Our Executive Staff
RICHARD POLAK
President and CEO
+1.323.954.7000
For 40 years, IBIS has provided multinational organizations with information, research, and advice on global benefits and HR issues. During the past decade, the company has grown to include offices in Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and Hartford in the United States. In addition IBIS has offices in Mexico and The Netherlands and has affiliates in over 90 countries.
Mr. Polak’s firm provides international benefits and HR solutions to meet the demands of international organizations that are undergoing rapid global change. Mr. Polak has advised over 300 of the world’s most innovative multinational companies in areas of international benefits including healthcare and pensions.
IBIS is the international helpline for the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and advises some of the country’s largest and most respected healthcare consulting firms on international issues.
Mr. Polak was a subject matter expert for SHRM’s Global Learning System. He has presented at many conferences for organizations around the world, including the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Social Security Reform in Bulgaria, the Compensation and Benefits Association, the National Conference on Pension Reform, SHRM Global Forum, WIPA, ORC, and the IBIS Academy. Richard Polak’s article in WorldatWork on Global Benefit Strategies earned him an award as one of four best articles for the year 2003. He has been interviewed in and has had articles published in Employee Benefits Adviser, Workspan, Benefits and Compensation International, Employee Benefits News, Compensation and Benefits Management,HR.com, SHRM's HR News, and dozens of Business Journals.
Mr. Polak holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Mathematics from Alfred University in New York, with continued studies at Columbia University, The New School for Social Research, and UCLA. He is also a published playwright, having 7 plays produced internationally. Mr. Polak serves as CFO and on the board of the California Dance Institute and is also a member of the board of the Open Fist Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
Click to view Richard Polak's speaking engagements and publications
RICHARD MIGNAULT
Executive Vice President
+1.323.954.7000
Richard oversees the management of IBIS Advisors’ day-to-day operations and is responsible for the Company’s business and corporate development functions. He is driving the expansion of the Company’s reputation and breadth of services, focusing on the international marketplace with industry-leading offerings in the areas of HR consulting, benefits and compensation, information services and outsourcing.
He brings the IBIS team more than 30 years’ executive experience, with an emphasis on human resources management, international business, operations and project management, consulting, information technology and financial management. A native of Canada, Richard is no stranger to the international scene, having been stationed in Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York and Toronto during his career.
Richard joined IBIS after 20 years with Hilton Worldwide, where he oversaw the company’s global corporate and field human resources organization. In this role, he had direct oversight of HR program and policy design, administration and implementation for the more than 140,000 employees stationed in hundreds of locations in more than 80 countries. Richard has also led the HR function for SAS International Hotels, Caesar’s Windsor Casino and Nobart, Inc.
As a consultant with his own practice for more than five years, Richard provided a full range of support to a wide variety of international companies in manufacturing, hospitality, casino and the financial services sectors. In addition to his HR expertise – spanning all facets of talent and performance management, compensation and benefits, labor relations and employee training and development – Richard has also undertaken and executed projects involving major corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, change management and large-scale organizational development.
Richard holds a B.A. degree from the University of Western Ontario, London, where he also completed the Senior Executive Program at the renowned Richard Ivey School of Business.
MELISSA RUCHHOEFT, J.D.
Vice President, Technical Services
+1.323.954.7000
Melissa Ruchhoeft is a lawyer and heads the Technical Unit at IBIS Advisors. Over the last seven years, she has concentrated on Employment, Benefits, Legal, and Expatriate issues at IBIS while working with companies in numerous industries. Melissa has performed multinational pooling studies and multi-country policy comparisons, conducted benefits reviews, and consulted and conducted studies on the design and implementation of pension and benefits programs for local nationals, third country nationals, and expatriates. Melissa also produces Country Reference Manuals, custom surveys, International Assignment policies, Handbooks, Work Rules, and other communication and administrative documents.
Melissa has implemented several total set-up solutions for companies; in one instance, she helped a company establish legal entities, employment contracts, benefits and compensation designs and implementation, and payroll in 11 countries simultaneously.
Ms. Ruchhoeft joined IBIS after leaving a legal career. Melissa spent several years with Chrysalis Management Group, a financial consulting firm, where she performed compliance work involving local, state, and federal licensure, tax, and banking. Melissa holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Wellesley College and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
KEITH J. GOODELL, FSA
Vice President, Chief Actuary
+1.860.657.1093
Keith joined IBIS Advisors with 30 years of actuarial experience in the retirement benefits field, including a focus on international benefits in the last 20 years. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). He graduated with a BA from Hiram College in Ohio.
