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Alison Salka, Ph.D.

Alison Salka joined LIMRA in 2012 and led the member benefits and research division from April 2014 until April 2024. She was responsible for driving the strategy and direction of its global research program. As principal research consultant, she is focused on thought leadership designed to help companies better understand industry issues and trends. She is a frequent industry speaker and has testified before the Department of Labor. Before joining LIMRA, she worked at Prudential and MassMutual. She has a Master’s degree from the College of William and Mary and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.

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Zoe Vecchio

Zoe Vecchio serves as vice president of Human Resources for Pacific Life Insurance Company. In this role, she ensures the development and delivery of a business-driven HR strategy through her leadership of the Talent Acquisition, HRIS, People Analytics, DEI, Talent Development, HRIS, Talent Analytics, and HR Business Partner functions.  Initiatives she is responsible for include the talent pipeline and mobility to develop future leaders, onboarding, diversity and inclusion, early career and intern programs, university relations, talent analytics and insights, leadership and employee development, employee engagement and experience, culture transformation and hybrid work model. She serves as a consultative partner and trusted advisor to the CAO, executive leadership team, and the Board and partners with the HR senior leadership team to ensure Pacific Life has the talent, culture, work environment, and employee engagement to meet its business needs.

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Karen Leighton

As vice president and chief transformation officer, Karen Leighton oversees several enterprise areas including internal consulting, continuous process measurement and improvement, and enterprise portfolio management. She is also the co-executive sponsor of a work stream that addresses talent, culture and change management in support of Securian Financial’s enterprise strategy.

Karen joined Securian Financial in 1986 as part of the management development program. For the next several years, she managed teams within Securian’s Group Insurance business line. Her contributions to the company have included leading the Operating Model and Culture Transformation and Operational Excellence initiatives. Karen was also the first executive sponsor of Securian’s Multicultural Network Associate Resource Group