Ryan spent a decade litigating cases for the Department of Justice and U.S. Intelligence Community before joining Sixfifty, where he has happily traded arguing cases for collaborating on projects. At the time, Ryan was the first member of the Legal Product Team, and Sixfifty offered only one product. Today, he serves as Sixfifty’s Chief Legal Officer and leads a robust Legal Product Team that has helped create over a dozen products that simplify the law for businesses and individuals. Ryan loves spending time with his wife and four kids, coaching youth soccer, and camping in the Adirondacks.

Rae Vann is Head of Employment Law and Labor Relations for Wayfair. She and her team are responsible for guiding and counseling cross-functional Talent teams and business leaders on ensuring compliance with a wide range of labor and employment laws and requirements, supporting and executing practical strategies for proactively preventing and mitigating legal risk, and responding to, and coordinating the defense of,  employee disputes and contested proceedings.

Prior to joining Wayfair in January 2022, Rae spent more than two decades in private practice, where she represented and advised corporate clients on a variety of workplace compliance and DEI matters. She previously served as the senior vice president and general counsel of the Center for Workplace Compliance (formerly the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC)). There, she advocated for the development of sound workplace policy in the courts and before federal regulatory agencies, including authoring numerous amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. Rae also authored comments and testified before the U.S. Congress and the EEOC on a range of equal employment opportunity and workplace compliance matters.

Having begun her career in enforcement, Rae is well-versed in recognizing and mitigating individual and systemic discrimination risks, establishing effective alternative dispute resolution procedures, conducting thorough and effective workplace harassment and other misconduct investigations, and other labor and employment matters. As a member of the EEOC’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, Rae helped guide development of a detailed set of recommendations to help employers prevent workplace harassment. The recommendations were released in June 2016, ahead of the international #MeToo movement.

Rae is a nationally recognized speaker and author on labor and employment issues. Her thought leadership has been featured in media including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, Law360, National Law Journal, National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, Politico, and Reuters. She is a Faculty member for the Institute for Workplace Equality and is on the Board of Directors for the American Employment Law Council (AELC), the nation’s premier, invitation-only organization of high level labor and employment attorneys practicing on the management side.

I have been with KFC YUM! Brands for over 20 years. I spent my first 6 and a half years with YUM! Finance. In 2010 I changed course and followed my passion and joined the KFC Foundation. At that time, we were a staff of two with one program. Over the past 14 years I have been blessed to play a significant role in growing the KFC Foundation from a staff of two to a staff of seven and from one program to eight…eight program opportunities for KFC restaurant employees. The work we do as a Foundation is like no other and the impact, we make on KFC restaurant employees and their communities is tremendous. I look forward to being a part of the continuing growth of the Foundation, improving and adding to our programs and celebrating more team members... as they become their best selves!!

Harrison Newman has more than 15 years of experience in employee benefits consulting. He specializes in addressing employer benefits and financial requirements through in-depth research, strategic plan design, claims data analysis, and diligent negotiations. His client focus is middle market with both nonprofit and corporate employers. Harrison uses his skills to help clients adapt their benefits strategy and believes culture should be a part of how all his clients approach total compensation.

He partners with Corporate Synergies experts to deploy internal resources to ensure client satisfaction and is an aggressive client advocate. He manages the strategic process, monitors and executes the business plan, coordinates the team and ensures the delivery of exceptional client service. His objective is to simplify benefits for employers and their employees and support all stakeholders in achieving the best possible value for the benefits dollar.

Harrison earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Resources and Development from Brooklyn College, The City University of New York. He holds licenses in Life and Health and Property & Casualty.

He is an active board member and participant of New York City SHRM, where he co-chairs the Programming team. He also co-hosts the NYSHRM podcast Talk NYC SHRM and serves on Cigna's Digital Producer Advisory Council.

In addition, Harrison is a subject matter expert with articles placed in BenefitsPRO, EBN and more. His article, “Employee resource groups: Building culture around your benefits,” was published by EBN.

Kevin Crain is an accomplished and highly respected Retirement Services and Financial Wellness Expert with more than 40 years of experience in roles of progressively greater influence and impact in the Retirement Services industry, driving strategic growth, enhancing client engagement, and delivering top-tier retirement research solutions.

