Dear IPEBLA members,  

It has been four months since we gathered in the wonderful city of Dublin for the 20^th Biennial Conference and I am reaching out with what I plan to be a series of regular messages to IPEBLA members. 

First, I hope that everyone who attended the Dublin conference enjoyed the program, including our keynote speakers such as Rossa Fanning, Ireland’s Attorney General, along with the opportunity to   connect with friends and colleagues. A special note of thanks in this regard to the Conference Organising Committee and Avivant Partners, our association management company.   

Not surprisingly given how special the pension and benefits lawyer community is, I frequently hear that IPEBLA is your favourite industry organization.  In an effort to keep it that way, the new Steering Committee is working hard to ensure that IPEBLA stays top-of-mind and relevant between Biennial Conferences by, among other things: 

• Re-establishing periodic in-person meetings in key IPEBLA centres such as London, Toronto, Washington DC and Johannesburg  

• More formally organising and re-branding the “off-year” conference as the North American Conference or IPEBLA Regional Conference, depending on location 

• Updating the Comparative Survey of Pension Law Issues  

• Establishing an events committee to develop programming such as webinars and other continuing education 

• Creating an ongoing robust sponsorship program

• Increasing the effectiveness of the Steering Committee and its subcommittees with a view to improving the governance and oversight of IPEBLA’s operations and finances  

• Revisiting IPEBLA’s membership fee structure to ensure long term sustainability of the organization in conjunction with ongoing delivery of events and educational content that provide good value for members 

I am looking forward to an exciting year at IPEBLA and staying in touch with our many wonderful members.  I hope you are as well! 

-Michael Wolpert