
COMMITTEES
Where Members Work Together to Pursue and Achieve Shared Objectives
The Insured Retirement Institute’s committees and working groups guide the development and execution of strategies and tactics to advance the interests of IRI members and the insured retirement industry overall.
IRI member committees are active throughout the year through meetings, video and teleconferences, and emails. Each committee establishes its own schedule. IRI members can be active members of more than one committee.
Visit your IRI account to manage committee participation.
IRI Committees
Advocacy Steering Committee
The Advocacy Steering Committee is responsible for setting IRI's advocacy and compliance priorities and positions, and for overseeing IRI’s efforts with respect to the adoption and implementation of federal and state laws and rules on an ongoing basis. The Committee also provides input to IRI’s advocacy and compliance committees and working groups on the strategies and tactics employed to advance IRI’s policy positions and achieve IRI’s compliance objectives.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls, with extended two-hour calls every three months, including at least one in-person meeting every year
Criteria: Invitation only. All IRI Insurer, Distributor, Asset Manager, IMO, and Partner-tier Law Firm member companies are eligible to serve as voting members, and Counsel-tier Law Firm members are eligible to serve as non-voting members. Eligible companies may appoint one primary member and one alternate member, each of whom must be a senior-level legal, compliance, and/or government affairs professional who is authorized to speak on behalf of their organization with respect to legislative and regulatory matters at the federal and state levels.
IRI Staff Liaisons: Jason Berkowitz, Paul Richman
Compliance and Implementation Committee
The Compliance and Implementation Committee focuses on issues, challenges, and opportunities related to compliance with, and implementation of, state and federal rules and regulations. This Committee provides a forum for IRI members to work through complex requirements and to discuss best practices and experiences related to compliance and implementation. This Committee also discusses opportunities to enhance rules and regulations and provides feedback to other IRI committees to help guide current and future advocacy efforts.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for compliance and legal professionals.
IRI Staff Liaison: Rebecca Plowman
Consulting Financial Professional Committee
The Consulting Financial Professional Committee is a group of experienced financial advisors appointed with IRI member firms. Committee members participate in IRI events and meetings to provide a “boots on the ground” perspective on a wide range of retirement and annuity issues. Committee members also advise on research projects, and act as a test group to validate advisor research and surveys.
Meeting Schedule: Ad hoc
Criteria: Appointed with a member firm, invitation only.
IRI Staff Liaison: Frank O’Connor
Digital First Steering Committee
The Digital First Steering Committee is made up of executive level members from carriers and distributors that desire to create digital-first financial professional experiences. The long-term goal of the committee is to ensure annuities are easily supported across various platforms and alongside traditional investments in the tools financial professionals use. There are three desired outcomes this group will strive to achieve: i) Provide a digital-first model eliminating the critical friction points from the financial professional experience and decreasing the time to issue and remove the hassle from the experience. ii) Embed lifetime income products in the platforms and tools used by financial professionals. iii)Maximize the ROI for the technology spend to support real-time data.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly Calls
Criteria: Invitation only
IRI Staff Liaisons: Katherine Dease
DEI Steering Committee
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Steering Committee’s mission is to collaborate on the development and adoption of DEI best practices in our member organizations, such that we see significant adoption across our industry. Members of this Committee consist of DEI industry leaders who work in collaboration with our DEI Board Working Group ensuring we are surfacing best practices in lockstep with executive buy-in. Participation is limited to two representatives per member company.
Meeting Schedule: As needed
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for DEI professionals.
IRI Staff Liaisons: Shani Armon
Government Affairs Committee
The Government Affairs Committee provides a forum for IRI members to share information about policies, laws, and regulations produced by Congress, the White House, and federal agencies that may affect IRI membership. The Committee is charged with assessing critical issues; evaluating and monitoring legislation and regulatory or potential regulatory issues; and developing consensus policy positions to guide IRI’s advocacy efforts, including promulgating IRI’s annual Federal Retirement Security Blueprint. The Committee also assists IRI staff in building bipartisan relationships with lawmakers and administration officials to whom IRI advocates for the enactment and adoption of policy positions and proposals.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for Government Affairs professionals.
