About the Event
This timely and informative webinar explored the implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB Act) and what it means for employers. Aon thought leaders Melissa Elbert, Molly Iacovoni, Daniel Serota, and Laura Wanlass covered key provisions such as healthcare, fringe benefits, executive compensation and board advisory, individual tax, and corporate and business tax.
Speakers
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Melissa Elbert, FSA, EA
Melissa is a partner in Aon’s Chicago office. She has extensive experience working with a variety of organizations on all aspects of their defined benefit, defined contribution, and financial wellbeing programs, including consulting with senior leadership and boards of directors regarding plan design and financial plan management.
Melissa chairs Aon’s U.S. Defined Contribution (DC) Steering Committee responsible for the oversight of DC consulting offers, tools, and thought leadership. Melissa also participates on Aon’s global DC and Financial Wellbeing teams, overseeing Aon’s recently published research on employe perspectives in retirement and financial wellbeing, Insights to Drive Better Retirement Outcomes.
Melissa joined Aon in 1995 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Melissa focuses on integrated retirement consulting and solutions across DB and DC plans, acting as an overall strategic retirement consultant.
Molly Iacovoni
Molly is an attorney in the Aon Health Solutions Practice (Consulting). She has been with Aon for more than 25 years. Molly began her career at Hewitt in 1990 in its defined contribution administration practice. After attending law school and practicing employee benefits law, she rejoined Hewitt in 1997 and spent a number of years providing legal support to Hewitt’s outsourcing practice and then, Aon’s health and welfare consulting practice.
Due to Molly’s administrative and design background, Molly is sensitive to both the administrative and design impact of the various federal and state employee benefit laws. Molly has been quoted in various periodicals including the Chicago Tribune, Business Insurance, and the Wall Street Journal on health and welfare technical matters and was previously named a Risk & Insurance® Power Broker®.
Molly assists clients and clients’ counsel with employee benefits issues, primarily focusing on health and welfare plan requirements under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Molly’s specialty includes requirements under the Affordable Care Act and CAA, 2021, including transparency, ERISA reporting and disclosure, cafeteria plan rules, COBRA, Medicare, including Part D, and various state laws / ERISA preemption. Molly has spent a significant amount of time over her tenure at Aon assisting a fortune 50 employer with ongoing collective bargaining matters pertaining to health and welfare benefits. Molly is a key contributor in the drafting of Aon’s Knowledge Bulletins, assisting Aon’s pharmacy practice with technical matters, speaks to various industry groups, and from time to time provides comments to the IRS and U.S. Department of Labor on guidance related to health and welfare legal matters.
Daniel Serota As the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Aon, a leading global professional services firm, Daniel creates meaningful and sustainable connections with a wide variety of stakeholders to further Aon’s public service mission and community outreach activities. With over ten years of experience in this role, he leads US public policy and political initiatives for Aon at the federal, state, and regulatory level, and directs Aon’s Political Action Committee. He also empowers the Latino Professional Network within Aon as an Executive Sponsor.
Daniel was appointed to the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board by Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and sits as the chair of the Apprentice Illinois Committee, which is focused on growth of apprenticeship programs in Illinois, and advises the U.S. secretary of labor on the national apprenticeship system as part of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.
Daniel has garnered recognition from some of the top leadership groups in Chicago, including Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40, which highlights professionals who have reached the top of their fields before the age of 40; Edgar Fellows, a leadership development program that fosters bi- partisanship; and Leadership Greater Chicago, a year-long leadership development program that includes the top leaders from the business, government, and civic communities in the Chicago-area.
Among other civic leadership roles, Daniel is the Treasurer for the Chicagoland Chamber PAC, and serves on the Breakthrough T1D Illinois Chapter Board.
Laura Wanlass Laura is a Partner and the corporate governance leader within Aon’s Executive & Board Advisory practice, where she delivers forward-thinking, data-driven guidance to boards and executive leadership teams worldwide. Renowned for her ability to navigate the complexities of modern corporate governance, Laura specializes in integrating technology and analytics to drive oversight, strategy, and execution across governance, human capital—including executive compensation—sustainability, and other emerging priorities.
Laura’s expertise lies in crafting holistic solutions that address both current and future challenges. She leverages advanced tech and data platforms to provide actionable peer and industry benchmarks, anticipate the expectations of regulators, investors, and insurers, and tailor external communication strategies such as regulatory filings, sustainability reports, and corporate disclosures. Her leadership extends to developing curated dashboards for boards and C-suites—delivering real-time insights on human capital and executive compensation metrics—and leading ongoing education initiatives to keep organizations ahead of governance trends.
As a trusted advisor to numerous Nominating & Governance and Executive Compensation Committees, Laura also oversees Aon’s global governance advisory team, technology resources, and related product development strategy. Her credentials include a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School, a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah, and a certification from MIT Sloan on “Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy.” In recognition of her impact, Laura was named to the 2024 NACD Directorship 100 list for Governance Professionals and is a sought-after speaker and author on corporate governance, human capital management, and sustainability.
Outside the boardroom, Laura channels her passion for adventure as an off-road driver for the Ford Racing team and serves as an official off-road driving and navigation instructor for Rebelle U.
CEUs
This SHRM continuing education course qualifies you for 1 CEU toward your recertification. Attendance will be recorded and the code will be provided to you after the program.
This WorldatWork continuing education course qualifies you for .25 CEUs toward your recertification. After attending this education program, you will self-report these credits to WaW.
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