The Aspen Institute

Employers provide both wages and benefits essential for worker financial well-being. For millions of workers also receiving public benefits, rules within those programs determine whether these employer-provided resources carry reward or risk. Policies, for example, like asset limits penalize saving, while benefit cliffs create a precipitous loss of benefits when wages increase, blocking workers’ financial mobility.  

What actionable strategies can employers and lawmakers leverage to address these asset limits and benefit cliffs? How can private sector employers support their employees’ financial resilience across public and private systems?

To find out, join the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program for a virtual public event on May 22 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Co-hosted by the Center for Social Development and the National Academy of Social Insurance, this event will elevate leadership, research, and innovations that can help workers meaningfully benefit from the range of resources available to them.

Unable to attend live? Register anyway, we will send the recording to all registrants after the event.

This event is supported by JPMorganChase.

Speakers

Logan Archer, Southeast Texas Self-Advocate, The Arc

Born at just 27 weeks and weighing slightly over two pounds, Logan was small enough to fit in the palm of his mom’s hand. After a month in the neonatal intensive care unit, and challenging obstacles, doctors said he would never walk, talk, or live independently. But Logan has spent his life defying expectations.

Now 26, Logan is a proud Future Farmers of America (FFA) alum with a deep passion for livestock. With the support of his family, teachers, and community, he earned both his state and American FFA degrees—the organization’s highest honor—and is ready to launch his own cattle business.

However, outdated Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rules are standing in the way. SSI provides critical support to Logan and nearly 8 million other people with disabilities and older Americans. Logan uses the money he gets from SSI to pay his rent and food. But most importantly, SSI qualifies Logan to use Medicaid to help pay for his health care needs. Without it, his family would struggle to pay for the things he needs for his daily life.

Yet under current rules, Logan cannot have more than $2,000 in assets without risking the loss of his benefits and Medicaid coverage. This prevents him from taking the next step toward economic self-sufficiency.

Logan is speaking out to urge Congress to raise the SSI asset limit for the first time in over 40 years. With this change, Logan could build the future he’s worked so hard for—and finally turn his dream of running a cattle business into a reality.

Nan Gibson, Executive Director, PolicyCenter, JPMorganChase

Nan Gibson is Executive Director at the JPMorganChase PolicyCenter. In this role, she works to develop and advance evidence-based policy solutions to drive inclusive economic growth by bringing together global expertise, data, research, and philanthropic investments. Nan works with policy, community, and business leaders to drive effective public policy solutions at all levels of government. She provides policy expertise across a broad range of economic issues and conducts outreach to key stakeholders to build unique partnerships for initiatives related to economic security and workforce development. She previously served as Chief of Staff and Executive Director for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama Administration and as Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. Prior to public service, Nan was a senior leader and communications strategist at the Economic Policy Institute, a leading think tank that conducts research on American living standards. She began her career covering Congress, politics, and presidential elections for The New Yorker magazine’s Washington columnist and for C-SPAN.

Shoshana Marder, Executive Director, Leap Fund

Shoshana Marder is the Executive Director of Leap Fund, leading the team in creating products that empower optimism, financial and career growth, future planning, and security for the working families that need it most. She has presented about benefit cliffs at the Prosperity Summit (2024, 2022), National FSS Conference by Compass Working Capital (2024, 2022), Change Machine (2024), NYCETC’s Annual Conference (2024), Circles USA National Conference (2023), and the Foundation for Financial Planning (2023). She’s also spoken about benefits cliffs to numerous groups, including NYC Benefits Policy Working Group, JobsFirstNYC Policy Committee, NYATEP’s Workforce Development Directors, multiple Chambers of Commerce, and participated in the HHS Marginal Tax Rate Advisory Panel. Shoshana is a member of the NYCETC Advisory Council.Shoshana received her BA from Stern College Honors Program, and previously worked at the International Rescue Committee. https://myleapfund.com/shoshana

Stephen Roll, Assistant Professor, Brown School at Washington University and Co-Director of Research and Policy Innovation, Center for Social Development

Dr. Roll’s research focuses on promoting asset building, debt management, and economic security in lower-income populations. His most recent work focuses on the role of cash transfer programs in improving household balance sheets and economic mobility outcomes. He has conducted several studies of guaranteed income pilots around the country, including the St. Louis Guaranteed Basic Income program. He is also the leader of the Workforce Economic Inclusion and Mobility Project, which focuses on strengthening public and private safety nets for low-wage workers.

