Bill Harmon, seasoned retirement industry executive, broke through the polished corporate veneer to share a deeply personal story.

Bill takes us through the life-changing moment when his son William was born with Down syndrome, and the emotional rollercoaster that followed. After initially struggling with clinical, limitation-focused medical resources, Bill discovered a beautiful metaphor that changed his perspective forever: “Welcome to Holland.” This poem frames having a child with special needs as boarding a plane for Italy but unexpectedly landing in Holland, a different destination with its own unique beauty.

Through William, Bill learned to embrace authenticity in an industry often defined by careful personas. “If I had a superpower it would be to make everyone feel comfortable in their own skin,” he shares, crediting his son with teaching him this invaluable lesson. The impact reached far beyond his family life, transforming Bill’s leadership style from competitively driven to purpose-focused. His willingness to bring his whole self to work, emotions and all, made him stand out in financial services leadership.

Have you experienced a “Welcome to Holland” moment in your life? We’d love to hear how you navigated your own unexpected destination. Share your story in the comments or reach out, because as Bill reminds us, finding a community for support makes all the difference.

Guest Bio:
Bill Harmon has spent his career in the retirement industry.  Starting his career with Great-West and leading them forward as they became Empower Retirement to lead their core market growth.  Bill then continued with Voya Financial as he led their 401(k) Markets with an end result of improving client retention.

Currently Bill serves as President of Thrive Flexible Matching.  With debt being a key inhibitor toward saving for retirement, Thrive helps employers meet their employees where they are. There is over $1.7 trillion in student loan debt from 44 million Americans, so the need to address this is great, and Thrive can help.

Bill’s career highlights his communicative and open-minded working culture with a passion for fostering professional development. An insightful influencer and thought leader, he has served on many industry and nonprofit boards and pursued various innovative business applications for industry-wide advancement.

Connect with Bill:
LinkedIn

Connect with Theresa and Ivana:

Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com
LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants

Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com
LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing

SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com
LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot