2023 State-Facilitated Retirement Savings Program Network (SRSPN)
Annual Conference

UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center
425 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, California 90095

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From Los Angeles International Airport

Take the San Diego Freeway (I-405) North and exit at Wilshire Boulevard East. Turn right onto Wilshire Boulevard and proceed a half mile to Westwood Boulevard. Turn left and the UCLA Luskin Conference Center is located one mile ahead at end of the turnaround.

Get Directions from LAX

From San Fernando Valley (Hollywood Burbank Airport)

Take the Interstate-405 South Freeway toward San Diego. Take the Sunset Boulevard exit and turn left onto North Church Lane. Turn left onto Montana Avenue and continue onto Gayley Avenue. Turn left onto Strathmore Place and take the second left onto Westwood Plaza. The UCLA Luskin Conference Center will be on the left.

Get Directions from Hollywood Burbank Airport

From Downtown Los Angeles

Take the California-110 South/Harbor Freeway and continue onto the Interstate-10 West Freeway. Merge onto the Interstate-405 North Freeway toward Sacramento. Take the Wilshire Boulevard exit toward Westwood and merge onto Wilshire Boulevard. Turn left onto Westwood Boulevard and proceed onto Westwood Plaza. The UCLA Luskin Conference Center will be on the left.

Get Directions from Downtown L.A.

From Orange County

Take the California-22 West Freeway and merge onto the Interstate-405 North Freeway toward Sacramento. Take the Wilshire Boulevard exit toward Westwood and merge onto Wilshire Boulevard. Turn left onto Westwood Boulevard and proceed onto Westwood Plaza. The UCLA Luskin Confernce Center will be on the left.

Get Directions from John Wayne Airport

From San Diego

Take the Interstate-5 North Freeway and merge onto the Interstate-405 North Freeway toward Sacramento. Take the Wilshire Boulevard exit toward Westwood and merge onto Wilshire Boulevard. Turn left onto Westwood Boulevard and proceed onto Westwood Plaza. The UCLA Luskin Conference Center will be on the left.

Get Directions from San Diego

From Palm Springs

Take the California-111 North Freeway and continue onto the Interstate-10 West Freeway towards Los Angeles County. Merge onto the Interstate-405 North Freeway toward Sacramento. Take the Wilshire Boulevard exit toward Westwood and merge onto Wilshire Boulevard. Turn left onto Westwood Boulevard and proceed onto Westwood Plaza. The UCLA Luskin Confeerence Center will be on the left.

Get Directions from Palm Springs

PARKING OPTIONS

Self-Parking

Self-parking is available underneath the Luskin Conference Center and in UCLA Parking Structure 8, Level 4, directly across the street from the center. There is a convenient pedestrian walkway/bridge connecting Parking Structure 8 (on Level 3) to the Luskin Conference Center property. There is a daily fee to park in either location. If you are here for just one or two hours, we offer great rates of $4 to $6 dollars.

To locate Parking Structure 8, enter the campus by heading north on Westwood Boulevard and make a left onto the Structure 8 Driveway (located just before the parking information kiosk on Westwood Boulevard). Proceed up the ramp to Level 4 and park in any of the “Pay-by-Space” parking spots. You will need to purchase parking at a nearby parking kiosk.

To access the UCLA Luskin Conference Center via the pedestrian walkway/bridge from Lot 8, take the east stairs down one level (from Level 4 to Level 3) and cross over Strathmore Place. Elevator access (located in the northeast corner of Level 3) allows access to the conference center via the pedestrian crosswalk at the traffic light at the intersection of Strathmore Place and Westwood Plaza.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

The parking garage located under the Luskin Conference Center offers complimentary charging stations (first come, first served). Each station supports two parking spaces which are located in the northwest corner of the garage — spaces 114-15 and 118-19 — which are reserved exclusively for electric vehicles.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS

A convenient option for transportation is a ride-sharing service like Uber or Lyft. You can board your ride right in front of designated areas throughout the UCLA campus, including in front of the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. A trip to LAX, just 11 miles from the conference center, typically costs $20 to $30.

