Opening Remarks and Cybersecurity and Fraud Prevention

Ryan Sullivan is a vice president of applied insights for Hartford Funds. He leads communication workshops around the country and speaks on a variety of financial and practice management topics, with a focus on retirement research from the MIT AgeLab. To date, Ryan has provided insights to audiences in 46 states and Puerto Rico, as well as led hundreds of webinars.

Ryan originally joined Hartford Funds in 1996, holding various roles of increasing responsibility. He left the company in 2012 as a vice president of advanced markets. Prior to rejoining Hartford Funds, Ryan founded a business to coach professionals on public speaking and effective communication. He was later hired by his largest client, financial-planning software company Envestnet MoneyGuide, where he was vice president and head of investor education.

In addition to his role at Hartford Funds, Ryan volunteers his time and communication expertise to help others. Since 2012, he’s led communication workshops at UNC Charlotte’s Center for Leadership and Community Engagement. He’s also a certified facilitator for TimeSlipsTM, a program through which he leads interactive storytelling sessions for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. In addition, he leads communication workshops through Charlotte Family Housing to help empower working families experiencing homelessness to achieve self-sufficiency. Ryan also serves on Hartford Funds’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisory council.

Ryan is a registered representative of Hartford Funds Distributors, LLC, and is FINRA Series 7 and 63 registered. He holds his Life, Health, and Variable Products licenses and has earned the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®), and Chartered Mutual Fund Counselor (CMFC®) designations. He’s also a Fellow of LOMA’s® Life Management Institute. 

Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, Ryan attended Bucknell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife, Katie.

Michael has been a strong technology leader at Thrive over the past decade, contributing in the consulting, network engineering, managed services and product development groups while continually being promoted up the ladder. Michael’s technology career began at Dove Consulting and later Praecis, a biotechnology startup that was acquired by a top five pharmaceutical firm in 2007. Serving in his current role, he is now responsible for Thrive’s R&D, technology road-mapping vision, while also heading the security and application development practices. He is a member of several partner advisory councils and participates in many local and national technology events. Michael has a degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and he also maintains multiple technical certifications including Fortinet, Sonicwall, Microsoft, ITIL, Kaseya and maintains his Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Kimberly Sutherland, Vice President of Fraud and Identity Strategy at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, leads the North American commercial market for consumer fraud analytics, identity verification, authentication and fraud investigations. Her oversight also includes the ThreatMetrix, Emailage and ID Analytics fraud product lines. Kim joined LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2006 and has over 20 years of experience leading business strategy, product management, and professional services.

Leia is the Global Anti-Fraud Officer of Manulife, an international financial services group that provides financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. Over the last few years, Leia has been instrumental in building up the enterprise fraud risk management program.

Leia's 17-year risk management experience also includes  a long tenure in the Internal Audit function where she held various positions including AVP of North America Insurance, accountable for providing assurance coverage of business lines in US and Canadian Segments.

Prior to Manulife, Leia worked for KPMG LLP and Deutsche Bank in New York City. She lives in South Florida with husband and 10-year-old twin boys. Leia enjoys cooking, baking and staying active.