Annette Guarisco Fildes is the CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), a national advocacy organization exclusively representing large employers that provide health, retirement, paid leave, and other benefits to their nationwide workforces. With member companies that are leaders in every industry sector, ERIC advocates for federal, state and local public policies that promote flexibility and uniformity in the administration of employee benefit plans. Annette also leads ERIC in federal litigation to protect member companies from state/local benefit mandates. Annette is a strategic policy and political counselor with decades of experience involving complex legislative/regulatory matters in the US and abroad. She began her legal career at the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel and practiced law at Dewey Ballantine. On the senior executive team at General Motors, she advised the GM Board of Directors on global public policy and led federal legislative affairs and political/grassroots advocacy at the federal, state, and international levels. Annette was an executive with Honeywell International and Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Annette has a BBA in Finance, a JD from Hofstra University, and a Masters of Law in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. She co-authored “Employer’s Guide to Fringe Benefits,” and numerous legal and policy articles. She speaks regularly on public policy and politics, and the challenges and opportunities facing companies attempting to provide health, retirement, and compensation benefits to workers and families across the country.