Spokespersons
Brian H. Graff, Esq., APM
ASPPA Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer
Brian Graff began serving as ASPPA executive director and chief executive officer on November 8, 1996. An attorney and certified public accountant, he was formerly legislative counsel to the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation where he provided policy and technical analysis relating to pensions and employee benefits, health care, and Social Security. While working for Congress, he participated in the development of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Graff was associated with the Washington, D.C., law firm, The Groom Law Group, which specializes in employee benefits.
Graff has served as a delegate to all of the White House/Congressional National Summits on Retirement Savings. He also is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Employee Benefits Committee and serves on the board of the Small Business Council of America. Graff has testified several times before Congress and the U.S. Department of Labor ERISA Advisory Council about issues affecting national retirement income policy. He is a frequent speaker at various national employee benefit conferences. In 2006,
Institutional Investor News named Graff Washington Impact Player of the Year. He also is one of the “50 Most Influential Persons in the 401(k) Industry,” as named by
401kWire.com. Graff received his doctoral degree in law, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting with distinction from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY
Sal L. Tripodi, Esq., APM
ASPPA Immediate Past President
Sal Tripodi was ASPPA president 2007-2008. He currently maintains a nationally based consulting practice in the employee benefits area, TRI Pension Services. He provides technical training in ERISA-related areas, presenting seminars around the country, and authors a five-volume reference guide, The ERISA Outline Book, and two electronic quarterly newsletters, ERISA Views and eRISA Update. He conducts ERISA-related seminars for major financial institutions, trade and professional associations, and consulting firms across the United States. More than 2,000 firms use The ERISA Outline Book. In addition to his duties at TRI Pension Services, Tripodi is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program.
Tripodi started his employee benefits career with the Internal Revenue Service serving as a tax law specialist with the national office from 1979 to 1983. Since 1983, he has been in the private sector, consulting on employee benefit matters, writing reference materials about employee benefit plans, and conducting numerous seminars. In 2001, he received the ASPPA Educator’s Award. Tripodi received a Juris Doctorate at Catholic University of America Law School and a Master of Laws degree at Georgetown University Law School.
Martella A. Joseph, EA, MSPA
Member, ASPPA Board of Directors
Martella Joseph is an enrolled actuary and a member of American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA). Joseph serves on the ASPPA board of directors, chaired the Actuarial Subcommittee of the ASPPA Government Affairs Committee (GAC), and currently serves on the GAC Legislative Relations Committee. She was a delegate to the 2002 National Summit on Retirement Savings, which included the participation of President George W. Bush, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, leaders of Congress, and selected business and academic leaders.
She and her husband, Eugene L. Joseph, are partners of Joseph & Turner Consulting Actuaries, LLC. They are consultants and actuaries with more than 25 years of experience in the retirement plan-consulting field. Their firm recognizes that the pension and actuarial professions are complex areas requiring close attention to detail and mastery of current pension rules and regulations.
Judy A. Miller, FSA, MSPA, EA
ASPPA Chief of Actuarial Issues and Director of Retirement Policy
Judy Miller joined the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) staff in December 2007. Prior to joining ASPPA, she served as senior benefits advisor on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance from 2003 to November 2007. Before joining the congressional committee staff, Miller provided consulting and actuarial services to employer-sponsored retirement programs for nearly 30 years. She enjoyed living in Helena, Mont., from 1975 until she moved to Washington, D.C., in 2003. Immediately before leaving Montana, she was a shareholder in Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co., providing consulting services through its affiliate, Employee Benefit Resources, LLP (EBR). Prior to joining EBR, she was vice president of Hendrickson, Miller & Associates, Inc. for 15 years. Miller began her actuarial career in New York, working for what was then George B. Buck Consulting Actuaries. It was during her time there when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act passed.
Miller is a member of ASPPA, a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and an enrolled actuary. She received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sarah E. Simoneaux, CPC
Past ASPPA President
Sarah E. Simoneaux is president of Simoneaux Consulting Services, Inc., located in Mandeville, La., a firm offering consulting services to for-profit companies providing retirement services and to non-profit organizations. She also provides consulting through Simoneaux & Stroud Consulting Services, specializing in business planning, business consulting, professional development, industry research, and customized skill building workshops. Simoneaux has worked in the employee benefits industry since 1981. She was formerly vice president of Actuarial Systems Corporation (ASC). Prior to her position at ASC, she was a partner in JWT Associates, a qualified plan-consulting firm in Los Angeles, Calif. Simoneaux has volunteered her services in various capacities to assist the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA), and she served as ASPPA president (2005-2006). She currently works with the ASPPA Education and Examination Committee and she authored a book for the qualified plan financial consultant-credentialing program. Simoneaux earned her certified pension consultant credential from ASPPA in 1988.
Sheldon H. Smith, APM
ASPPA President-Elect
Sheldon H. Smith is a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA). He is senior vice president and treasurer at ASPPA.
A partner at Holme Roberts & Owens, LLP, Smith chairs its Compensation and Benefits Practice Group. He counsels clients on executive compensation, fiduciary duties, and qualified retirement plans. Smith works closely with his clients to design and assist with the implementation and operation of pension benefit plans and equity-based compensation plans. He advises his clients with regard to fiduciary duties, performs fiduciary duty compliance audits on employee benefit plans, addresses ERISA aspects of corporate transactions, and he represents clients before the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. With more than 30 years of litigation experience, he defends his clients in ERISA, tax, and probate litigation. He has benefits experience with the public, private, and governmental sectors. He has presented seminars and given speeches in most of the states to many diverse professional groups. He also has written many articles and prepared course materials in his area of practice.
Smith is a fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, where he gained distinction as one of the Best Lawyers in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in American Education. He continues to educate other professionals, both within and outside of the legal sector and has done so for the past 25 years. He is a past president of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference.
Tommy Thomasson
Chairman, Council of Independent 401(k) Recordkeepers
Tommy Thomasson chairs the Council of Independent Recordkeepers (CIKR), an ASPPA sister organization. An advocacy organization, CIKR educates policymakers and the public through the news media about issues relevant to independent 401(k) retirement plan service providers. Thomasson also serves as executive director of the Policy Board for the Investment Fiduciary leadership Council, a non-profit organization whose purpose it to promote the highest standards of stewardship within the corporate retirement plan, public pension, and endowment communities.
Thomasson provides expert testimony to Congress in his area of expertise and is a frequent speaker in the financial services industry. He is co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of DailyAccess Corporation, a retirement plan services provider. Thomasson also is founder and chief executive officer of InterServ, LLC, a certified and registered advisor and a wholly owned subsidiary of DailyAccess.
Prior to founding DailyAccess, Thomasson was a financial consultant with Merrill Lynch and later owned Financial Asset Management Services, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm providing money management services to private and institutional clients. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.