EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES & BIOS
Day 2: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
| Plenary 1: Retirement Crisis: how to deal with it? Discussion Leader:George Bostick (U.S.A), Hans Gidhagen (Sweden), Kobus Hanekom (South Africa) |
Many jurisdictions report that significant percentages of their population are not able to retire with the level of dignity they would have liked and that future prospects for many fund members appear to be weakening
- We will investigate some of the well-known retirement funding models and will interrogate the profile of the societies they serve and the prerequisites for them to be successful.
- We will also consider global changes in the world of work, the latest technology and the changing needs of the people they serve. It is for example becoming increasingly clear that the new generations have a different approach to retirement and retirement saving and that their needs and aspirations are shifting.
- We will finally take a closer look at the extent to which retirement funds in these jurisdictions are transforming and adjusting their offerings in response these global changes.
George served as Benefits Tax Counsel (“BTC”) for the United States Department of the Treasury during the Obama administration for six years, from 2009 until 2015. The BTC is the principal official providing legal advice with respect to employee benefits law and policy (including retirement and health benefits, executive compensation, and social security taxes) to the Department of the Treasury.
Before joining the Treasury, George was a partner in the Washington office of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan (now Eversheds Sutherland), where he developed the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice and engaged in the private practice of law for 35 years.
George is former member of the IPEBLA Steering Committee, a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, and has served in a variety of American Bar Association roles, including as Chair of the Business Section’s Employee Benefits Committee, Chair of the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Chair of the Tax Section’s Subcommittee on Executive Compensation, and Co-Chair of the National Institute on Compensation for Executives and Directors. He is the author of a number of articles and a frequent speaker at conferences. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Emory University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member and editor of the law review. Following law school, he clerked for Judge John Godbold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Hans Gidhagen is Senior Advisor in Pensions at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise in Stockholm. This employers´ organisation represents some 60.000 member companies. He works as a negotiator and senior/legal advisor in pensions and he is responsible for the two main pension schemes in the private sector in Sweden. Hans is also a member of the social protection working group at Businesseurope since more than 20 years and since 2007 one of the representatives (chairman since 2016) for the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) in the OECD Working Party on Private Pensions. Former member of the Steering Committee (1993-1997) of IPEBLA. Member of the European Pensions Circle – a network for benefit and pension fund managers - since more than 20 years.
Kobus is the principal officer of the Sanlam Umbrella Fund. He was the head of strategy, governance and compliance at Simeka Consultants & Actuaries for many years. He was admitted as an attorney, notary and conveyancer in 1983, after completing a B.Iur. and an LL.B. degree.
Kobus is a Certified Financial Planner and served on the board of the Financial Planning Institute. He is a founding member of the Pension Lawyers Association of South Africa and served as president for the first two years. He also served on the Steering Committee of the International Pension and Employee Benefit Lawyers Association (IPEBLA). He was Secretary of the Pensions Legal and Technical Committees of both the Life Offices Association and the Institute of Retirement Funds for many years. He is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops. He authored The Manual on South African Retirement Funds, currently in its 23rd edition, which is recommended reading for many industry courses and lectured the pension subjects in the Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management offered by the University of Stellenbosch for a few years. He served as a core member of the Sanlam Benchmark Survey team for many years.
| Workshop 13: "Data Privacy, Cybersecurity and Tax Compliance – What Should a Plan Fiduciary Be Doing?" Coordinator and Discussion Leaders: Caroline Helbronner (Canada), Jim Klein (U.S.A), Charles Magoffin (U.K), Brechje Nollen (the Netherlands), Susan Serota (U.S.A) |
Session Description
A partner since 2010, Charles is an experienced pensions lawyer advising on mergers and acquisitions, funding, security, investments, benefit design, member disputes, distress and insolvency and buyouts.
Charles also helps clients with other aspects of the setting up and administration of pension schemes, including trust law, scheme documentation, scheme mergers, investment management, member complaints and disputes.
In particular, Charles has a market leading practice working with financial institutions to spearhead innovative de-risking solutions and has successfully developed a reputation in the pensions industry for helping employers to find commercial and pragmatic solutions to pension liability issues in the context of major transactions.
Charles is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and is on the APL International sub-committee, where he played a key role in coordinating the submission of the APL in response to the proposed changes to the European pensions directive. He has also presented at several APL conferences.
Her areas of business include advisory and contentious work, and individual classic employment matters. She also advises on the employment and pensions aspects of (cross-border) M&A transactions – both in the period leading up to the transaction and post-integration.
She works for clients in a wide variety of sectors including energy, healthcare, media, consumer products, automotive, leisure and financial institutions.
She has always worked in international law firms and has a long history of acting in a worldwide context. As a result, she understands the different mindsets and cultures of clients across jurisdictions, as well as their needs and concerns from a broader commercial perspective.
Brechje joined Freshfields in 2002, to set up the employment, pensions and benefits practice in the Amsterdam office. Since then, she has developed it from a one-woman practice into a team of six full-time employment and pensions lawyers.
Susan Serota leads the firm's Executive Compensation & Benefits practice and is located the New York office. Ms. Serota has experience in all areas of pensions, employee benefits, executive compensation, stock options and tax deferred compensation plans. She has significant experience in the compensation of senior executives, fiduciary matters relating to ERISA and other plans, international benefits, employee benefit aspects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, ERISA fiduciary litigation and securities law matters. She is also an advisor to both foreign and domestic governmental entities, regarding pensions and deferred compensation.
From August 2006-2007, Ms. Serota was the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, the nation’s largest organization of tax lawyers. She is the past Chair of the ABA Tax Section’s Employee Benefits Committee. Ms. Serota was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to serve on the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Ms. Serota is also a director and the treasurer of the American Tax Policy Institute.
| Workshop 14: "Managing Pension Fund Trustees of the Target Company on a Public M&A Transaction / Post-Takeover Leverage of Refinancing by the Bidding Company" Coordinator and Discussion Leader: Randy Bauslaugh (Canada), Phillip Bennett (U.K), Howard Pianko (U.S.A) |
Session Description
With the increase in cross-border public M&A, defined benefit pension funds (assisted by, in the UK, the powers of the UK Pensions Regulator), now have a seat at the negotiating table when settling the terms of the takeover bid financing / post-takeover refinancing of the temporary facilities put in place to finance the bidder's takeover of the target.
This session will look at:
- The rights and powers of the pension fund fiduciaries (e.g. the Trustee in the UK) when the jurisdiction of the establishment of the defined benefit pension fund is in Canada, the UK or the US (and the associated powers of any pensions regulatory authority).
- Likelihood that there are change of control clauses in the governing documents of the defined benefit pension fund which may lead to an acceleration of funding.
- Whether the defined benefit pension fund fiduciaries can call for an immediate valuation and accelerate funding, more generally, how these issues can be identified, anticipated and managed
Randy Bauslaugh leads McCarthy Tétrault's national Pensions, Benefits & Executive Compensation practice.
Mr. Bauslaugh has been involved with many of the leading pension and benefit cases over the past 30 years. He is presently counsel to the administrator of the Canadian Nortel pension plans, a lead creditor in the world-wide bankruptcy proceedings. He has experience advising on plan governance, plan design, plan mergers, restructurings and conversions, surplus repatriation, and deficit management. Mr. Bauslaugh has led negotiations relating to pension and benefit issues, and has also acted as a mediator and arbitrator in pension related labour disputes. He has reviewed, negotiated and helped implement investment de-risking strategies. Mr. Bauslaugh’s clients include public and private companies, appointed administrators of wound up plans, financial institutions, joint boards of trustees, and Canadian and foreign governments; for example Mr. Bauslaugh has advised the Government of Ontario, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut on pension policy and legislation and the governments of Bermuda, Jamaica, and India on public pension issues and pension standards.
Mr. Bauslaugh is an independent expert Trustee for one of Canada's largest ELHTs, recently established in October, 2016 to oversee implementation and administration of the consolidation of Life, Health and Dental Benefits for approximately 40,000 English Catholic Teachers throughout Ontario. He is an active supporter of many industry associations: for example, he is a member of the Pension Policy Council of the C.D. Howe Institute, the editorial advisory board of Benefits and Pensions Monitor and a former Chairman of the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association. Mr. Bauslaugh actively engages in community service. He served 6 years as Chair of the HR Committee of the Canadian Cancer Society, and currently serves as a Director on the Boards of the Canadian National Exhibition Association and the Scarborough Hospital Foundation.
In 2014, Mr. Bauslaugh was inducted into the CPBI Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also listed in Who’s Who Legal: Canada, International Who's Who Legal, Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 - Canada, The Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Best Lawyers in Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory as a "most frequently recommended" practitioner in pensions and employee benefits, the Federated Press Directory of Professionals as a "distinguished contributor" and enjoys the highest rating granted to lawyers for professional competence and integrity in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.
Mr. Bauslaugh obtained a BA from the University of Waterloo in 1977 and his LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1981. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1983.
Philip has a wide-ranging pension practice. His experience includes some of the largest scheme mergers and restructurings, repayments of surplus and management of deficit issues (including benefit design changes and consultations with employees and their representatives over these changes) and “employer covenant” support measures.
Philip’s experience also includes advising on:
- unit linked investment policies for pension funds and bulk annuity policies (buy-ins and buy-outs) for pension funds
- common investment funds
- pension fund pooling vehicles
- cross-border pension fund investment vehicles
- special purpose vehicles, such as Scottish Limited Partnerships, in connection with funding pension scheme deficits
- collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes
With the move to liability driven investment strategies for pension funds, he has also advised on the legal issues for pension funds arising out of currency forward contracts, interest rate swaps, inflation swaps, longevity swaps and other derivatives.
With the continuance of low long-term interest rates and the increase in pension fund deficits, Philip has advised on, and developed, innovative "employer" covenant support solutions and escrow account measures.
Howard Pianko is a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Over his career, he has advised a wide range of clients on the full gamut of matters relating to employee benefits: (i) equity and incentive compensation programs; (ii) pension and welfare benefit plan compliance, drafting and administration; (iii) benefit aspects of corporate transactions - mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures;(iv) plan investments; (v) plan governance and fiduciary responsibilities; and (vi) benefit related litigation. He also has written extensively, with a focus on topics involving executive compensation, fiduciary and plan governance and cross-border transactions. Mr. Pianko is a frequent lecturer on these topics within the U.S. and he also has spoken on cross-border topics, such as global equity compensation programs and global plan governance policies, in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and South America.
Mr. Pianko is a recognized leader in his field. He is consistently top-ranked by Chambers USA and was named a “Client Service All-Star” in Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation in the 2016 edition of BTI Consulting Group’s annual report surveying the nation’s top lawyers in the area of client service.
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Workshop 15: "Persuading Employees to Save for their Retirement: Auto-enrollment and other similar arrangements which rely on employee inertia to encourage employees to save more for their retirement"
Coordinator and Discussion Leader: Brian Buggy (Ireland), Hans-Joachim Liebers, Makhubalo Ndaba (South Africa), John Sheppard (U.K), |
Brian acts for a wide range of national and multinational employer companies, Government Departments, state bodies and trustees of pension schemes. He has advised on numerous large commercial transactions involving transfer of employees and has extensive experience of complex documentation and benefits issues that arise in such transactions. He has extensive experience of working with public sector companies on establishment of share plans for employees.
Brian was appointed by the Minister of Social and Family Affairs as a member of the Pensions Board (the statutory body which regulates occupational pension schemes in Ireland). He was a member of the Pensions Board in the period 2000-2005. Brian is a former Chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers in Ireland. He is a council member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, an associate member of the UK Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and a member of the International Pensions and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA).
He is joint author of Irish Pensions Law & Practice (2 ed) (2005), a comprehensive textbook on the subject. He has participated as speaker in seminars, both in Ireland and overseas, on pensions and employee benefit issues. He is a contributor on pension and employee benefit issues to periodicals, professional journals and newspapers.
Hans-Joachim advises industrial clients, banks and investors in all employment and pension related matters. He has particular experience in M&A transactions, group restructurings and genuine personnel measures. He also frequently advises companies in sensitive contract matters with members of the management board, managing directors and executive employees.
His recent practice in M&A includes advising Magna, the Canadian automotive group, in the purchase of the transmission producer Getrag AG, American & Efird Global Inc. in the purchase of Gütermann AG; JC Decaux, the French outdoor advertising group, in the purchase of Wall AG; British INEOS Group in the sale of its PVC business of two subsidiaries to Vinyls Wilhelmshaven GmbH, as well as in the sale of its shares to the ICI Group as a condition imposed by the EU for the approval of a joint venture project of INEOS and Solvay, Dutch NIBC Bank N.V. in the purchase of Galinat Bank AG, and Redknee Inc., the Canadian IT service provider, in the purchase of a branch of the Nokia Siemens joint ventures.
Makhubalo Ndaba is a Trustee in the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) of South Africa, the largest pension fund in Africa. He is also the General Counsel and Company Secretary for the PGC Group in South Africa. He has also acted as a Senior Pension Funds Adjudicator in South Africa.
He graduated at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom for an LLM in Employment Law. He is an admitted Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He has won two international study scholarships from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands governments, the British Chevening and the Sanpad Scholarships respectively. He is a co-author of a book entitled ‘The Protection and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa’.
| Workshop 16: "Legal Issues Surrounding Under-Funded Defined Benefit Public Sector Pension Plans In The US And Other Relevant Jurisdictions" Coordinator and Discussion Leaders: Andrea Boctor (Canada), Flavio Martins Rodrigues (Brazil), Cathy Smith (U.S.A), William Wright (U.S.A) |
This session will look at some case studies in the US and other jurisdictions and the extent to which state constitutions protect public sector pension rights and the extent to which those rights can be adjusted if there is a state insolvency.
Cathy M. Smith serves as the General Counsel of the Employees’ Retirement System of the Government of the Virgin Islands (“GERS”). The GERS is one of the oldest pension systems under the U.S. flag having begun operations in October 1959. Ms. Smith’s responsibilities include oversight of all legal work, obligations, and management of the Legal Office. She provides legal advice to the executive and senior management staff, on statutory interpretation, and other pension issues. She also represents the GERS in litigation and matters before regulatory agencies.
Ms. Smith received her Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and her law degree from Tulane University School of Law. She is a member of the Louisiana State Bar and the Virgin Islands Bar. She is admitted to practice before the courts in Louisiana and the Virgin Islands, as well as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
FLAVIO MARTINS RODRIGUES (Speaker) - Email: frodrigues@bocater.com.br
Flavio Martins Rodrigues is a Senior Partner of Bocater, Camargo, Costa e Silva, Rodrigues Advogados, Law Office in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília). Master’s Degree in Tax Law; MBA in Pension Funds; and Graduate Course on Pension Reform (Harvard University).
A specialist in pension fund law, he was the Managing Director of the Rio de Janeiro State Pension Fund (RIOPREVIDÊNCIA) (1999/2002). He chaired the Certification Institute of Social Security (ICSS) (2002/2003).
He is the author of two books: “Pension Funds for Civil Servants” (Fundos de Pensão de Servidores Públicos) and “Pension Funds: Legal Issues” (Fundos de Pensão: Temas Jurídicos), both released by Editora Renovar, a publishing house in Rio de Janeiro. He also edits the Pension Fund Review, with several technical articles published in large-circulation newspapers and specialized journals.
ANDREA BOCTOR (Speaker) - Email: aboctor@stikeman.com
ANDREA BOCTOR is a partner practicing in the Toronto office of Stikeman Elliott LLP and is head of the firm’s National Pensions and Benefits Practice Group. Andrea advises clients in all areas of the firm’s pensions and benefits practice. Andrea received her undergraduate degree and her LL.B. from Queens’ University, and is recognized in Chambers Global, Chambers Canada and Lexpert for her expertise in pensions & benefits law. Andrea is the editor of Canadian Cases on Pensions and Benefits and co-editor of Pension Benefits Law in Ontario. She writes and speaks extensively on pensions-related issues and is a guest lecturer on pension issues at the University of Toronto and Western University Law Schools and Osgoode Professional Development.
| Workshop 17: "Pension Risk Management: How pension funds in various countries address risk" Coordinator and Discussion Leaders: , Stephen Gillick (Ireland), Mark McNair (U.S.A), David Powell (U.S.A), Daniella Vega (Canada) |
“Stephen is a Partner in the Employment Law and Benefits Team of Mason Hayes & Curran, specialising in Pensions Law. He has extensive experience in advising trustees, sponsoring employers and pension providers on a wide range of pensions related issues, including pension scheme establishment, pension scheme funding, exercises to reduce scheme liabilities and the treatment of pensions during corporate transactions.
Stephen sits on the Council of the Association of Pensions Lawyers of Ireland, the Benefits Committee of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and also sits on the Pensions Sub-Committee of the Law Society of Ireland.”
Mr. McNair is a frequent speaker at various institutional events, including the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems and the Government Finance Office Association.
Prior to entering private practice, Mr. McNair was an Assistant General Council at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board where he dealt in a wide range of issues related to the trading and regulation of municipal securities. Previously, he was an attorney in the Division of Market Regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission. At the Commission his work focused on the regulation of the options markets and derivative products.
| Workshop 18: "Funding Defined Benefit Plans: Recent Developments in Rebalancing Member Security with Sponsor Stability" Coordinator and Discussion Leader: David Main (Ireland), Marc Morgan (Jamaica), Tobias Neufeld (Germany), Lyle Teichman (Canada) |
Various regimes require funding on different bases, ranging from strictly going concern funding to full wind up/solvency funding as in Canada or no funding at all as in Germany. In many cases, regulatory funding models require plan sponsors to fund for events which may never occur.
This workshop will address recent regulatory developments in DB funding and alternative funding arrangements which attempt to strike a new balance between the desire for member security and the sponsor’s desire not to divert capital from the business to the pension plan unnecessarily.
Topics include:
- Recent legislative/regulatory initiatives related to sustainable DB pension plan funding;
- Historical perspectives versus current trends;
- Are historical funding requirements too rigid?;
- Relaxation of existing restrictions related to entitlements and rights;
- What checks and balances are in place?;
- What works, what doesn’t?
DAVID MAIN (Speaker) - Email: dmain@algoodbody.com
David Main is a Partner in A&L Goodbody's Pensions Group. He advises a wide range of Irish and international businesses and organisations on all aspects of their pensions affairs. David qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 1998 and was admitted as a Solicitor in Ireland in 2004. He is a former Chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers in Ireland.
MARC MORGAN (Speaker) - Email: morganm@fscjamaica.org
Marc Morgan is an Attorney at Law by profession and is a Legal Officer at the Financial Services Commission, since August 2010. He also has worked as a Consultant for the Inter American Development Bank. Marc has been a lecturer at Fitz Ritson and Associates since July 2015 specializing in Pension Fund Law.
TOBIAS NEUFELD (Speaker) - Email: tobias.neufeld@allenovery.com
Tobias Neufeld specialises in pensions law and heads the global Employment & Benefits group at Allen & Overy. He is based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is the co-head of Allen & Overy's German Pension Group and a member of the firm's Global Pension Group, consisting of over 60 lawyers across the firm's international offices. Tobias is a qualified German lawyer, Solicitor (England & Wales) and a certified Employment Law Specialist.