IRI Staff Liaisons: John Jennings, Paul Richman
Member Services Steering Committee
Members of the Member Services Steering Committee meet as needed to review current IRI initiatives and solicit guidance as well as provide feedback on membership experiences and areas where IRI can improve and grow. Participation on this Committee is limited to one representative per member company.
Meeting Schedule: Ad hoc
Criteria: All insurer, distributor, asset manager, IMO, solution provider, and law firm members are eligible to participate. Representatives from these organizations must have at least one year of committee participation on any of the other IRI committees.
IRI Staff Liaisons: Shani Armon, Anna Hildreth
Operations and Experience Optimization Senior Steering Committee
The IRI Operations and Experience Optimization Senior Steering Committee (SSC) provides a framework to strategize and prioritize initiatives focused on removing friction from the experience by improving speed to issue and reducing cycle times in all phases of the annuity journey. The subcommittees that report to this group include: Experience, Go-to-Market, and Process and Regulation.
Meeting Schedule: Quarterly calls
Criteria: Invitation only based on participation in Operations and Technology discussions.
IRI Staff Liaison: Bryan Harmelink
Operations and Technology Committee
The Operations and Technology Committee provides a place for members to receive updates on the work being completed throughout the Ops and Tech committees and subcommittees. The committee supports the retirement solutions industry with digital-first for annuity operational efficiencies, standardization, and elimination of friction in the annuity journey.
Meeting Schedule: Bi-monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives.
IRI Staff Liaison: Katherine Dease
Platform Ecosystem Steering Committee
The Platform Ecosystem Steering Committee prioritizes and leads the roadmap for real-time digital-first capabilities needed to support annuities alongside traditional investments inside of the portfolio management and wealth management platforms. The subcommittees that report to this group include: Platform Support and Holistic Planning with Annuities.
Participating firms and subject matter experts report to the Digital First Steering Committee for final approval.
Meeting Schedule: On-Demand Calls
Criteria: Invite only based on participation and prioritization of planned digital-first initiatives.
IRI Staff Liaison: Katherine Dease
Public Relations Committee
The Public Relations Committee improves and enhances the brand of insured retirement strategies through earned media in top-tier publications that reach multiple core audiences. The Committee works to ensure that IRI is a “first phone call resource” for the media and IRI members for both positive media and crisis management issues. Participants on this Committee are preferred to be in a communications role.
Meeting Schedule: Bi-monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for PR or Communications professionals.
IRI Staff Liaison: Dan Zielinski
Retirement Research Committee
The Retirement Research Committee informs and determines IRI research priorities, and serve in a planning, review, and editorial capacity regarding content. The Retirement Research Committee also collectively establishes meaningful discussion agendas for monthly committee calls and periodic in-person meetings to help Committee members learn from each other, and develop best practices for addressing industry issues and capitalizing on opportunities.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls and two in-person meetings per year (inclusive of one at the IRI Annual Conference)
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives.
IRI Staff Liaison: Frank O’Connor
Retirement Plans and Tax Committee
The Retirement Plans and Tax Committee is responsible for all legislative and regulatory activity arising under or relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code, including, but not limited to, rulemaking by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The Committee assists IRI in developing policy positions and advocacy strategies on priority issues including drafting comment letters and testimony.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for legal, compliance, and government affairs professionals focused on defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts.
IRI Staff Liaison: Emily Micale
Securities Committee
The Securities Committee is responsible for all legislative and regulatory activity arising under, or relating to, federal or state securities law, including, but not limited to, rulemaking by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and individual state securities agencies. The Committee assists IRI in developing policy positions and advocacy strategies on priority issues including drafting comment letters and testimony.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for legal, compliance, and government affairs professionals focused on manufacturing and distribution of securities products.
IRI Staff Liaison: Emily Micale
State Affairs Committee
The State Affairs Committee is responsible for state activity that would impact the sale of retirement income products proposed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), National Conference of Insurance Legislatures (NCOIL), North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and state legislative and regulatory bodies. The Committee assists IRI in developing policy positions and advocacy strategies on priority issues including drafting comment letters and testimony.
Meeting Schedule: Monthly calls
Criteria: Open to all IRI member company representatives, but most appropriate for legal, compliance, and government affairs professionals focused on manufacturing and distribution of insurance products.
IRI Staff Liaison: Sarah Wood