Denver, CO, USA. After service heading public employee pension systems in Colorado and Kansas, Meredith Williams says Americans are woefully underprepared for retirement.

Williams has headed public employee pension systems in both Colorado and Kansas. During his nearly 21 years in those jobs, he has witnessed great changes in the scope and generosity of retirement benefits offered to state workers.

Washington, DC, USA. The federal government leaves most insurance regulation to the states, but passage of the Dodd-Frank law inserted the feds more deeply into the mix.

Congress passed the 848-page Dodd-Frank law two years ago to try to prevent another financial meltdown like the one that sent the economy into a tailspin in 2008. It rewrites many of the federal rules covering banks and insurance companies to prevent businesses from becoming “too big to fail.”