His employment history includes a variety of actuarial assignments in a large insurance company, employment as the manager of actuarial services for a Fortune 50 company with major international operations, and working in consulting firms, including managing his own consulting firm prior to joining IBIS Advisors.
This work experience afforded exposure to benefits structures and financing arrangements in a broad range of countries. Keith regularly assists clients in education about international benefits practices and measurement of retirement benefit obligations. Using his broad experience, he helps clients bridge the communication gap about employee benefits between local country managers and US HQ benefits managers.
NICHOLAS DOBELBOWER, Ph.D., GPHR
Vice President, Research & Publications
+1.202.349.0885
Nick Dobelbower manages the research and editorial departments of IBIS Advisors. He directly oversees the production of IBIS Country Profiles, Country Manuals, and IBIS eVisor -- a news and compliance alerts system for international employee benefits.
Prior to joining IBIS Advisors, Nick Dobelbower worked as a consultant and editor at the OECD in Paris. He also had an academic career, teaching Literature and Critical Theory at Duke University, Bucknell University, and Macalester College. He holds a B.A. from George Washington University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University in European Literature and Languages.
JIM LOWE
Vice President, Consulting Division
+1.323.954.7000
Jim Lowe brings 20 years of HR Benefits experience to IBIS Advisors. For the 10 years prior to joining IBIS, he managed benefits for Linklaters, located in 36 cities worldwide, and Zurich Reinsurance, with offices in 17 countries. Previously, Jim worked for Union Carbide, Scholastic, and Moore North America.
As Vice President of the Consulting Division, he assists multinational employers with international HR, managing client relationships, renewals, and performing multinational pooling analyses. In his first 4 months at IBIS, Jim saved his clients over $1,000,000 US.
Originally from Connecticut, Jim now works out of the IBIS Headquarters in Los Angeles. He earned his B.S. in Management from Teikyo Post University in Connecticut.
RODRIGO QUEZADA
Vice President & Regional Manager, Latin America / Director General, IBIS Advisors
México, S.A. de C.V.
+52.55.5651.3553
Rodrigo Quezada is Managing Director of IBIS Advisors Mexico. Before joining the firm he spent two years at Willis in Mexico, where he was an Executive Vice-President and the Employee Benefits Business Unit Leader, six years at Mercer in Mexico, where he was a Principal, and then six years in charge of the Employee Benefits Business Unit at Consultores de Seguros, Willis' correspondent in Guatemala, his home country.
Mr. Quezada's experience covers a broad range of human resources advisory to large clients, including strategy and benefits design, implementation and communication, including flexible schemes; due diligence processes, including harmonization of benefits programs among merged companies; local and international pooling; human resource practices and benefits audits, and development of healthcare and wellness solutions, with a view towards cost containment, employee retention and enhanced productivity.
Mr. Quezada has a degree in Business Management from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala.
MAX BOGAARD
Director, IBIS Advisors Netherlands
+31.73.640.8564
Max Bogaard is a 38-year veteran of international benefits and founder of Bogaard Pensioen Consultancy (BPC), which has been doing business in the international pensions market since 2002. Max launched IBIS Advisors Netherlands in October 2009, bringing together BPC’s and IBIS’s knowledge base and linking the companies’ extensive networks of worldwide specialists. Prior to running his own business, Max was Vice Director for more than 25 years at Van Lanschot Chabot (part of Van Lanschot Bankiers), following several years in international group policies for the Swiss insurer Basler and the Dutch insurance group Nationale-Nederlanden.
Max currently serves as the Director of EURACS (the European Actuarial Consultancy Services) and sits on the board of KPS, the Dutch “Circle of Pension Specialists.” Additionally, he is an instructor and contributing author for the SPO, the Dutch Foundation for Pension Education, and is an author of “Pension and Practice” and Life Insurance exams for the Foundation of Financial Services Exams (SEFD).
IBIS Advisors Netherlands provides implementation of new pension and EB programs, actuarial services, review and adjustment of existing pension and EB programs, contract administration and management, legal and fiscal consulting, and employee training and communication.
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