Employee Well-Being 2026

07:45 AM - 08:30 AM ET

Registration and Networking Breakfast

08:30 AM - 08:45 AM ET

Opening Remarks

Kelly McDevitt, Program Director, The Conference Board

08:45 AM - 09:25 AM ET

Can the Workplace Change the Trajectory of Health?

Medical advances are transforming what is possible for human health. But better outcomes also depend on what happens between medical appointments: whether people can follow treatment, build healthier habits, and make changes that last. And since work can affect everything from our time and relationships to our stress levels and daily habits, employers have a unique opportunity to support people’s health in ways that can truly have an impact. Arianna Huffington and Eli Lilly and Company Chief People Officer Eric Dozier will examine how medicine, behavior, and the workplace can work together to improve health outcomes. They will discuss what employers can realistically influence, how organizations can make healthier choices easier, and where corporate responsibility ends and individual choice begins. The discussion will also consider how companies can move beyond disconnected well-being programs and create working environments that support both better health and sustained performance.

Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global

Eric Dozier, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, Eli Lilly and Company

Diana Scott, U.S. Human Capital Center Leader, The Conference Board

09:25 AM - 10:05 PM ET

You Have Great Pay and Benefits: Why Are Your Employees Still Suffering?

Employers benchmark pay, build strong benefits packages, and some offer employee hardship funds. Yet a household that has a car breakdown, an unexpected medical bill, loses a second income, or a few days of work to illness, can be incredibly stressed, killing your bottom line with healthcare costs, turnover, lost work days, safety incidents, and more. They are not asking for help because they can’t imagine how you can help, so they just ask for more pay and benefits. The signs are usually already in the employer’s own systems: 401(k) withdrawals, PTO cash-outs, wage garnishments, frequent pay advances. Each one shows strain long before an engagement survey would, and each one is a moment to connect someone with real help. Employer leaders will share the huge price employers are paying for poor financial health, and how to help employees with the financial shocks that 60% of households have every year and how they found more ways to put more money in the pockets of their people and keep more of what they earn for what matters in their life. Hosted by: Brightside

Kim Christiansen, Director, Total Rewards & Team Member Services, Portillo's

Tom Spann, CEO, Brightside

10:05 AM - 10:35 AM ET

Meet and Connect

10:35 AM - 11:10 AM ET

Start With the End in Mind: Choosing a Behavioral Health Partner for What Comes Next

As behavioral health needs grow more complex, costs continue to rise, and mental health leaves increase, employers are rethinking what they need from a partner. Access and engagement still matter, but the next generation of behavioral health strategy must also help manage overall spend, reduce downstream risk, and support employees across a broader range of needs. In this session, a leading employer will share how they’re approaching that challenge by building an ecosystem that improves the employee experience today while creating a stronger foundation for long-term cost control and organizational resilience. Hosted by: CuraLinc

Theresa Conley, MPA, CEBS, CPSP, Senior Manager of Benefits Design, Ferguson

David Pawlowski, Chief Operating Officer, CuraLinc Healthcare

10:35 AM - 11:10 AM ET

The Hidden Cost of GI: Why Employers Can't Afford to Ignore Digestive Health

GI conditions affect a significant share of the workforce, but their impact is often hidden across emergency room visits, specialist care, procedures, pharmacy spend, and lost productivity. At the same time, stigma and fragmented care can keep employees from getting the right support until symptoms escalate. Learn why digestive health is a growing yet often overlooked employer challenge, how leading organizations are finding and engaging hard-to-reach populations, and what it takes to move from reactive treatment to proactive, specialized care. Attendees will leave with a new perspective on the connection between GI health, employee well-being, productivity, and healthcare costs. Hosted by: Ayble Health

Nicole Barnhart, Director of Innovation & Market Solutions, Priority Health

Sam Jactel, Founder & CEO, Ayble Health

11:20 AM - 11:55 AM ET

Global Benefits and Financial Well-Being: From Employee Access to Action

As global workforces evolve, employers are rethinking how financial well-being fits into their broader benefits strategies. The challenge is no longer simply providing access to financial education and benefits, but delivering personalized guidance that drives meaningful employee engagement, financial progress, and measurable business impact. Join Salesforce and BrightPlan for an executive discussion exploring how Salesforce has expanded its financial well-being strategy globally, balancing a consistent employee experience with diverse local needs, financial systems, and cultural differences. Discover how AI-powered personalization, trusted human advisors, and integrated benefits strategies are helping employers move beyond traditional financial education to support employees at every stage of life. Hosted by: BrightPlan

Alan Becken, Global Rewards Director, Salesforce

Marthin De Beer , Founder and CEO, BrightPlan

11:20 AM - 11:55 AM ET

Implementing AI with Intention: How to Drive Innovation Without Increasing Stress

AI is transforming work quickly. Nearly 80% of organizations are facing challenges adopting AI, according to a survey by Enterprise. While business leaders focus on productivity and efficiency, employees are navigating uncertainty, rapid change, and evolving expectations. HR has an opportunity to shape how AI is introduced, but to build trust, maintain psychological safety, and support employee well-being throughout the transition. In this session, we'll explore practical strategies for implementing AI in ways that reduce change fatigue rather than amplify it. Hosted by: Spring Health

Subha Pillai, Benefits Program Manager, Americas, Docusign

Wyatt Walter, Director, AI Enablement & Advancement, Spring Health

12:10 PM - 01:40 PM ET

Networking Lunch

12:10 PM - 01:40 PM ET

Employer-Only Lunch Workshop: The Strategic Power of Choice: Designing Flexible Benefits for Employee Well-Being