His work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he has briefed the White House Domestic Policy Council, the Senate Joint Economic Committee, and the United States Supreme Court on the results of his research.

Joseph Shapiro, Correspondent, NPR Investigations

Shapiro’s major investigative stories include his reports on the way rising court fines and fees create an unequal system of justice for the poor and the rise of “modern day debtors’ prisons,” the failure of colleges and universities to punish for on-campus sexual assaults, the epidemic of sexual assault of people with intellectual disabilities, the problems with solitary confinement, the inadequacy of civil rights laws designed to get the elderly and people with disabilities out of nursing homes, and the little-known profits involved in the production of medical products from donated human cadavers.

Shapiro joined NPR in November 2001 and spent eight years covering health, aging, disability, and children’s and family issues on the Science Desk. He reported on the health issues of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and helped start NPR’s 2005 Impact of War series with reporting from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center. He covered stories from Hurricane Katrina to the debate over overhauling the nation’s health care system.

Before coming to NPR, Shapiro spent 19 years at U.S. News & World Report, as a Senior Writer on social policy and served as the magazine’s Rome bureau chief, White House correspondent, and congressional reporter.

Shapiro is the author of the award-winning book NO PITY: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement (Random House/Three Rivers Press), which is widely read in disability studies classes.

Shapiro attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Carleton College. He’s a native of Washington, DC, and lives there now with his family.

Tim Shaw, Director, Benefits Transformation Initiative and Senior Policy Advisor, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

As the Director of the Benefits Transformation Initiative and Senior Policy Advisor for the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, Tim works to advance promising policies that address the most pressing financial security challenges facing people in America. Working with leaders across levels of government, Tim and Aspen FSP’s Benefits team seek to provide policy, nonprofit, and market leaders with the innovative ideas, research, and networks of leaders they need to design and enact policies that help people weather financial shocks and comfortably afford everyday life.

Before joining the Aspen Institute, he was an Associate Director for Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. While there, he was the policy lead for BPC’s Paid Family Leave Task Force and led projects on economic opportunity, retirement security, and fiscal policy. Prior to that work, he was a tax and budget staffer at the Government Accountability Office. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Politico, and the Wall Street Journal.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jason Tyszko, Senior Vice President, Policy and Programs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Jason A. Tyszko is a senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation where he advances policies and programs that enhance the career readiness of youth and adult learners and strengthen economic competitiveness. Jason oversees the Chamber Foundation’s workforce development portfolio, including the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) initiative as well as JEDx, the T3 Innovation Network, JobSIDE, EPIC, and Talent Finance.

Jason’s prior experience focused on coordinating interagency education, workforce, and economic development initiatives. In 2009, he served as a policy adviser to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration.  In addition, Tyszko was deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Jason received his Master of Arts from the University of Chicago and his Bachelor of Arts from DePaul University.

Rebecca Vallas, CEO, National Academy of Social Insurance

Vallas joined the Academy as its Chief Executive Officer after spending nearly 8 years as a member of its Board of Directors, including four as Secretary. Most recently, she spent 2021-2023 as a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where she founded the organization’s disability economic justice work and organized a bipartisan, cross-sector coalition in support of reforming Supplemental Security Income’s antiquated asset limits. She is also the founder of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, a first-of-its-kind project bringing together nearly 50 leading organizations across the policy/research and disability rights and justice communities to work collectively to bring a disability lens across economic and social policymaking in the U.S. Over the years, Vallas has authored a wide range of policy reports and proposals on social insurance and public assistance, disability policy, and criminal justice/reentry policy—and strengthening Social Security, and especially its disability programs, have been long-time priorities especially close to her heart.