LYLE TEICHMAN (Coordinator) - Email: lyle.teichman@towerswatson.com
Lyle Teichman is a Senior Consulting Lawyer in the Toronto office of Willis Towers Watson. His practice focuses on pension and employee benefits law, supplemental employee retirement plans (SERPs), pension tax issues and cross-border compensation issues. Lyle provides legal and strategic advice to a wide range of clients in all areas of pension and employee benefits, including pension issues in mergers and acquisitions, plan terminations, pension plan design, governance, administration, funding, investments, cross-border pension issues, executive pension matters and tax planning for departing and transferring executives and senior employees. Lyle initially joined Towers Perrin in 1996. Prior to rejoining Towers Watson in September, 2014, Lyle was a senior pensions counsel with a national Canadian law firm.
Lyle is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Ontario Bar Association, and the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association. He also sits as a member of the Discipline and Capacity Committee of the Human Resources Professional Association (Ontario).
Lyle is past Chair of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario Legal Advisory Committee, a past member of the executive of the Pension and Employee Benefits Section of the Ontario Bar Association, and a past member of the Canada Revenue Agency Pension Advisory Committee.
Lyle is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a guest lecturer at Osgoode Professional Development.
Lyle was called to the Ontario Bar in 1983.
Lyle Teichman is a lawyer with Towers Watson in Toronto. He has 21 years of industry experience and joined Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson) in 1996. Mr. Teichman practices in the area of pensions and other retirement and compensation arrangements, with particular emphasis on pension tax matters, supplemental plans and international pension matters. Mr. Teichman is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authorized numerous papers and articles concerning pensions and related tax matters. Mr. Teichman is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation, the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers’ Association and the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute. He is a member of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) Legal Advisory Committee, a past member of the Canada Revenue Agency Pension Advisory Committee and a past member of the executive of the Pension and Benefits Section of the Ontario Bar Association. He holds a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar of Ontario in 1983.
| Workshop 19: "Pension landscape in common law jurisdictions in Central & South America & the Caribbean" Coordinator and Discussion Leaders: Al Kiel (Canada), Jim Klein (U.S.A), Tejash (TJ) Modi (Canada), Cathy Smith (USA), |
Al is also the national leader of the firm’s Regulatory Practice which is responsible for servicing government ministries and regulators in the Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos. He has also provided assistance to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre in regulatory training and development to several jurisdictions in the Caribbean region and to regulators in Canada. Al is a technical consultant for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has led several projects financed by the IMF and the Caribbean Development Bank.
Al was an architect in the formation of the Caribbean Association of Pension Supervisors (CAPS), an association of pension regulators in the Caribbean region that includes 20 jurisdictions.
In 2013 Al was recognized by the Atlantic Connection for its coveted Pathfinder Award. The Pathfinder Award recognizes individuals for their continued support and exceptional contribution to global fiduciary education and fiscal responsibility. The award puts Al in prestigious company; previous Pathfinder Award winners include Ms. Reta Jo Lewis, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special representative for global intergovernmental affairs, and the Honourable Ms. Paula Cox, former Premier of Bermuda.
TJ is a lawyer and Principal at Morneau Shepell Ltd. as well as the chair of the firm’s National Governance, Legal and Compliance Consulting Practice. In addition, TJ co-manages a full- staff dedicated to the regulatory wind up of pension plans. He joined the firm in 2005.
He is responsible for advising the firm’s professionals and clients, both national and international, on all aspects of pension and benefits plans. TJ has a particular interest in pension and benefit plan risk management and governance.
TJ is a contributing author to the Morneau Shepell Handbook of Canadian Pension and Benefit Plans; he has specifically contributed to the chapters on pension and benefit plan governance, multi-employer pension plans and plan wind ups. He is an adjunct professor with Osgoode Hall Law School and has taught on the subject of governance policies. Furthermore, he is a faculty member of the Humber College Pension Plan Administration Course, teaching on governance topics. He is regularly invited to speak at conferences and workshops on pension governance and compliance related topics.
He received a B.A. from York University (1995), a J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School (1999), and a M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business (1999). He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 2001.
Cathy M. Smith serves as the General Counsel of the Employees’ Retirement System of the Government of the Virgin Islands (“GERS”). The GERS is one of the oldest pension systems under the U.S. flag having begun operations in October 1959. Ms. Smith’s responsibilities include oversight of all legal work, obligations, and management of the Legal Office. She provides legal advice to the executive and senior management staff, on statutory interpretation, and other pension issues. She also represents the GERS in litigation and matters before regulatory agencies.