UCLA Transportation also maintains a helpful list of alternative forms of transportation which includes local transit options and airport shuttles.

The Luskin Conference Center is just a five-minute walk from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital; and is a short drive from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. This UCLA hotel an ideal place to stay in Westwood for patients and their families.

• 2023 Distinguished State Leader Award
• 2023 Best of the State Spotlight Award
• 2023 Visionary Award

Tobias Read
Treasurer
State of Oregon

Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read is the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished State Leader Award for his role as a state legislator in the successful enactment of what is now the OregonSaves program, the first state-facilitated auto-IRA retirement savings program in the nation, and his continued steadfast dedication to implementing the program and serving as trusted advisor to other states in his role as the State Treasurer and chair of the OregonSaves program board.

Read understands that financial empowerment, wise investments, and sound management are foundational to the quality of life and economic opportunities for Oregonians, and key to the long-term vitality of the state.

Elected Oregon’s 29th State Treasurer in 2016, Read is a collaborative problem-solver who draws upon his management, political, and finance policy experience to serve Oregonians as Treasurer. He worked in the U.S. Treasury and as a liaison between designers, engineers, and manufacturing units for Nike Inc. In 2006, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives, where he served for a decade and championed legislation to invest in public education, improve state financial management, finance critical infrastructure improvements, and help Oregonians save for a more secure future.

He was elected Speaker Pro Tempore and earned the role of chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development, as well as the House Committee on Higher Education, Innovation, and Workforce Development. He also served on the House Revenue Committee in multiple legislative sessions and was a member of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, the primary budget-writing body for the Legislature.

Read pushed to strengthen the state’s rainy-day fund, which was a key factor in helping the state earn a credit rating upgrade in 2011. He also helped lead the coalition that ultimately approved full-day kindergarten, underscoring that one of Oregon’s best possible investments is in the state’s children. He led efforts to promote infrastructure projects using innovative public-private partnerships and was a chief sponsor of the Oregon Investment Act, which streamlined lottery investments in promising Oregon startups.

In 2015, Read was a chief sponsor of the Oregon Retirement Savings Plan, which in 2017 became the first operating state-facilitated retirement savings program. Known as OregonSaves, the program enrolls Oregon workers who lack access to retirement savings options through their employers and will allow hundreds of thousands more Oregonians to retire with dignity after a lifetime of work.

As State Treasurer, Read knows that financial confidence helps Oregonians get ahead, no matter where they live. He supports efforts to connect Oregonians with their unclaimed property, to improve financial education, to encourage Oregonians to invest in themselves, and to promote smart and accountable government reforms that improve transparency and stretch dollars for taxpayers and beneficiaries of public trust funds.

The State Treasurer is a constitutional officer and the state’s navigator for sound and responsible financial policy. The Treasurer protects the state’s credit ratings; sits on the Oregon Investment Council and State Land Board; and oversees public investing, banking, bonding, and financial empowerment programs. Those include the Oregon 529 Savings Network, which allows families to save for higher education, job training, and disability-related expenses, and the Oregon Retirement Savings Plan. Treasury manages an investment portfolio worth roughly $106 billion.

Read earned his bachelor’s degree from Willamette University and his MBA from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He has been a volunteer for Start Making a Reader Today (SMART); youth sports coach; member of the Willamette University Athletic Director’s Advisory Board; and founding board member of Hoopla, Oregon’s largest three-on-three charity basketball tournament.

William “Hunter” Railey
Executive Director
Colorado SecureSavings Program

William “Hunter” Railey is Executive Director of the Colorado Secure Savings Program and the recipient of this year’s Best of the State Spotlight Award for his tireless efforts over the past year to begin to lay the groundwork to build inter-state partnerships among states.

As Executive Director of the Colorado Secure Savings Program, Railey works with his board to oversee all aspects of the program, including design, structure, governance, operations, partnerships, and marketing.

