Total Rewards

Katie Bardaro, Vice President of Data Analytics, joined PayScale in 2008. In addition to leading the Data Analytics team and building and maintaining PayScale's proprietary compensation model, Katie serves as PayScale's Lead Economist. She has provided analysis on compensation data and trends for print/online and broadcast media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, CNBC, CNN Money, USA Today, Forbes, and Business Insider, among others. Katie holds a bachelor's in economics from the College of the Holy Cross and a master's in economics from University of Washington, with a focus in labor economics and econometrics.

Sheldon Blumling is a Partner in the Irvine, California office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, a national labor and employment law firm. He is a member of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group. He advises clients with respect to all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation, including retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans and equity-based compensation plans.

Follow Sheldon on Twitter  @labor_attorneys.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Todd Solomon is a partner in and Chicago local practice group leader of the employee benefits practice group of McDermott Will & Emery LLP in its Chicago office.  Todd focuses his practice primarily on designing, amending, and administering pension plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans, 403(b) plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.  He also counsels corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary and plan investment issues under ERISA, employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions, executive compensation and Code Section 409A compliance and correction matters, and the implementation of benefit programs for domestic partners.  

Rob Harkins leads the Willis initiative for private exchanges, which focuses on a Defined Contribution approach and emphasizes cost control through a total population health management strategy. Harkins has over 30 years of experience at medical carriers, including UnitedHealthcare, Coventry and Prudential. Most recently, he was Vice President of Sales for Extend Health, the nation’s largest private exchange.

Jeff Tulloch is vice president of MetLife’s PlanSmart®, Workplace Benefits, and Business Advantage organization.  

In this role he is responsible for overseeing PlanSmart, MetLife’s financial education platform which provides education and assistance to meet the diverse financial needs of employees.  More than 170 of the Fortune 500 companies currently rely on PlanSmart to support their financial wellness efforts.

 Jeff is passionate about helping employees improve their financial wellness through education and is committed to empowering them to take action to achieve their financial goals.  He speaks at various seminars on the topic and also works with MetLife leaders globally to bring financial education to international employees of companies located in countries such as India, Japan, and Mexico. 

In addition to PlanSmart, Jeff oversees MetLife’s Business Advantage organization, leading a cross-channel initiative that provides coordinated resources and support to help MetLife firms succeed in the small business owner market. 

Through the Workplace Benefits arm of his organization, Jeff manages a team that provides voluntary benefits to companies. 

Jeff has served in a number of roles with MetLife since joining the company in 1996.  Prior to his current role, he had responsibility for MetLife’s Strategic Alliance group, focused on establishing and managing distribution relationships with associations, affinity groups, and a variety of other distribution organizations. 

Jeff and his wife, Karen, live in Ridgefield, CT, and have two college-aged sons.  When he’s not promoting financial wellness, you can find Jeff on a ski slope, racing slalom, giant slalom, and super-G in the United States Masters division.

Rosie is an accomplished speaker, writer and consultant. She has spent more than 20 years in worksite health promotion and organizational development. In addition to her bachelor’s degrees in Kinesiology and Public Health, and a doctorate in Organization and Management, Rosie is also a Certified Intrinsic Coach® Mentor, Certified Judgment Index Consultant, a Certified Valuations Specialist, and a Board Certified Coach. Rosie uses this unique combination to work with executive and leadership teams to create comprehensive development strategies centered on shifting thinking patterns. She is a contributing author to the book, “Organization Development in Healthcare — High Impact Practices for a Complex and Changing Environment.” She leverages these principles to help organizations develop and implement strategies to create a thriving workplace culture that values and supports wellbeing and the unique, intrinsic needs of employees.

Heather Parnell is a Total Rewards professional whose HR career started almost by accident in a benefits call center in the late 1990s.  She's had a variety of Benefits, Compensation and Rewards management roles since then, where she's been able to focus on the design and delivery of effective, value-added programs and the promotion of genuine understanding when it comes to what employees get in exchange for their time, talent and effort at work. 

 Originally from Wallkill, NY, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University as well as an MBA from Marymount University.  She enjoys being outside whenever possible, reading a good book, or doing simple crafts that do not involve sand or glitter.  She's also a lifetime Girl Scout, Army wife, Mom of 3, proud owner of 2 shelter dogs, 2nd grade Catechist, and first-time SHRM speaker.  

Jay has more than 30 years of experience as a tax attorney specializing in employee benefits.  Prior to joining World, Jay was a Sr. VP and Senior ERISA Attorney with Lockton was previously the national practice leader for the legal and research team at WT.W

Jay served as a Peace Corps volunteer and business consultant from 1979 to 1982. 

He has an LL.M.  in taxation from New York University School of Law, J.D. with distinction from the University of Arizona College of Law and a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis.  Jay is the former Chair of the American Benefits Council, an adjunct professor of employee benefits in the LL.M. program at Washington University School of Law.