Ms. Smith received her Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and her law degree from Tulane University School of Law. She is a member of the Louisiana State Bar and the Virgin Islands Bar. She is admitted to practice before the courts in Louisiana and the Virgin Islands, as well as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Workshop 20: "
Restructuring Pension and Benefit Plans of Insolvent Governments" Coordinators and Discussion Leaders: Andrew Hatnay (Canada), Izzy Goldowitz (U.S.A), David Wiltenburg (U.S.A) |
What happens to the pension and benefits plans of government employees and retirees when a government becomes bankrupt? Recent events show that bankruptcy and insolvency is not limited to companies and individuals. This panel will discuss the fascinating and creative restructuring processes that played out in the United States in the municipal bankruptcies of Detroit, Stockton, Orange County, and others. Other governments in the world may be next in line for these dramatic events.
Andrew Hatnay is the practice co-ordinator of the firm’s Pensions and Employee Benefits group. He advises employees, retirees, pension plan administrators and unions on all aspects of pension plans, benefit plans and employee compensation, and has special expertise with corporate restructurings and bankruptcy. Andrew is also a litigator and represents clients in insolvency proceedings before all levels of court.
Andrew has acted as court-appointed representative counsel for employees and retirees of Hollinger Canadian Publishing Holdings, Domgroup, Eaton’s, Dylex, Saan Stores, Cotton Ginny, and Irwin Toy. Andrew represented employees and retirees in the insolvency proceedings of Indalex, Smurfit-Stone, Hard Rock Paving, General Chemical, Vicwest, and other companies and on the restructurings of Catalyst Paper (B.C.), Stelco, Ivaco, Slater Steel and Algoma Steel.
He has been on the brief in several Supreme Court cases, including Beck v. PACE Int’l Union, U.S. 2007 (termination and closeout of single-employer plan); Raleigh v. Illinois Dept. of Revenue, U.S. 2000 (choice of law in bankruptcy), and Concrete Pipe v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust, U.S. 1993 (constitutionality of MPPAA), and has argued several cases in the courts of appeals.
His publications include chapters on withdrawal liability and preemption/removal in J. Zanglein, S. Stabile & L. Frolik, ERISA Litigation; a chapter on employee benefits in Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice; articles on choice of law in bankruptcy in the Norton Bankruptcy Adviser and American Bankruptcy Institute Journal; an article on PBGC's work in bankruptcy in the Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review; and a forthcoming article on funding rules for public plans in the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal.
He has spoken at meetings of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference; American Law Institute; ABA Taxation, Labor and Employment, and Business Law Sections, and Joint Committee on Employee Benefits; Canadian Bar Association; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans; International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association; Norton Bankruptcy Institutes; American Bankruptcy Institute; Turnaround Management Association; Conference Board; and regional bankruptcy/insolvency organizations, metropolitan bar associations, labor organizations, and academic colloquia/symposia.
He is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches employee benefits and previously taught international bankruptcy.
He is a recipient of PBGC’s Distinguished Career Service Award and Georgetown University's Vicennial Medal.
He earned his B. A. from Boston University, and his J.D. from George Washington University.
| Keynote Session: "The Canadian Pension Model and Insights on future challenges for Pension Funds" Speaker: Hugh O'Reilly (Canada) |
Hugh O’Reilly is President and CEO of OPTrust with responsibility for all of the organization’s operations, overseeing management of the pension fund’s $18.4 billion in assets and pension plan administration.
Hugh is one of Canada’s foremost pension experts with extensive expertise in the operation and governance of jointly-sponsored pension plans. Before joining OPTrust, Hugh led the Pension Benefits and Insolvency Practice at Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP.
During his career, Hugh also served as senior policy advisor and Chief of Staff to a cabinet minister in the Ontario government, held the role of Senior Counsel at Canada Trust and practiced law as an associate lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and a partner at Torys in Toronto.
He is a member of the TMX Advancing Innovation Roundtable and the editorial advisory board of Benefits and Pensions Monitor.
In 2016, Mr. O’Reilly was the recipient of the Industry Leadership Award from the Benefits Canada Workplace Benefits Awards.
He is a strong advocate for community engagement and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Regent Park Community Health Centre and Chair of the Board’s Governance Committee.
He holds an LL.B. from the University of Calgary and a B.A. from the University of Regina
| Workshop 21:"Health Check: Common Approaches to Welfare Benefits in Three Jurisdictions" Coordinator and Discussion Leader: Anne Corbett (Canada), Marco Maurer (Germany), Finn Pressly (U.S.A), Carolyn Trenda (U.S.A) |
Anne Corbett is a partner in the Toronto office of Border Ladner Gervais LLP. She practises in the areas of corporate commercial, health law and pensions law, focusing on:
- Advising profit and non-profit corporations in connection with a variety of corporate and commercial law issues, including corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance issues (director and officer liability issues, bylaws), contracts, joint venture and partnership agreements, confidentiality agreements, and government relations.
- Advising on governance issues (director and officer liability issues, bylaws), contracts, confidentiality agreements, and fiduciary liability.
