Speakers & Events

“Celebrate Mardi Gras” at Arkansas Environmental Federation’s 44th Annual Convention
November 2-4, 2011 | Hot Springs Convention Center

The AEF’s Mardi Gras will give you the chance to sneak a peek into the secret societies of environmental
regulators! A colorful parade of the Mystic Order of the Myths, a.k.a. ADEQ Division Chiefs, will be led by the
Mardi Gras Queen herself Director Teresa Marks, and Grand Marshal EPA Region 6 Administrator Dr. Al
Armendariz. Not to be outdone, the Mystic Society of Bead Recyclers, a.k.a. Regulated Waste Committee; the
Krewe of the Napoleonic Code, a.k.a. Air Committee; and the Hydratoxic Society, a.k.a. Water Quality Committee,
will vie to win your heart and soul by strutting their stuff down the streets of the Big Easy while tossing out
nuggets of information that you can use every day.
Mitchell Williams attorney Walter Wright will dicuss the threat to recycling at 11:15am on Thursday, November 3. To access the full convention brochure click here.

Central Arkansas | October 21, 2011 | 8am – 4:25pm
Hilton Hotel | 925 South University Ave. | Little Rock

This seminar qualifies for 8 hours of CPE and 6.75 hours of CLE credit, including one hour of ethics. Topics include Estate Planning, Tax Law, Agriculture, Family Limited Partnership, Ethics and more.

The cost of the seminar is $125.00 for the first registrant from your organization and $105.00 for each additional
registrant.  The fee includes course materials and lunch.

NO REFUNDS WILL BE MADE AFTER THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE. Registration deadline is five (5) working days prior to the seminar date. For information please email Tracey Stark tstark@mwlaw.com or call (501) 370-4237.

Click below to download the registration form.

Mitchell Williams and Partners Insurance invite you to join us for a monthly benefits roundtable webinar series designed exclusively for company benefits managers. This free roundtable discussion is designed to provide benefits professionals with an opportunity to learn and discuss current issues and trends in benefits law and strategy.
 
The format is open-ended with an introduction of current legal and regulatory issues presented by Tod Yeslow of Mitchell Williams and current trends in benefits strategy, design, and funding discussed by Morgan Pile of Partners Insurance. You are invited to listen-in, ask questions, and suggest future discussion topics of particular interest to you. We hope this opportunity will create a lively and robust forum that can become a reliable source for you  to  stay up-to-date on current developments or issues of concern, expose new ideas in benefits strategy, be used as a tool to address your specific issues, and support network building among your peers.
 

September Webinar
Planning for 2012 Annual Enrollment 

This seminar will focus on the issues employers should consider in planning for annual enrollment in group health and 401(k) plans .  Changes to both the group health plan rules and 401(k) regulations may require changes to health and 401(k) plans and the corresponding plan amendments, changes in participant communications,  and changes in the responsibilities of your third party administrators.  This seminar is intended to provide the participants with a starting point to develop a meaningful and comprehensive checklist to begin preparing for the 2012 Annual Enrollment. 

 
Register here.
 

DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 2011
TIME: Noon – 12:40 PM (CST)
 
About the Presenters: 
 
Tod Yeslow, Member, Mitchell Williams
Tod Yeslow is a Member of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. law firm in Rogers. An Employee Benefits/ERISA lawyer with 22 years of experience, he regularly advises clients in all technical legal aspects of employee benefits including: health and welfare plans, pension and profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans, stock bonus plans, equity-based plans, executive-compensation plans, supplemental-benefit plans, fringe-benefit plans, and perquisites. Prior to joining Mitchell Williams, Tod spent seven years in private practice with top-tier law firms representing plans sponsored by entities of diverse enterprises and sizes, and 10 years of experience was gained in-house with Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS) both while and after a it was a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. He also served as a consultant with Deloitte for three years where process-driven audit and corrections were designed and implemented for multiple Fortune 100 companies. Tod is a member of the IRS Gulf States Tax Exempt/Governmental Entities Council (Employee Plans Coordinator); appointed member of the National IRS Employee Plans Team Audit (EPTA) Liaison Group; American Bar Association (Tax Section), State Bar of Texas (Employee Benefits Section), and recurring speaker for national and local associations. He received a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida and J.D. from South Texas College of Law. He licensed to practice in Arkansas and Texas.
 
