Keynote Address: The Role of Leadership in Advancing the American Workforce

Michael L. Davis
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
U.S. Department of Labor

Michael L. Davis was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the U.S. Department of Labor on May 5, 2009.

Mr. Davis assists the Assistant Secretary in directing the policy, regulatory, enforcement and public assistance functions of EBSA. The agency oversees nearly 700,000 private-sector retirement plans, approximately 2.5 million health plans, and other welfare benefit plans that that provide benefits to approximately 150 million Americans and is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Mr. Davis also serves as a liaison to other government agencies and the private sector on a variety of issues relating to ERISA. The employee benefit plans under EBSA's jurisdiction hold almost $5 trillion in assets.

Prior to his appointment, he was managing director and head of the west region institutional client group for JPMorgan Asset Management. In this role since 2004, he managed a large, multi-sector team that served the investment needs of major institutional investors across the western U.S., including corporate, public, and multi-employer plan sponsors. The team worked across multiple asset classes and covered defined benefit, defined contribution, insurance, and endowment and foundation clients. Previously, he spent six years with the firm as a client advisor for major institutional investor relationships across the upper midwest. Before 1998, Mr. Davis worked six years with JPMorgan Securities, Inc. as an investment banker in New York City.

Mr. Davis has served as a director or investment committee member for several organizations. Additionally, he has previously been a member of the Society for Pension Professionals, the Executive Leadership Council, U.S. Mensa, and has completed the Wharton School's Pension Funds and Money Management Program (1998). Mr. Davis was a Coro Fellow in St. Louis (MO) from 1989 - 1990. During his time with Coro he did work in Chesterfield (MO) and East St. Louis (Ill). In 2006, he was named one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street" by Black Enterprise and has received several other industry and civic awards.

Mr. Davis holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He resides in Arlington, VA with his wife and three children.