Capital District Convention Luncheon Features Three Speakers
The subject of the DCON Luncheon will be the "Partnership Program for America's Economic Service." Three special speakers will be featured.
Dr. Wil Blechman (right), a rheumatologist, developed a major interest in children's issues as a result of his work with Kiwanis will speak first. A past president of Kiwanis International, Dr. Blechman was instrumental in developing the organization's ongoing worldwide program, Young Children: Priority One, which focuses on children before birth through age 5. Since leaving his medical practice, Dr. Blechman has served as Florida's State Health Officer and as a consultant to the Departments of Health and Children and Families. He is the Director of Docs For Tots-Florida, Charter President of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health (2001 - 03 and again in 2006), member and Vice Chair of the Board of Miami - Dade Children's Trust (2003 - 2009) and Vice Chair of The Children's Forum. He serves on the Lawton Chiles Foundation Board and has received numerous awards for his services. He was specially recognized for the impact his efforts had on the increased immunization rate in Florida for children under age two. in 2009 he was made an Honorary Member of the Florida Pediatric Society and is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. Additionally, Dr. Blechman is very interested in recent research on brain development in the preschool child and is part of a team of individuals in Florida who speaks to this issue.
Dr. Blechman will introduce speaker, Sara D. Watson (right), a senior officer in the Pew Center on the States, a division of the Pew Charitable Trusts. From 2001-2008 she managed (and now advises) the Trusts' national initiative to advance high quality early education for all 3 and 4 year olds, with an annual budget of approximately $12 million per year and total expenditures of over $80 million. This initiative has supported advocacy campaigns in over half the states and engaged over 20 national organizations in the movement for preschool, with state spending on prekindergarten rising by over $2 billion in the past five years. She also directs the Partnership for America's Economic Success (www.PartnershipforSuccess.org), a collaboration of 13 donors with a budget of over $4 million that was created to document the economic returns to the nation of investments in children prenatal to age five. The Partnership has commissioned over 20 research studies and hosts two national conferences each year to disseminate the result and engage business leaders. Finally, she designed and is helping to launch the Trusts' newest children's initiative, to encourage states to offer proven home visiting programs to at-risk families.
Before joining the Trusts, she was a program manager and the director of the Better Results Group for The Finance Project in Washington, D.C., where she directed multi-site foundation initiatives and wrote publications on financing and results-based accountability. She has worked for the Family Policy Council in Olympia, Washington, supporting a state-wide network of community collaboratives. She was also the manager of the Improved Outcomes Project for the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C., where she consulted with states and cities on reforming family and children's services. Dr. Watson has published dozens of articles and monographs on family and children's services reform and disability policy. She is a board member of Maryland Advocates for Children and Youth, was a founding board member of Virginia's Action Alliance for Children and Youth and was selected as an emerging leader by the Children's Defense Fund. She has a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Carleton College, and Master of Public Policy and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Sara Watson will then turn over the presentation to Philip A. Peterson (right) who is Senior Vice President and a human resource consultant and actuary for Aon Consulting, specializing in global retirement strategies, stock option valuation and human capital metrics development.
Phil joined Aon in 1987 and has more than 30 years of employee benefit consulting experience. He formerly managed Aon's Retirement Practice in Philadelphia, managed the Philadelphia office and chaired the National Defined Benefit Practice Council. He now leads Aon's National Public Sector consulting practice.
Phil currently serves on the board of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, and on the state board of the Pennsylvania Economy League. Phil helped co-create with Child Care Matters, the Aon/United Way of Southeastern PA Hand-in-Hand Award for quality child care in the business community. He has also testified before the House Education Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on the importance of child care to the business community. Phil is a Pennsylvania delegate to the Telluride Economic Summit on Early Childhood Investment, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Partnership for America's Success.
Phil earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Dickinson College. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