Morgan Pile – President, Partners Insurance, LLC
Morgan Pile graduated from Stetson University with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance as a merit scholar and has several years of experience offering employer benefits products. He started out as a registered investment advisor for AXA, helping employers design pension and retirement plans before moving on to Brown and Brown Insurance of Arkansas, which is the 6th largest independent insurance brokerage in the country. As Executive Vice President of Sales, he was one of the top sales producers for the company. He also served on the National Benefits Committee. Morgan has worked with national and international clients while doing business in Tampa, FL and Little Rock, AR. He is a Certified Enrollment Specialist, and a Group Benefits Disability Specialist. Morgan’s focus is on being a proactive agent, actively managing plans and providing innovative resolutions for clients. He does this by keeping apprised of trends in the industry, and emphasizing wellness as a preventative cost control measures. His new focus is helping employers design, implement and administer wellness plans, to help take control of rising health care costs. Designing a health plan is only the first step: managing it is the most important! Morgan meets with clients to determine the strategy for the benefit plan design, then builds and negotiates on behalf of the client, based on their needs and goals.

Mitchell Williams and Partners Insurance invite you to join us for a monthly benefits roundtable webinar series designed exclusively for company benefits managers. This roundtable discussion is designed to provide benefits professionals with an opportunity to learn and discuss current issues and trends in benefits law and strategy.
 
The format is open-ended with an introduction of current legal and regulatory issues presented by Tod Yeslow of Mitchell Williams and current trends in benefits strategy, design, and funding discussed by Morgan Pile of Partners Insurance. You are invited to listen-in, ask questions, and suggest future discussion topics of particular interest to you. We hope this opportunity will create a lively and robust forum that can become a reliable source for you  to  stay up-to-date on current developments or issues of concern, expose new ideas in benefits strategy, be used as a tool to address your specific issues, and support network building among your peers.
 
August Webinar
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on June 3, 2011, issued a proposed rule to allow certain entities to receive Medicare claims data in order to evaluate the performance of providers and suppliers. The proposed rule is being issued to implement a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires standardized extracts of Medicare claims data under Parts A, B, and D to be made available to “qualified entities” beginning January 1, 2012. Qualified entities may receive data for one or more specified geographic areas, must pay a fee equal to the cost of making the data available, and must combine the Medicare claims data with private sector claims data when evaluating provider performance. Any reports generated by an entity must also be publicly released in aggregate form. According to CMS, this initiative will allow the qualified entities to “identify which hospitals and doctors provide the highest quality, cost-effective care.” The proposed rule will be published in the June 8 Federal Register and comments will be due by August 8, 2011.
 
Register here.
 
Topic:
•        Health Care Reform Act Update: CMS Issues Proposed Rule to Allow Access to Medicare Claims Data
 
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 2011
TIME: Noon – 12:40 PM (CST)
About the Presenters:
 
Morgan Pile – President, Partners Insurance, LLC
Morgan Pile graduated from Stetson University with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance as a merit scholar and has several years of experience offering employer benefits products. He started out as a registered investment advisor for AXA, helping employers design pension and retirement plans before moving on to Brown and Brown Insurance of Arkansas, which is the 6th largest independent insurance brokerage in the country. As Executive Vice President of Sales, he was one of the top sales producers for the company. He also served on the National Benefits Committee. Morgan has worked with national and international clients while doing business in Tampa, FL and Little Rock, AR. He is a Certified Enrollment Specialist, and a Group Benefits Disability Specialist. Morgan’s focus is on being a proactive agent, actively managing plans and providing innovative resolutions for clients. He does this by keeping apprised of trends in the industry, and emphasizing wellness as a preventative cost control measures. His new focus is helping employers design, implement and administer wellness plans, to help take control of rising health care costs. Designing a health plan is only the first step: managing it is the most important! Morgan meets with clients to determine the strategy for the benefit plan design, then builds and negotiates on behalf of the client, based on their needs and goals.

Thursday, July 7, 2011
Next Level Events – Union Train Station

On Thursday, July 7, Brian Vandiver and Ed Buckner will speak on hidden disabilities from an employer standpoint.
Passage of the ADA opened employer’s eyes to discrimination issues in the workplace. However, it is very difficult to understand what they cannot see, or is not immediately apparent – employees with “Invisible Disabilities”.  Multiple Sclerosis, cancer and Arthritis are all disabilities that can be difficult to diagnose and more difficult for co-workers and supervisors to adapt to an employee’s disability. This is especially true of employees who do not want colleagues to know about the disability.

To what degree is an employer required to accommodate something that cannot be seen and symptoms that often change? What is the employee’s responsibility to the employer?

Please visit http://www.hrmaar.org/index.htm for registration information.