With the support of the Colorado Secure Savings Program Board, chaired by the CRI’s 2021 Distinguished State Leader award recipient, Treasurer Dave Young, Railey has also worked closely and collaboratively with the New Mexico Work and $ave program team to develop an initial Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) to explore partnership options that was signed by both states. More recently, the Colorado Secure Savings Program created an Interstate Adherence Agreement that laid the groundwork for how states could enter into partnership with Colorado. These documents together have served as the initial model for other states to consider.

Before joining the Colorado Department of the Treasury, Railey served as Colorado Director for Small Business Majority, a small business advocacy and research nonprofit, where he managed a network of business owners; developed and implemented a policy agenda; and provided technical assistance and resource navigation. His work experience also includes policy analysis, campaign management, and polling.

Railey is a graduate of the University of Denver and the School of Public Affairs at American University, and will begin a graduate program in finance at the University of Colorado, Denver in January 2023.

The 2023 Visionary Awards will be presented to J. Mark Iwry and David C. John.

J. Mark Iwry
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

and

Visiting Scholar, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

J. Mark Iwry is this year’s co-recipient of the 2023 Visionary Award for his contributions to developing and advancing the concept of state auto-IRA retirement savings programs.

Iwry, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School, served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury and Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Retirement and Health Policy. He was formerly Treasury’s Benefits Tax Counsel, a partner at Covington & Burling, Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell, Research Professor at Georgetown University, and a co-founder and Principal of the Retirement Security Project at Brookings.

Iwry has authored, co-authored, originated, or implemented numerous reforms and policy initiatives in the nation’s private pension system, including 401(k) automatic enrollment (as well as promoting diversified stock and bond funds as default investments and annual automatic contribution increases), the state-facilitated retirement saving programs, the nationwide automatic IRA proposal (with David John), the saver’s credit (used annually by 10 million moderate- and lower-income taxpayers), the SIMPLE-IRA (covering 3 to 4 million workers), the QLAC longevity annuity, QDIA target date fund annuities, the “myRA”, the new plan startup tax credit for small businesses, and direct deposit of income tax refunds into IRAs and savings bonds, as well as facilitating rollovers to plans and reducing leakage by replacing plan cashouts with automatic rollovers to IRAs. He has been invited to testify before Congress on 27 occasions and has received awards from a broad spectrum of organizations for leadership, innovation, and major contributions to retirement security and to the nation’s pension, health care, and tax systems.

Various publications have recognized him as one of the nation’s most influential individuals in finance, pensions, saving, and aging; one of the world’s “30 top financial players”; one of 20 individuals expected to have a major influence on financial services; and number 3 nationally among the “100 most influential people in 401(k).” Iwry graduated from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, which recently honored him as the recipient of its annual alumni public service achievement award for having “significantly improved the human condition”. . . through actions “that produced positive societal change.”

David C. John
Senior Strategic Policy Advisor, AARP Public Policy Institute,
and
Deputy Director, Retirement Security Project, Brookings Institution

David C. John is this year’s co-recipient of the 2023 Visionary Award for his contributions to developing and advancing the concept of state auto-IRA retirement savings programs.

John has written and lectured extensively about reforming the nation’s retirement programs. He is a co-author with J. Mark Iwry of the Automatic IRA (auto-IRA), the small business retirement savings program for firms that do not sponsor any other form of retirement savings or pension plan that is a model for plans now being implemented by several states. He is also the co-author of a study of national retirement savings plans in the United Kingdom and other countries, along with several other papers, including ones about rainy-day emergency savings accounts and the inclusion of trial annuities as a default withdrawal choice in 401(k)-type plans.

As a Senior Strategic Policy Advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI), AARP’s internal think tank, John focuses on pension and retirement savings issues. As Deputy Director of the Retirement Security Project (RSP) at the Brookings Institution, he helps focus on improving retirement savings in the United States, especially among moderate- and low-income workers. Before joining AARP, he was a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation for 14½ years.