Matt is the co-founder and CEO at Origin where he is working to solve employees’ number one source of stress: money.

Prior to Origin, Matt was a founder at Indio Technologies, a software platform for commercial insurance which was acquired by Applied Systems in 2019. Matt started his career in Citigroup’s investment bank trading high yield credit in the power and mining industries. He is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University.

Ana Mendez is the Vice President, Total Rewards Lac at Mastercard.

Ayanna Baldwin is the Director of Benefits and one of four Diversity Officers for Mercy (headquartered in St. Louis, MO). Mercy is one of the top five largest healthcare systems in the US, with over 41,000 co-workers and serves more than one million patients annually. For over 8 years, Ayanna has become a benefits expert in her own right and currently leads the Benefits and Leave Administration strategies for Mercy in her role as the Director of Benefits. Most recently, she was also appointed as a Diversity Officer serving Mercy as a key change agent and council advisor for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Ayanna holds a master’s in business administration from Fontbonne University, a Bachelor of Science in physics from Alabama A & M University and is a SHRM certified professional. She is the mother of a 17 rising high school senior, Madison, and serves in many personal and professional philanthropic roles.  As a Diversity Officer for Mercy, she serves on the DEI Advisory Board as the Secretary of the Diversity Advancement Council and the Vice Chair for the Social Determinants of Co-worker Health Council. In addition to service at Mercy, she also serves in her community as an adult volunteer to Girl Scout Troop 1259, chair of the Young Professionals Board for Guardian Angel and as a member of the professional advisory board for Guardian Angel. Ayanna is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc, Gamma Omega chapter.

Bernie is currently Senior Vice President, Global Benefits & Well-being, with AECOM, who have 53,000 employees worldwide located in 50 countries.

He is the Corporate COE leader responsible for health care, retirement, group, voluntary, lifestyle, perks, well-being and wellness benefits programs and benefits communications, benefits compliance, benefits delivery and M&A benefits activities globally.

He has previously worked at many large global employers including Yahoo!, Hilton, Gap, Accenture and Bank of America to name a few.

He is a Moderator, Speaker and Panelist at various professional benefits related events managed by Institutional Investors, both in the U.S. and Europe

He has been the Chair of The Corporate Board of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) and has attained his Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) designation and spoken at numerous conferences offered by them.

He was a faculty member for World at Work and has attained his Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation and spoken at numerous conferences offered by them.

He also served on the Board of the Council on Employee Benefits (CEB).

Bernie has been featured in numerous industry publications, articles, webinars and recently earned both The EBN Advisors of the Year and the BenefitsPRO Luminary awards, both in 2023.

Craig Copeland is a Senior Research Associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute, where has worked since 1997.  Dr. Copeland has authored numerous EBRI Issue Briefs, chapters in books, and journal articles on employee benefits ranging from ERISA and employment-based health plans, analyses of Social Security reforms, to participation in employment-based retirement plans, and the confidence of Americans in their retirement prospects.  He also has worked on financial wellness issues through the EBRI Financial Wellbeing Employer Survey and the attitudes of workers/retirees surrounding retirement through the Retirement Confidence Survey.

Dr. Copeland received a B.S. in economics from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.