustin Thomas 

Consultant, Aon

Dustin is a Consultant at Aon’s Talent Solutions business, specializing in the Retail/e-Commerce, Restaurants, and Healthcare sectors. He partners with clients to create competitive and rational compensation strategies and programs, with a primary focus on data products and job matching.

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With over ten years of experience in the compensation space, Dustin specializes in job matching, data analysis, compensation benchmarking, GAP analysis, and structure creation. Besides Retail/e-Commerce and Healthcare, he also has experience in the Life Sciences industry. Dustin began his career as a Golf Professional, managing a staff of about 15 people and organizing golf tournaments for up to 180 players. He then spent ten years at Mercer, focusing on all aspects of compensation surveys, including creation, cleaning, and publishing. His role expanded to data analysis and research on global policy topics like paid time off and global compensation strategies. Dustin’s expertise in compensation benchmarking includes developing compensation philosophies, analyzing existing programs and recommending changes to them, conducting job matching from executives to support staff, and creating salary structures for clients in the multiple industries. Dustin earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern Indiana, in Evansville IN.

Speaker

Linda Tran 

Consultant, Aon

Linda is a Consultant at Aon's Talent Solutions business, where she brings her expertise to the Retail/e-Commerce, Restaurants, and Healthcare sectors. She is committed to working closely with clients to develop competitive compensation strategies and programs, leveraging her focus on data products to deliver tailored solutions.

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Linda's expertise in broad-based compensation is demonstrated through her extensive experience in leading complex projects. Her work involves developing programs for both base and variable pay, managing internal equity initiatives, and designing pay strategies to meet complex regulatory labor requirements. Additionally, she excels in job matching, data analysis, and compensation benchmarking, ensuring comprehensive and effective solutions for her clients. Her early career began in research academia, where she supported grants and finance in the Hematology/Oncology division. She later transitioned into Compensation Human Resources, working with leaders at non-profit hospitals to address complex compensation issues. Her diverse background enables Linda to provide insightful and effective solutions for her clients, ensuring their compensation strategies are both competitive and equitable. Linda earned a BS in Healthcare Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Masters of Business Administration from Northern Illinois University.

Speaker

Cary Sparrow 

CEO, WageScape

Cary Sparrow is a business leader, HR executive, and engineer who has thrived throughout his career with his entrepreneurial approach and keen eye for innovation opportunities. He founded WageScape in 2015 with a vision of bringing transparency to the labor market.

Speaker

April Lee

COO, Arc Fertility

April Lee is COO at ARC Fertility and directs the ARC Employer Program, assisting employers to optimize their reproductive healthcare benefits through increasing access to high-quality, cost-effective fertility care.  April has more than 21 years of experience in fertility business development and IT healthcare systems. Before joining ARC, she was VP of IT Product Development and Support Services in a specialty field of healthcare information.  Her role was developing and delivering IT systems solutions to enhance clinical and healthcare business efficiency. Prior to that, April spent several years working with OB/GYN physicians.

Speaker

Jon Duczak

Chief Revenue Officer, The American Worker - Fringe Benefit Group

Jon Duczak serves as the Chief Revenue Officer at Fringe Benefit Group, where he oversees the sales and growth across all company divisions. This includes American Worker, a comprehensive benefits solution designed for employers with hourly and part-time workers. Widely used by top restaurant chains, staffing agencies, and retailers, American Worker serves over 400,000 members and has been providing benefits to hourly, part-time, and 1099 employees for nearly 30 years. Jon and his team collaborate with brokers nationwide, offering customized, cost-effective benefit plans tailored to meet the unique needs of each employer.