The former Chair of the Age Friendly NYC Commission, Kevin is currently an Advisory Council Member with the Global Coalition on Aging Advisory Council and a Visiting Executive for the Gerontological Society of America. He is also an Honorary Member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and Member of their Public Policy committee.

Until August 2023, Kevin was with Bank of America Merrill Lynch for nearly 20 years in senior leadership positions in the Retirement Services sector, culminating in the role of Head of Retirement Research, leading a team of thought leaders and public policy experts focused on retirement and longevity research. The team published many reports including Workplace Benefits, Participant Pulse, Financial Life Benefits Impact, Caregiving briefs, the Longevity Economy, and Retirement Benefits Gender Lens studies. They also championed diversity and inclusion by publishing highly progressive studies such as Menopause & the Workplace, Women’s Financial Well-Being, Financial Wellness of Caregivers, Mental Health & the Workplace, and Neurodiversity in the Workplace.

Prior to this, Kevin was Head of Enterprise Financial Solutions where he spearheaded a team of Enterprise Specialists focused on delivering Bank of America solutions to corporate plan sponsors and employees, working closely with Bankers, Advisors, and local Bank Market Presidents. Solutions included benefits plans, financial wellness programs, banking products, wealth management services and employee education programs. As Head of Workplace Solutions, he created and led a new team of Specialists to partner with Commercial Bankers to deliver retirement benefits and financial wellness to companies and their employees.

Previously, Kevin was Head of Institutional Retirement, leading the Institutional Retirement business for corporate retirement services offered including 401(k), Defined Benefit, Equity Compensation, Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation and Healthcare Savings, servicing over 1,500 corporate clients totaling close to 5 million employees.

Kelly Amato is a vice president and the head of sales for Institutional Fiduciary Solutions, a division of the Private Client Group at Raymond James.  A client-focused investment firm, Raymond James serves client accounts through approximately 8,700 financial advisors in the United States, Canada and abroad. Raymond James has expanded throughout its 60 years of profitable growth to serve corporations, institutions and municipalities through significant capital markets, banking and asset management services.

In her role, Ms. Amato works with institutional, corporate retirement, endowment/foundation, and fiduciary support associates to grow recordkeeping, administration, and investment assets under management.

An industry veteran, prior to assuming her current position in February 2023, Ms. Amato held key roles in the retirement plan space.  She has led revenue growth, client consulting and retention, along with corporate strategy initiatives.  Ms. Amato was a leading advisor in retirement plan and institutional consulting establishing her own practice in 1998.

Ms. Amato earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern Maine and a Juris Doctor degree from Humphreys College School of Law.  She has published several articles centered on stewarding retirement plans and enjoys sharing what she has learned from assisting hundreds of employees to protect their futures.  She has served as an expert witness and as retirement plan specialist to the US Bankruptcy Trustee protecting abandoned plans.  She has also contributed as a valued member of several advisor councils.

Ms. Amato holds the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 6, 26, 63 and 65 licenses, along with a California life and health insurance license.

Catherine Carraway has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Equity Residential since April 2021. Prior to this role, she held the position of Executive Vice President – Human Resources from January 2021 to March 2021 and Senior Vice President – Human Resources from January 2015 to January 2021. With a tenure spanning since March 2001, Ms. Carraway has held various positions within the company’s human resources department.

Equity Residential, a member of the S&P 500, specializes in the acquisition, development, and management of residential properties situated in vibrant urban centers that appeal to affluent, long-term renters. With a workforce of 2400 employees, the company owns or holds investments in 300 properties. It has established a significant presence in key cities such as Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Southern California. Additionally, Equity Residential is expanding its footprint in emerging markets like Denver,Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Austin.

Ms. Carraway is known as an authentic and transformational leader willing to challenge the status quo to make room for new and innovative ways of thinking. Her longstanding commitment to inclusion has led to meaningful enhancements in employee opportunities and benefits, embedded in a cultural mindset of diversity and equity. As CHRO, Catherine boldly disrupted a decades-old structure in Human Resources to create an HR function built for today’s business environment, optimizing talent and technology, and scaling efficient operations. Her directive to think differently, move faster, include others inspires an engaged team and drives sustainable organizational change.

Ms. Carraway serves as Co-Chair of the All Stars-Chicago Board of Directors and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Connections for Abused Women and their Children. Additionally, she takes pride in being the mother of two sons and grandmother to two grandchildren. Ms. Carraway resides in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.