David Contorno is President of Lake Norman Benefits, now part of the Hilb Group and one of the employee benefit practice leaders inside this now top 40 largest insurance agency. As a native of New York, David began his career in the insurance industry at the age of 14, and has since become a leading expert in the realm of employee benefits over the last 21 years. The Hilb Group continues to grow organically by ensuring all management is handled locally, providing top notch solutions and supports, and through strategic acquisitions.

Among his many accolades, David received a Broker Spotlight in 2004 and was recognized as an outstanding Broker of Service in 2005 through 2014 by Blue Cross Blue Shield. He has continually received the Echelon Award by United Healthcare since 2003, reserved for the top 1% of agents nationally, and was a 2015 "40 Under 40" Award Winner presented by Charlotte Business Journal. Most recently, David was Benefits Selling Magazine's 2015 Broker of the Year and, in March 2016, Forbes deemed him "One of America's Most Innovative Benefits Leaders."

David is a member of the Board of Directors for both the Charlotte Association of Health Underwriters and Healthreach Community Clinic. He served on the NC Insurance Commissioners Life and Health Agent Advisory Committee, as well as participated in the Technical Advisory Group that helped with the Market Reforms required under the Affordable Care Act in North Carolina. He is a long-time member of the Lake Norman and South Iredell Chambers of Commerce as well as the National, North Carolina, New York and Long Island Associations of Health Underwriters. David contributes to numerous publications, including Forbes, Benefits Selling Magazine, Business Leader Magazine and Insurance Thought Leadership.

David is committed to giving back to his community and actively participates in the membership drive for the United Way, assisting the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and supporting The Dove House Child Advocacy Center. When he is not working, he enjoys boating, traveling, and being with his wife, Heather, and their two children, Hannah and Ethan.

Vincent Esposito is Chief Operating Officer of the New York based-company, Endeavor Plus, Inc., where he has a wide range of responsibilities covering all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations, particularly those that are financially-related. He joined the company in 2014 after a decade of diversified experience working as a financial investment analyst.

Prior to joining Endeavor Plus, Vincent was a Senior Analyst with Wexford Capital in Greenwich, CT. At the time, Wexford Capital managed $6B in assets, invested globally and approached the market with a thematic lens and coupled this perspective with fundamental analysis to identify trends across sectors and invested in best-of-breed names by triangulating information through multiple avenues to develop unique opportunities in the public market, based on proprietary work.

Mr. Esposito began his Wall Street career at SES Partners (formerly Circle-T Partners) in New York as a Research Analyst. At SES Partners, he married their tactical strategy with fundamental analysis for their US Long/Short Opportunistic Equity Fund. He worked to identify inflection points & catalysts for specific investments through his research with C-Suite industry executives, as well as both buy and sell side specialists.

As a Presidential Scholar at Siena College, Loudonville, NY, Mr. Esposito graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.

Lee Lewis runs Gallagher’s Innovation Lab practice, a mission-driven group devoted to improving the cost, quality and design of American healthcare. Lee advises several health startups working to solve meaningful healthcare problems.

The Innovation Lab has a track record of breakthroughs. It leads the effort to bring sophisticated health plan audits to private employers. It pioneered specialty drug direct purchasing without using a PBM. His team led a grassroots effort to identify all independent freestanding Emergency Rooms in Texas. The innovation lab developed the first HSA compliant model for back and joint pain prevention, and is piloting first-ever ultra-high value virtual networks in 2018 in two major U.S. cities.

His current and past clients include American Airlines, Comcast NBC Universal, Albertson’s Grocery Stores, Home Depot, Abbot Laboratories and dozens of other large and jumbo employers.

Lee is a Rhodes Scholar Nominee. He graduated Second in his Class, Magna cum Laude with University Honors in Accounting from Brigham Young University.

Michelle Martin is a professional with over 15 years of benefit management and human resources experience. Ms. Martin joined CBS Corporation in 2006 as Director of Health & Welfare Benefits. Holding several position since joining CBS, she is now Vice President, Employee Engagement. She is responsible for strategy, design and performance of CBS’s health and welfare plans. In addition, she is responsible for engaging a large diverse and geographically dispersed employee population. Her creative and unique approaches to company-wide campaigns and events have earned her multiple awards.

As a professional with broad experience Ms. Martin taught a CEBS course at Hofstra University which placed emphasis on key economic, accounting and financial concepts essential in the administration of employee benefit plans.

Ms. Martin is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist with a certification in Global Benefits Management. She holds an MBA from Adelphi University.

Michelle is also an active member of the community. She is Board Chair of the Northeast Business Group on Health and is on the Board of Directors of HealthPass New York and The Leapfrog Group. In addition, Michelle sits on an advisory board for Covenant House New York Mother Child Center.

Angela has many years of experience challenging the status quo to improve healthcare in the US. Her Executive Masters in Public Administration is focused on health care transformation through federal and state policy and reform initiatives. In the health care industry she focused on Patient Centered Medical Home designs and created a team-based leadership model that was adopted across 5 states. She also created new creative wats to drive improvements through the patients perspectives, bringing them across the table with the health care system executives to demand improvements, and it worked. These programs are now running across the state of OR and are embedded into all primary care and hospital practices.