- Acting as counsel for various hospitals and hospital foundations in connection with corporate matters, including amalgamations, integrations, corporate restructuring, outsourcing, banking and borrowing, contract review and bylaw revisions.
- Advising profit and non-profit corporations in connection with a variety of pension, benefits and related investment arrangements and corporate and commercial law issues
Marco Maurer is an associate in the Frankfurt office of Mayer Brown’s Employment & Benefits practice.
Marco advises national and international clients in all individual and collective employment law matters, including, but not limited to, the preparation, conclusion and termination of employment and service agreements, business and workforce restructurings, outsourcing transactions and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Marco is registered at the Frankfurt Bar in Germany since 2015.
Finn Pressly is a partner in the Chicago office of Littler Mendelson PC. He advises employers on all aspects of U.S. health benefit plan design and administration, including compliance with ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA privacy, and the federal tax code. He also regularly counsels clients on compliance with the fiduciary duties that apply to plan administrators under U.S. federal law.
Finn has helped clients design their medical benefit plans to meet the obligations imposed under the Affordable Care Act and is currently working with clients to redesign their benefits to conform to the new legislative proposals issued by the Trump administration. He is a frequent speaker on topics affecting health and wellness benefit plan administration.
He holds a B.A. (cum laude) and J.D. from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters of Law (LL.M) in Taxation from the University of Florida. He is licensed to practice in Illinois, Florida, and Hawaii.
Carolyn regularly advises public, private and non-profit employers on a range of employee benefits topics. She designs and assists clients with the ongoing administration of tax-qualified retirement plans including defined benefit pension plans, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 457 deferred compensation plans, profit sharing plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). She routinely helps clients with health and welfare plan matters including plan design and COBRA and HIPAA related questions. She also works with employers to establish and maintain non-qualified, stock option and fringe benefit plans.
Specifically, Carolyn has assisted clients with restructuring retiree medical programs, merging and terminating employee benefit plans, evaluating executive compensation arrangements and negotiating vendor agreements and trust agreements. She often advises employers on employee benefits matters during mergers and acquisitions, including issues related to the compensation and benefits of transferred and terminated employees. She routinely obtains rulings and determinations from the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies and guides clients through agency audits and the use of government sponsored compliance and correction programs.
Carolyn also counsels employers and employee benefit plan committees on ERISA fiduciary obligations. She frequently publishes articles and speaks on a variety of employee benefits subjects.
In 2001, Carolyn completed the University of Notre Dame Law School's Concannon Program of International Law. While earning her undergraduate degree, Carolyn was a member of the Phi Alpha Theta honor society.
| Workshop 22: "Fit to Govern: Emerging Pension Plan/Fund Governance Trends" Coordinator and Discussion Leaders: Marga Caproni (Belgium), Mark Firman (Canada), Nicolas Roessler (Germany) |
- Assessing and managing conflicts of interest
- Permissible and impermissible conflicts of interest
- Supervising internal and external delegates
- International governance issues (E.g., what to do when “head office” orders you to…)
Marga is a member of Loyens & Loeff Employment & Benefits Practice Group in Belgium.
Her practice focuses on workplace pensions and employment matters. Marga heads the Pensions team and keeps a particular focus on certain more specialised aspects, such as data protection legislation.
In the field of workplace pensions, Marga advises clients on the implementation and modification of pension plans managed by group insurers or pension funds. She also has considerable experience in transactional work and its impact on workplace pension schemes, where she has guided several clients in their exit from multi-employer pension funds. She also regularly advises on discrimination matters and represents clients in pension litigation cases.
In employment law, she advises on individual and collective employment issues and she has been actively involved in a number of national and international restructurings, as well as individual dismissal cases, on both sides of the table. She has a special focus on data privacy.
She represents clients both in the private and the public sector, in Belgium and across Europe as well as in the United States. Marga is a regular speaker at seminars on statutory and workplace pensions, as well as on employment matters.
She is a member of the Belgian Pension Lawyers Association (BePLA) and the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions (BVPI).
Marga has been registered at the Antwerp Bar since 2004 and then the Brussels Bar since 2007.
His work especially focuses on matters concerning occupational pension plans, especially the implementation of funding mechanism for such schemes such as German pension funds or Contractual Trust Arrangements (CTA), including issues of asset allocation. Nicolas does also regularly advise his clients on restructurings and employment and pensions law issues in M&A transactions. In 2007 Nicolas worked in our London pensions practice.
Nicolas has advised a large number of companies on the restructuring of their workforces. He has also handled the co-determination issues in the set-up of a European Stock Corporation (Societas Europaea) and recently advised a financial service provider on the funding of its pension liabilities. He regularly represents clients in court in pension related test trials.
