LWHRA Finance & Benefits Seminar 2025
Fee: $110 Member | $140 Non-Member
Includes breakfast and seminar
Schedule:
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 7:30–8:30AM | Registration and breakfast |
| 8:30–9:30AM | Keynote: HR Financial Metrics that Matter | Kevin Blum |
| 9:30–9:45AM | Break |
| 9:45–10:45AM | NW Employee Benefit Market Outlook | Ryder Kimmes, Gillian Crismier, & Megan Fromm |
| 10:45–11:45AM | Compensation Updates | Nancy Kasmar |
Summary Description:
Get the insights every HR professional needs to confidently partner with executive leadership. This half-day seminar will equip you with practical knowledge around benefits, compensation, and financial metrics that matter most in today’s workplace.
You’ll walk away with a stronger understanding of how to:
Navigate the latest trends and strategies in employee benefits and compensation.
Leverage HR financial metrics to tell your organization’s story and influence decision-making.
Connect HR programs directly to business performance and organizational goals.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your expertise in compensation and benefits or sharpen your financial fluency as an HR leader, this seminar is designed to give you actionable tools and insights that will elevate your impact.
Compensation Updates
As we approach 2026, several states have updated their minimum wage and exempt salary thresholds related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These changes, especially in Washington State, will significantly impact all organizations and their workforce strategies. This session will provide a clear, forward-looking overview of the latest changes, including what the new exempt salary threshold means for compensation planning, budgeting, and compliance. Attendees will learn practical steps for implementing these changes smoothly, avoid common pitfalls and prepare to confidently navigate these regulations in the years ahead.
Speaker Bios:
Kevin Blum
Kevin is an innovative HR leader with 20+ years of experience working across a range of industries including healthcare, construction, retail and technology. He currently serves as the Vice President of Human Resources at Highland Arms Enterprises, LLC, a premier franchise of Precision Door Service headquartered in Woodinville, WA. Previously, Kevin was the Head of Human Resources at Blue Nile, a global luxury e-commerce company specializing in diamonds and jewelry based in Seattle, WA. Raised in Spokane, WA and a graduate from Eastern Washington University, he holds a double major in both Business Management and Human Resources. Kevin serves on the Boards of DisruptHR-Seattle and the Lake Washington Human Resource Association.
Nancy Kasmar
Nancy Kasmar - MS, SHRM-SCP, CCP
Nancy is a Principal of Compensation Connections, with over 25 years of management experience in addition to 10 years in human resources and total rewards. She received her Master of Science degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and a Certificate in Management from the University of California, San Diego. Nancy holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation with an additional certification as a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP). She is also certified as a SHRM-SCP.
Nancy has worked with hundreds of organizations throughout North America as a compensation consultant. She volunteers with Washington State SHRM and is a past President of the Lake Washington Human Resource Association. In addition to her professional and volunteer responsibilities, Nancy speaks regionally and nationally on topics ranging from compensation and benefits to mentorship and diversity.
Ryder Kimmes
My name is Ryder Kimmes. I’ve been in the employee benefits world for over 15 years, and what keeps me in this work is the opportunity to help organizations take care of the people who make their mission possible. My perspective shifted when two of my sons were born prematurely, and our youngest needed open heart surgery at 7 months old. In those moments, benefits are about peace of mind. Those experiences changed how I show up in this work.
Today, I focus on building long-term relationships and being a partner who’s there not just during open enrollment, but all year long. I help clients navigate challenges, improve employee understanding, and create multi-year strategies around benefits that support both their people and their business goals.
As Vice President at USI Insurance Services, I lead consulting engagements for clients across technology, construction, non-profit, professional services, and architecture. I bring a client-first mindset to every interaction, advocating for organizations as they face rising healthcare costs, compliance complexities, and evolving workforce needs.
I leverage a team of wildly talented coworkers to provide deep analytics, local and national expertise, and a consultative planning process to deliver tailored solutions with measurable impact. Whether it’s optimizing plan design, enhancing employee engagement, or improving employee understanding, I’m committed to helping clients build resilient, people-centered benefits strategies.
Gillian Crismier
Gillian is a benefits consultant and strategist. Gillian is responsible for overall account management, including program design, marketing, services and claims advocacy. Her ultimate goal is to partner with her clients in order to design innovative solutions and deliver superior services to their employees.
With a decade of prior experience as a sales representative with two insurance carriers, Gillian is uniquely positioned to offer her clients a wide array of knowledge and expertise the areas of healthcare, funding arrangement, leave management and technology.
She enjoys coupling her extensive financial understanding of the industry with her carrier and brokerage background to produce clear
and meaningful guidance to her clients in her role as a consultant and broker.
Gillian is focused on working together with finance and HR teams to create solutions around cost, compliance and communication—in order to establish a strategic, customized long-term plan.
Outside work, Gillian is married to a logger and business owner, has two boys (Liam 8 / Declan 6), 2 boxers, 2 pigs and 12 chickens. She enjoys coaching her boys in soccer and watching them play hockey.
Megan Fromm
Megan has been partnering with clients as a specialty and general broker for 13 years, providing guidance and expertise in research, implementation and administration of group benefits, with a special focus on organizations with 100 to 2,000 employees.
During her time at USI, Megan has led benefits strategy for clients in a variety of industries, including non-profits, financial services, biotech, healthcare, retail, technology, manufacturing, law firms and engineering groups.
Megan emphasizes a long-term strategic approach to optimizing benefits, in order to maximize the effectiveness of employee attraction and retention efforts. Her expertise includes alternative funding methods, analytic underwriting strategies, carrier relationships and bid negotiations, health and wellness initiatives, as well as innovative ideas and programs aimed at addressing all aspects of employers’ benefit offerings.