For the past several years, Angela has been leading innovative, employer-led ACO models for Intel in the US. No other large employer has this direct contracting relationship with local health care systems, so to build them all took strong leadership and partnership. The most recent data shows how the vision behind the ACO models is working, achieving Triple Aim outcomes: reducing costs, improving health outcomes, and getting high member satisfaction and engagement rates. Angela is a passionate leader in health care that brings the right people around the table to make the impossible happen.

In her role as the Director of Initiatives and Programs, Margaret works with various healthcare stakeholder groups and coalition leaders to bring leading initiatives and programs to the employer community. She brings with her over 18 years' experience working with employers in the areas of wellbeing, culture, population health, wellness, and overall healthcare strategic planning.

Over the years she has led cross-functional teams that implement successful approaches in healthcare and multi-stakeholder community collaboratives focused on resolving challenges and leveraging common synergies. She is a national speaker on healthcare topics including: health benefits, consumerism, employee engagement, business performance, leadership, and the Impact of health and wellbeing in organizations.

Before joining the National Alliance, she was part of the leadership team at the Midwest Business Group on Health, a leading business coalition in Chicago. Prior to that she created and developed a successful employee health & wellness program for 11 years at a community college. In 2013, she was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Health and Wellness Management Program Advisory Board. She has been an adjunct faculty professor since 2008 and teaches corporate health and entrepreneurship at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

As the Principal and Managing Partner of Axial Benefits Group, Mr. Rodgers brings his extensive background in health and welfare plans to Axial's clients.

He has been pioneering Healthcare Purchasing Coalitions since 2009 specializing in assisting medium and large corporations, many of whom have multi-state locations, with the development of effective health care programs. Specifically, he has designed, implemented and managed 5 successful healthcare purchasing coalitions helping hundreds of companies lower costs and stabilized renewals.

Prior to co-founding Axial Benefits Group, Mr. Rodgers founded its predecessor company, Atlantic Benefits, in 2003. He also founded The Staffing Exchange (TSE) in 2012, a successful healthcare purchasing coalition dedicated specifically to the Staffing industry. He has had over 22 years of experience and held senior consulting positions at Hays Companies, William Gallagher Associates, and Marsh & McLennan. Mr. Rodgers is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Engineering. He is a former Massachusetts high school wrestling state champion and collegiate wrestler. He is an avid national speaker on the Affordable Care Act and has become known as one of the nation's experts on the topic of its compliance. He is the former Chairman of the Boston Board of Directors for the March of Dimes and has been involved with the development of corporate programs for the both Friends of Boston's Homeless charity and various local Habitat for Humanity Chapters. He lives in Concord, MA with his wife and family, where he is also a town meeting member.

Dr. Sell is a Medical Outcomes Specialist for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for National Employers. She helps employers to identify conditions and behaviors affecting the health of their population and measure the impact of interventions. She also provides clinical education and conducts real world clinical research and pharmaco-economic analyses. Dr. Sell served as the pharmacy director for the Midwest Health Strategy Project in Chicago in collaboration with the Midwest Business Group on Health and supported the development of the web-based data analytic program for employers - FirstMeasuressm.

Dr. Sell obtained her Bachelor of Science and Doctorate of Pharmacy degrees at Purdue University. She is board certified in pharmacotherapy. She completed two post-doctorate residencies, the first in Pharmacy Practice at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, IL and the second in Drug Policy and Medication Use Systems Management at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison WI. Prior to joining Pfizer, she held positions as Clinical Coordinator of Pharmacy and Residency Director at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago was the Director of Clinical Consulting with a group purchasing organization for integrated delivery networks. She held Assistant Professor of Pharmacy positions at the University of Florida and Purdue University.

RE Sutton & Associates, a division of Brown & Brown of Indiana, LLC

As an independent broker/consultant, Richard works with a variety of small and large employers and specializes in working with school systems, libraries and other public employers. Richard is a graduate of Ball State University where he majored in Public Relations and Political Science. While at Ball State, Richard was active as President of his Fraternity and President of the Student Center Governing Board.

Prior to founding RE Sutton & Associates, LLC in July, 2001, Richard was a partner at the firm of D.B. Englehart & Associates. Before his consultant work, Richard worked ten years at Blue Cross/Blue Shield and The Acordia Companies, where he received numerous awards for new sales and service to existing clients.

RE Sutton & Associates was named as one of the Top 25 Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agencies/Brokerage firms by the Indianapolis Business Journal for five years. In 2008, RE Sutton & Associates merged with Brown & Brown of Indiana creating the Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agency in the Indianapolis area and the firm has remained at the top of that list.

Richard contributed to a book series “Inside the Minds: Employee Benefit Best Practices”. The book, written by leading executives across the country, is an authoritative perspective on key strategies for offering secure, affordable coverage, while continuing to attract, retain and award employees. Richard’s chapter is entitled: “A Transparent Effort for Servicing Clients in the Employee Benefits Industry.

Richard is a graduate of Leadership Hendricks County. Through that program he was instrumental in instituting the Summer Lunch Bunch for Kids in Brownsburg. This program brings lunch, activities and entertainment to the children of Brownsburg during the summer months. Richard serves on the advisory board for several insurance and health related corporations.

Richard was included in the 2011 Indianapolis Business Journal list “Who’s Who in Health Care and Benefits.” This list includes administrators, benefits experts, insurance executives, and doctors doing groundbreaking work, attorneys, CPAs and policymakers.