Benefits Outlook: Rethinking Family Care Benefits for Today’s Workforce

Melinda Izbicki, MPH, is a Senior Principal in the MercerWELL practice based in Irvine, California. She has been with Mercer for over 10 years and has 13+ years of experience in the wellness industry. Izbicki co-leads Mercer’s reproductive health and caregiving vertical and specializes in helping clients support their caregiving population – including child and elder care, onsite childcare centers, backup care, caregiver concierge, education support, subsidy options, and neurodiversity solutions.  As a mom to two young girls, she is passionate about helping employers support their population across the entire family support continuum. Additionally, Izbicki consults employers on wellness strategy, implementation, and ongoing management. She helps clients implement, manage, and evaluate a range of solutions and vendors across the well-being spectrum. She came to Mercer from a childhood obesity nonprofit organization and has extensive experience in research, evaluation, analysis, and program implementation. Izbicki holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Communications and a Masters in Public Health.

Barbara Marder is President and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), where she has led the organization since March 2023. She oversees one of the nation’s most respected independent sources of research on employee benefits, retirement, health, and financial wellbeing, guiding its mission to deliver unbiased, fact-based insights. Marder came to EBRI from Mercer, where she held a series of senior global leadership roles. Most recently, she served as a Senior Partner and Wealth Business Global Product Solutions Leader, driving strategy and growth across investment and retirement offerings. She is known for her collaborative leadership style and ability to translate complex research into practical strategies. Her work focuses on helping organizations address evolving challenges in employee benefits and improve financial wellbeing outcomes for workers and retirees.

Dr. Elizabeth Myers is responsible for advancing thought leadership and research at Bright Horizons, where she utilizes strategic insights and original research to inform workforce solutions. In her role, she partners with current and prospective clients on a wide range of initiatives—including consulting engagements, investment impact studies, needs assessments, surveys, focus groups, and custom research projects. In addition to client-facing work, Myers leads Bright Horizons’ thought leadership research, exploring critical topics such as generational workforce needs, employee motivation and engagement, burnout, and workforce sustainability. She brings over a decade of experience across the for-profit, non-profit, and government sectors, with a strong foundation in education and human development and translating complex research into actionable insights. Her academic research has been published in more than a dozen peer-reviewed journals, and her work at Bright Horizons has supported leading organizations including Adobe, PepsiCo, Houston Methodist, JM Huber, UCSF, and WVU Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Child Study from Tufts University, an M.Ed. from Cambridge College, and a B.S. in Psychology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.