Nicolas is head of Mayer Brown´s German product group “pensions”. He is a regular speaker on employment and pensions law topics at seminars and conferences. He has lectured at King’s College School of Law in London on European Employment Law.
| Workshop 23: "The Legal Fight for the Allocation of Nortel Assets" Coordinators and Discussion Leaders: Hamish Dunlop (Canada), Ari Kaplan (Canada), Charles Magoffin (U.K) |
Ari Kaplan is a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP in Toronto (kmlaw.ca). He is the author of Canada’s national textbook in the field, Pension Law, is the 2013 "Lawyer of the Year" in Toronto Employee Benefits Law, Best Lawyers in Canada, and is top-ranked in Chambers Global and Lexpert. Ari has represented employees, pensioners and pension funds on some of Canada's leading cases, including Kerry and Monsanto before the Supreme Court of Canada. Ari also teaches pension law at the University of Toronto and, in his spare time, helps run an independent music label, Paper Bag Records (www.paperbagrecords.com). He tweets as @arimap.
A partner since 2010, Charles is an experienced pensions lawyer advising on mergers and acquisitions, funding, security, investments, benefit design, member disputes, distress and insolvency and buyouts.
Charles also helps clients with other aspects of the setting up and administration of pension schemes, including trust law, scheme documentation, scheme mergers, investment management, member complaints and disputes.
In particular, Charles has a market leading practice working with financial institutions to spearhead innovative de-risking solutions and has successfully developed a reputation in the pensions industry for helping employers to find commercial and pragmatic solutions to pension liability issues in the context of major transactions.
Charles is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and is on the APL International sub-committee, where he played a key role in coordinating the submission of the APL in response to the proposed changes to the European pensions directive. He has also presented at several APL conferences.
| Workshop 24: "Responses to Troubled Multi-employer Plans" Coordinators and Discussion Leaders: Bas Dieleman (the Netherlands), Izzy Goldowitz (U.S.A), Mark Grant (U.K), Michael Mazucca (Canada), Robert Neis (U.S.A) |
He obtained a doctorate from the Erasmus University in 2012 with his doctoral thesis on the contrast between a tax- and a corporate-oriented evaluation of pension schemes. Bas is affiliated to the University of Tilburg.
He has been on the brief in several Supreme Court cases, including Beck v. PACE Int’l Union, U.S. 2007 (termination and closeout of single-employer plan); Raleigh v. Illinois Dept. of Revenue, U.S. 2000 (choice of law in bankruptcy), and Concrete Pipe v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust, U.S. 1993 (constitutionality of MPPAA), and has argued several cases in the courts of appeals.
His publications include chapters on withdrawal liability and preemption/removal in J. Zanglein, S. Stabile & L. Frolik, ERISA Litigation; a chapter on employee benefits in Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice; articles on choice of law in bankruptcy in the Norton Bankruptcy Adviser and American Bankruptcy Institute Journal; an article on PBGC's work in bankruptcy in the Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review; and a forthcoming article on funding rules for public plans in the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal.
He has spoken at meetings of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference; American Law Institute; ABA Taxation, Labor and Employment, and Business Law Sections, and Joint Committee on Employee Benefits; Canadian Bar Association; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans; International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association; Norton Bankruptcy Institutes; American Bankruptcy Institute; Turnaround Management Association; Conference Board; and regional bankruptcy/insolvency organizations, metropolitan bar associations, labor organizations, and academic colloquia/symposia.
He is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches employee benefits and previously taught international bankruptcy.
He is a recipient of PBGC’s Distinguished Career Service Award and Georgetown University's Vicennial Medal.
He earned his B. A. from Boston University, and his J.D. from George Washington University.
Mark Grant is a partner in the Pensions group. He joined the firm as a trainee in 1990 and specialised in pensions law since qualifying in 1992. He became a partner in 1999 and is now the Head of our Pensions Ombudsman Unit.
Mark is the author of The Pensions Ombudsman: Powers, Procedures and Decisions (Sweet & Maxwell). He was a member of the APL's Pensions Litigation Committee for 10 years and is now on the APL’s Main Committee. He chairs the Pensions Ombudsman Liaison Group.
He was assistant editor of the Occupational Pensions Law Reports and co-editor of the Journal of the International Pensions and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA) for several years and an IPEBLA Steering Committee Member.
Michael Mazzuca is a Partner in Koskie Minsky’s Pension and Employee Benefits Group and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Michael has extensive experience in providing legal advice across Canada to multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs), jointly sponsored pension plans and other jointly governed plans, including health and welfare plans and training funds. He also advises trade unions as well as plan member and retiree groups across Canada concerning legal matters related to plan governance, fiduciary duties and plan investments.
Michael’s experience includes litigating significant pension and benefit cases before administrative tribunals and various levels of court across Canada including class actions. Also, Michael has represented clients before the Ontario Financial Services Tribunal on matters relating to statutory and regulatory compliance, including partial wind-ups and funding requirements.
Michael is an adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law and is a regular speaker at conferences on pensions and employee benefits.
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