Dennis Ackley, president of Ackley Associates, is an expert in retirement education and employee benefits communication. He is known for his innovation, effectiveness, and the “consumer-oriented communication approach” he invented nearly 20 years ago. He has implemented hundreds of challenging retirement, benefits, and pay projects for many of the country's largest employers.

 

Before starting his firm, Dennis was a management consultant at leading firms including Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin. He planned and created employee communication campaigns for American Airlines, ExxonMobil, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, 3M Company, Temple-Inland, Pacific Gas and Electric, Apple Computer, Dell, Texas Instruments, and many others, including multiemployer plans.

 

His award-winning communication programs – using all communication touch points (print, electronic/web, and people-to-people) – have reached more than three million employees on topics such as retirement, investing, health care, stock options, pay, and incentive compensation.

 

He specializes in conducting highly sensitive, complicated, and ‘bad news’ employee communication. He is especially skilled in converting complicated, sensitive, and technical information into easy-to-understand messages that support the organization’s business and people goals. He knows the details and complexities of retirement and employee benefits (DB, DC, consumer-driven health care, Health Savings Accounts, life insurance, long-term care, disability, etc.), and pay programs (base, incentive, stock options, executive compensation, etc.).

 

Dennis creates techniques and materials that make benefits and pay programs work well. His unique communication concepts and tactics are used by hundreds of organizations including the Department of Labor. His extensive background in retirement plans and adult education – plus his creativity – combine to help him invent high-impact retirement education tools including:

The hallmarks of his communication approach are clear messages from trusted sources. For example, at Hewlett-Packard he successfully implemented cuts in health care benefits for existing retirees by using straightforward messages and involving other retirees who were selected and trained to help in the communication. At American Airlines he introduced cuts in the pay program for salaried employees by equipping and training senior managers to be effective front-line communicators.

 

Dennis is a top-rated speaker at numerous conferences including ASPPA’s 401k Summit, Pensions & Investments, The Conference Board, 401k/Profit Sharing Council, Benefits Management Forum, WorldatWork Conference, and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. He teaches the employee benefit communication section of the International Foundation’s Certificate Series. He is the only retirement education expert to speak at the PBGC. He delivers custom presentations for a variety of organizations that are hosting conferences for their clients and prospects. He also speaks to sales professionals to help them improve their skills in communicating retirement, health care, and other benefits topics to clients, prospects, and employees.

 

Dennis has written more than four-dozen articles for publications including HR Magazine, Benefits Quarterly, Plan Sponsor, Journal of Employee Communication Management, and Communication World. Several of his articles are included in the topics on the left and can be found by searching the Internet for 'Dennis Ackley communication'. Typical participant feedback from his presentations is HERE and a list of recent articles and speeches is HERE.

 

Educational Experience and Background 

Before becoming a consultant, Dennis spent six years in educational research and instructional materials development. He holds a BA degree in public relations and a MA degree in communication. He attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.

 

A History of Accomplishments – What was Dennis Ackley doing...

30 years ago – developing competency-based instructional programs and measurement tools for teacher education.

25 years ago – serving clients at Towers Perrin by writing pension administration manuals and developing employee benefits communication programs...and speaking at conferences about how to communicate 401k plans.

15 years ago – publishing articles about overcoming failure of retirement education...and inventing the 'consumer-oriented approach' to help employees discover that retirement is something they need to buy...and helping employees make better health care decisions.

10 years ago – showing employees the true value of their total rewards and helping them define, pursue, and achieve their personal future lifestyle targets.

5 years ago – establishing Ackley Associates to create retirement education and benefits communication programs for employers of all types and sizes...and making presentations at scores of conferences.