Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez has appointed five new members to the 2016 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the ERISA Advisory Council).

He has also announced the incoming chair and vice chair of the council, Mark E. Schmidtke and Jennifer Kamp Tretheway, respectively.

Mark E. Schmidtke, a shareholder with law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. in Valparaiso, Indiana, represents insurers in litigation of life, health and disability insurance matters and employee benefit plans, advising them on issues related to ERISA.

He is also a fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and has written books and articles on employee benefit issues.

Jennifer Kamp Tretheway recently retired as a trust company executive with Northern Trust, after 39 years of service, most recently as senior vice president and managing director of investment program solutions.

She managed client service for institutional tax-exempt clients and has experience with outsourcing, overseeing other managers, developing emerging and minority managers, and supervising compliance with ERISA regulatory issues.

The newly appointed members and the expertise they represent are as follows:

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. She is the former executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, and served on the executive board of the Labor and Employment Research Association. Almeida is a member of the Gerontological Society of America.

Patricia M. Haverland, representing employers, is vice president, pension fund management for Siemens’ North American operations, with more than 25 years of experience as a plan sponsor. She has led the investment, design, compliance, and communication of multiasset class investment and funding strategies for U.S. and international pension and 401(k) plans.

Tazewell V. Hurst III, representing employee organizations, is a senior research economist with the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers. His work focuses on contract negotiations on defined benefit pension plans, and he teaches classes on pension fundamentals to rank-and-file union members. His research interests include the impact of financial economics on pension funds and pension fund investments.

Cynthia J. Levering, representing actuarial counseling, retired from Aon Consulting as a senior vice president and consulting actuary in 2009 after 33 years with the firm. She consulted on qualified defined benefit, defined contribution plans, nonqualified plans, and other postretirement benefits for plan sponsors of various sizes, and also served previously as chair of the Society of Actuaries’ Pension Section Council and the Pension Section Research Team.

Stacy R. Scapino, representing investment counseling, has worked in pensions, investments, and banking for more than 25 years. She is a partner and global leader for Mercer Investments' Multinational Corporate Consulting activities.

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Secretary of Labor names 2016 ERISA Advisory Council members

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