2024 Retirement Planning Seminar

About Michael

Before being named as RPB's chief executive officer in 2019, Michael was its executive director since 2015, leading “the best team one could ever hope for.” Michael has overseen the addition of a number of new programs and features, including: self-directed funds, the Reform Jewish Values Stock Fund, and daily fund valuation; a new, full-scale branding and communications program; and the redesign and launch of a new online portal for employers.

The Reform Movement has been Michael’s professional home since 2005, during which time he held executive positions with Union for Reform Judaism and Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Prior to 2005, Michael worked in the for-profit sector in finance and management consulting at firms that include Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BS from the University at Albany. He lives in the New York area with his wonderful wife and two incredible daughters.

About Robert

Robert joined RPB in 2016 as Director of Participant and Employer Services. Prior to that, he was the Director of Investor Relations and Fund Marketing for Thomas, McNerney & Partners, a healthcare venture firm focused on investing in life science and medical technology companies. Before joining TMP, Robert was a Director in the Alternative Investments group/Asset Management division of Credit Suisse AG and head of investor relations for private equity, which included DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and DLJ Investment Partners, as well as other regional and sector-focused fund groups. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2008, Robert spent nine years with Apax Partners, a global private equity firm with more than $40 billion under management, as the Director of Investor Relations and Information Management for all US funds. He received a B.S. in Economics from Allegheny College and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he began his career as a practicing attorney for over 12 years.

About Helen

Helen is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging and the new retirement. She has received numerous awards for her teaching at the Davis School at USC’s Andrus Gerontology Center and contributions to the field of aging, the community and literary arts. Editor of two books, author of over 100 articles and a popular speaker, she has helped more than 25,000 employees—including senior corporate executives, mid-level managers, factory workers, university faculty and staff, physicians, engineers, and rabbis—prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement. As a weekly columnist, she writes on the subject of Successful Aging for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group reaching over 1.2 million readers, publishing over 1,000 columns. Helen is co-author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, Project Renewment, the First Retirement Model for Career Women. In her volunteer life, she has been president/chair of five non-profit organizations including Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach, CA. In 2016, she was named one of the 50 influencers in aging by PBS Next Avenue.

About Michael

Michael J. Gan is a labor and employment law attorney and managing partner at Peer, Gan & Gisler LLP in Washington, DC, and has been representing labor unions and professionals in collective bargaining, litigation, and contract negotiations for 25 years. He also maintains a significant practice working with Reform rabbis and other Jewish professionals in a wide variety of employment matters. Michael’s essay, “Women Rabbis and the Gender Pay Gap: Lessons from the CCAR’s 2012 Landmark Study and a Call to Action” was published in the 2016 National Jewish Book Award-Winner, The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, from the CCAR Press. Michael is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Boston University School of Law.

About Rabbi Leora

Leora's love of experiential Judaism comes from the generations before her who wove the wisdom of Judaism into their professional and day-to-day lives. Her experience includes education, programming, and filmmaking spanning from Sesame Workshop to congregational work. As a rabbi, she encourages people to approach their spiritual lives in sophisticated ways, and to find the best way to tell their own story.

As the URJ Director of Partnerships and Collaboration, Leora was responsible for creative advancement of the core priorities: Tikkun Olam, Strengthening Congregations, Audacious Hospitality, Youth, and Israel for the Reform Movement. In her work at the CCAR, Leora weaves together storytelling and collaboration. She helps the rabbis of the Reform Movement identify their stories and strengths and find the communities with whom they can build sacred partnerships. Her work ensures the Reform rabbinate will be represented by people sharing their highest level of creativity and insights with the many people with whom they walk alongside.

Leora graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received ordination from HUC-JIR in New York, 2002. She and her husband Doug Gordon live in Brooklyn with their two children.

About Steve

Steve Vernon, F.S.A., is president of Rest-of-Life Communications, where he speaks, writes, and conducts research on the most challenging aspects of retirement, including finances, health, and lifestyle. He previously served for nine years as a consulting research scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity. He retired as a Vice President of Watson Wyatt Worldwide after a 30+ year career helping Fortune 1000 employers design, manage, and communicate their retirement programs. Steve has written more than 1,000 online columns on retirement and longevity topics for CBS MoneyWatch and Forbes.com over a 12-year period. His latest book, released in July 2020, is Don’t Go Broke in Retirement: A Simple Plan to Build Lifetime Retirement Income.

About Dennis

Dennis Gump, a Fidelity Workplace Financial Consultant, has more than 10 years with the company. He was previously an investment education consultant with the Fidelity Employee Meeting group for the North-East region. Dennis promotes wellness for plan participants through one-on-one planning and educational events. He is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, investment advisor representative, registered securities representative, and licensed insurance representative.

About Deborah

As a Senior Associate at Peer, Gan & Gisler, LLP, Deborah brings her extensive trial and arbitration experience to her current practice, which focuses on the representation of labor organizations in various matters including arbitration and contract negotiations. She also represents clergy and other individuals with negotiating and enforcing employment, separation, and retirement agreements.

About John D.

John Merritt serves as an Investment Strategist for Fidelity Investments’ Workplace Investing organization. He began his career with Fidelity in 2013 and has 25 years of industry experience. Before his current role, he was most recently the Director of Marketing and Product Development at Driehaus Capital Management LLC, a boutique money management firm located in Chicago, IL. Before this, he served as an Investment Consultant at Ellwood Associates (now CapTrust).

John provides a variety of investment services to his clients and serves as an investment product, market, and economic expert. He helps many of Fidelity’s clients manage their plans’ investment oversight responsibilities by providing investment performance monitoring and measurement, fund research, and investment menu design. John has ready access to subject matter experts covering our investment, consulting, and regulatory areas. His key goal is to ensure that his clients meet their fiduciary responsibilities and make decisions that lead to better retirement outcomes for their employees.

John received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Economics and his MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He also holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.