You are invited to join us for our first Member Meeting of 2022.  The meeting will be held on February 16th and will be offering four informative sessions.  Topics include a 2022 economic and market outlook; how the Wisconsin Retirement System works; what Wisconsin Employers need to know to retain working women; and a roadmap for how you can successfully create a fair and equitable workplace, one that recognizes diverse talent and fosters productive and constructive conversations across different perspectives that make business better - for everyone.  A more comprehensive description for each session is listed below.

Meeting Agenda:
8:30 a.m.      Registration and Networking
8:45 a.m.      Welcome and Announcements
8:50 a.m.      Economic & Market Outlook for 2022: Striking a Better Balance – Elizabeth Muirhead, CFA – Vanguard - 1 CFP®,  WI Ins & 1 IWI CE Credits
9:40 a.m.      Break and Partner Introductions
9:55 a.m.      Understanding the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) – Dennis Eisenberg – Eisenberg & Associates, LLC - 1 CFP®, WI Ins & 1 IWI CE Credits
10:45 a.m.   Break
10:55 a.m.    FPA Wisconsin Business
11:10 a.m.   What Wisconsin Employers Need to Know To Retain Working Women – Kimberly Kane – Kane Communications Group - No CE for this Session
12:00 p.m.   Break / Lunch
12:20 p.m.   How to Make Progress on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Your Organization – Kelly McDonald – McDonald Marketing - No CE for this Session
1:15 p.m.      Adjourn

Presentation Descriptions:

8:50 – Elizabeth Muirhead, CFA – Vanguard
Title: Economic & Market Outlook for 2022: Striking a Better Balance
Start the year with a comprehensive economic and market outlook.  You’ll get a view of the global economy, monetary policy, and inflation issues, as well as insights into how the economy and markets might influence the portfolio construction decisions you make for your clients in 2022.

From the session attendees will:

• Be able to articulate what happened in the economy in 2021
• Have a greater understand of what may transpire in 2022 regarding the economy and the markets
• Be better prepared to discuss portfolio construction considerations with peers and clients
  
  

9:55 – Dennis Eisenberg – Eisenberg & Associates, LLC
Title: Understanding the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS)
Wisconsin public employees (and their partners) represent over a half million individuals.  Define benefit plans create unique planning challenges.  Participants will learn how the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) works; how to advise a participant of his or her investment options; how after-tax contributions work; how after-tax contributions compare to IRAs; and choices the participant or beneficiary can make at the point of retirement or disability.

11:10 – Kimberly Kane – Kane Communications Group
Title: What Wisconsin Employers Need to Know To Retain Working Women
Experts predict the workforce upheaval will continue in 2022 and beyond and that the talent wars will escalate.

In what some are calling a “wake up call for Wisconsin employers” new research our team conducted reveals that 50% of Wisconsin’s working women are considering quitting. This is 25% higher than the national average. The number of Wisconsin women considering quitting rises even higher – to nearly 60% – for those working in the finance, tech and IT sectors.

The good news is, Wisconsin employers can stem the tide of a large-scale female workforce exodus if they act intentionally and heed the call to evolve. Business leaders looking to retain their workforce are taking the statistics seriously and are giving their company culture, communications and policies a good hard look, assessing how their employees are feeling and discerning what those employees, particularly women, need to make work, work for them.

In this presentation, you’ll receive a high level overview of the Kane Insights: State of Working Women in Wisconsin research findings and then we’ll take a deeper dive into what the research means for Wisconsin employers, including recommendations for what organizations can do to position themselves as employers of choice for working women, and all employees. Presenter Kimberly Kane will discuss how company culture, employee communications, company purpose and organization policies all play a more important role than ever in retention. She will also share specific examples of what Wisconsin working women say employers are doing right to attract and retain their female workforce.

12:20 – Kelly McDonald – McDonald Marketing (no CE for this session)
Title: How to Make Progress on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Your Organization
Corporate America is not very diverse; we're a long way off from having equal representation of people of color, especially in key executive and leadership positions. Many leaders want to create change, but don't know how.  How do you know where your blind spots are that can create obstacles for diverse talent?  

And how do you address the issues and comments that come up when employees (and customers) feel nervous, resentful or uncomfortable as you make headway on diversity, equity and inclusion in your organization?

Your intentions may be sincere and heartfelt, but intentions aren't enough.  If your team doesn’t know how they come across to others and how to build bridges, people can be offended, jobs can be lost, and lawsuits can be filed.  This session does not approach this topic from the standpoint of social activism or political ideology. This is the roadmap for how you can successfully create a fair and equitable workplace, one that recognizes diverse talent and fosters productive and constructive conversations across different perspectives that make business better - for everyone.

Not a bunch of theory, this session provides specific, actionable, no-cost tactics that you can implement immediately.  When it comes to talking about diversity at work, attendees will move from “uncomfortable and unsure” to “confident and empowered”, using proven tools that get real results.  And that’s language everyone values.

This session will illuminate:

• The well-intended things people say that are hurtful or offensive to others
• The excuses people use to avoid doing anything about diversity
• Why your diversity & inclusion efforts haven’t done the job
  
  

You’ll learn:

• How to talk about diversity in helpful and positive ways: do’s & don’ts
• Answers to tough employee questions or racist remarks
• Where to start when you don’t know where to start – an 8-step framework that will show you, step-by-step, how to become a more diverse and inclusive company, department or team.
• How to effectively recruit, interview and support diverse candidates
• How to build business relationships with people who are different from you
• For leaders, how to set the example, reduce tokenism, and deal with naysayers and derailers. How to avoid “Launch & Abandon” with your diversity efforts.