Today’s workforce expects personalized, meaningful benefits - but delivering that level of impact can feel overwhelming, especially with fixed budgets and fragmented systems. This hands-on workshop will show how flexible strategies, like Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), can support multiple dimensions of well-being and drive meaningful results without requiring massive overhauls or added complexity. Together, we’ll explore how to audit and optimize your current programs, identify underperforming investments, and design flexible benefits that align with your company’s goals. You’ll walk away with practical tools, peer insights, and a clear roadmap for building a more strategic, efficient, and engaging benefits strategy - without burning through budget or bandwidth. Hosted by: Benepass

Kristen Jacob, Associate Director of Wellbeing, EY

Jaclyn Chen, CEO & Co-founder, Benepass

01:45 PM - 02:25 PM ET

Well-Being Program Overload: Identifying Redundancy and Choosing the Right Partners

The struggles of designing an affordable, well-utilized and well-liked benefit strategy are not new. Cost mitigation, effective communication and great health outcomes have been a goal for employers for decades, and many still struggle with reaching sustainable positive results in these areas. Layer in modern complexities like AI, workforce reduction, generational demands and differences and modern world challenges, designing for success becomes a very complicated puzzle with multiple priorities competing for your focus. In this session, you will hear from industry leaders who have contemplated the current environment and have been successful in implementing solutions new and old to provide the best the industry has to offer for their employees. Hear from and interact with these leaders to understand best practices in today's complex world of benefit solutions, technology and navigation.

Jessica Olsen, Manager, Global Wellbeing & Employee Engagement, Gilead Sciences

Greg Salgueiro, MS, RD, LDN, Director of Wellbeing, Boston Children's Hospital

Janet Sullivan, Vice President, Benefits and Retirement Programs, McKesson Corporation

Kelly McDevitt, Program Director, The Conference Board

02:35 PM - 03:10 PM ET

The Hidden Variable Behind Every Healthcare Cost Driver

Employers are stacking point solutions for pharmacy spend, chronic care, hospital pricing, and now AI-driven upcoding, treating each as a separate problem with a separate vendor. But physician-level variation in prescribing patterns, guideline adherence, and coding accuracy touches every one of these categories at once. This session uses an employer's data across their cost drivers to show how much of what looks like five different problems collapses into one: which doctor the employee sees. Attendees leave with a framework for evaluating cost drivers as symptoms of a single upstream variable, not five separate fixes.

Jennifer Snider, Director of Employee Wellbeing, Classic Collision

Kirk Czonstka, SVP, Enterprise Sales, Garner Health

03:10 PM - 03:40 PM ET

Meet and Connect

03:40 PM - 04:15 PM ET

The Hidden Cost of Financial Stress: Connecting Money and Health in the Workplace

Financial stress is not just a money problem, it's a health problem. It shows up as anxiety, poor sleep, and skipped preventive care, and it surfaces in lower engagement, higher absenteeism, weaker retention and higher healthcare costs. In this session, nudge will explore why financial health belongs at the center of any well-being strategy, and how employers are putting that connection into practice, turning financial support into a healthier workforce. Attendees will leave with a practical way to think about financial health as a driver of the employee health and business outcomes they're accountable for. Hosted by: Nudge

04:15 PM - 04:50 PM ET

Caregiving Support: The Effect on Workplace Productivity

Many workers are part of the sandwich generation, taking care of aging parents and children, while working full time and trying to squeeze in their own well-being practices. This session will explore how employers can help support the workforce, and keep them healthy and focused at work and at home.

04:50 PM - 05:00 PM ET

Closing Remarks

Kelly McDevitt, Program Director, The Conference Board

05:00 PM - 06:00 PM ET

Networking Reception

08:00 AM - 08:50 AM ET

Registration and Networking Breakfast

08:50 AM - 09:00 AM ET

Opening Remarks

Kelly McDevitt, Program Director, The Conference Board

09:00 AM - 09:40 AM ET

Employer Update: TCB Presents Updates on Global Benefits Challenges Facing Employers Today

09:40 AM - 10:00 AM ET

Vendor Marketing Showcase

Presented by Money Confidence Project

10:10 AM - 10:45 AM ET

From Discovery to Prevention: How Intelligent Benefits Platforms Are Surfacing the Right Well-Being Support, in the Right Moment, Inside the Flow of Work

51% of employees report difficulty accessing or understanding the full value of their reward and benefits. As workforce health risks rise and employee expectations evolve, employers are facing a growing challenge: support exists, but employees often fail to access it until problems have already escalated into absence, disengagement or insurance claims. In this session, Benifex Chief Advisory Officer, bestselling workplace well-being author, and government adviser Gethin Nadin will explore how AI-powered benefits technology is shifting well-being from reactive support to intelligent early intervention. Drawing on global workforce data, employee behavioral insights and real-world employer experience, he will examine how connected benefits ecosystems are helping organizations surface the right support before employees reach crisis point. Recently profiled by Forbes for his work advancing workplace well-being, Gethin will share why the future of employee support lies not in adding more benefits, but in creating intelligent systems that connect, personalize, and activate support when employees need it most. Hosted by: Benifex

Amy Johnson, Vice President, Global Benefits, Medtronic

Gethin Nadin, Chief Advisory Officer, Benifex

10:45 AM - 11:15 AM ET

Meet and Connect

11:15 AM - 11:45 AM ET

Employer Update: Insights and Learnings from Benepass Employer-Only Workshop

11:45 AM - 12:00 PM ET

Closing Remarks

Kelly McDevitt, Program Director, The Conference Board