New ERISA Advisory Council members appointed

Three represent the public, three represent employers, and three represent employee organizations. The fields of insurance, corporate trust, actuarial counseling, investment counseling, and investment management and accounting have one representative each.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez has appointed five new members to the 2016 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. Perez also appointed current member Mark E. Schmidtke as incoming council chair and Jennifer Kamp Tretheway as the incoming council’s vice chair.

Schmidtke is a shareholder with the law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. in Valparaiso, Indiana. Tretheway retired recently as a trust company executive with Northern Trust.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

The newly appointed members and the constituencies they represent are:

Beth A. Almeida, representing the general public, is principal researcher with the Center on Aging at the American Institutes for Research, where she writes on employee benefits, transitions to retirement, and long-term care.  

Patricia M. Haverland, representing employers, is vice president, Pension Fund Management for Siemens’ North American operations.  

Tazewell V. Hurst III, representing employee organizations, is a senior research economist with the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers.  

Cynthia J. Levering, representing actuarial counseling retired from Aon Consulting as a senior vice president and consulting actuary in 2009.

Stacy R. Scapino, representing investment counseling, is a partner and global leader for Mercer Investments’ Multinational Corporate Consulting activities.  

By law, council members serve for staggered three-year terms. Three members are representatives of employee organizations (at least one of whom represents participants in a multiemployer plan). Three members are representatives of employers (at least one of whom represents employers maintaining or contributing to multiemployer plans). Three members are representatives of the general public. There is one representative each from the fields of insurance, corporate trust, actuarial counseling, investment counseling, investment management and accounting.

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