Executive Summaries & Bios

Day 3: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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FEDERICO BASILE – Email: federico.basile@bomchil.com

Federico M. Basile heads M. & M. Bomchil’s Labor and Social Security Law practice group. He has advice national and foreign companies and has extensive experience in the settlement of individual and collective labor disputes and litigation but he has established its market share by specializing in sophisticated individual work. He frequently participates as speaker in courses, lectures and conferences on labor law; he also collaborates with various printed media companies.

CAROLINE HELBRONNER (Coordinator) - Email: caroline.helbronner@blakes.com

Caroline Helbronner is a Partner in the Pension & Employee Benefits and Tax Groups. Her practice relates primarily to pension, benefit and compensation issues, and related investment arrangements.
Caroline advises employers, financial institutions and consulting firms on pension and benefit issues arising in a wide range of circumstances, including surplus and contribution holiday disputes, crossborder situations and corporate transactions. She also advises extensively on matters related to ongoing compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements. As well, Caroline is involved with the
design, drafting and implementation of a variety of pension, retirement and benefit plans, and related funding arrangements and investment vehicles.
Caroline has written and spoken on a wide range of topics in the areas of pension and employee benefits. She is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation, the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association, the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute, the Association of Canadian Pension Management and the Ontario Bar Association. Caroline is a member of the editorial board of the
Federated Press publication Taxation of Executive Compensation and Retirement. Caroline is also a member of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario's Legal Advisory Committee on Pensions. In The Best Lawyers in Canada 2011, she was voted by peers as one of the leading employee benefits lawyers.
Education
Admitted to the Ontario Bar - 1987
LL.B., University of Toronto - 1985
B.A., Queen's University - 1982

SHEENA MCCAFFREY - Email: sheena.mccaffrey@friedfrank.com

Sheena McCaffrey is a partner advising on employment and pensions matters at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP.  She advises both employers and UK pension trustees in relation to the implementation of pension arrangements, plan operation, amendment and termination and UK pension law compliance.  She also advises on transactional issues involving employees, benefits and pension plans in the UK and internationally.

MARK ZIGLER – Email: mzigler@kmlaw.ca

Mark Zigler is the Managing Partner of Koskie LLP in Toronto. He has practised in the pension and benefits field since 1980 as well as labour relations and civil litigation. He is an author and contributing editor of "Employee Benefits in Canada." He advises Boards of Trustees of multi-employer plans, unions, and employee groups. Mark has been involved as counsel in many of the leading pension and benefit cases in Canada, at all levels of Courts and Tribunals.

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MICHAEL BEATTY - Email: michael.beatty@bluefingroup.co.uk

Michael Beatty is an international consultant at Bluefin Corporate Consulting Limited based out of London, United Kingdom . Michael’s area of expertise is within the international benefits area and he advises international companies on pension benefits, other international employee benefits and deferred compensation. Michael has experience within the trust and banking industry, the pension regulatory industry, and as in-house employee benefits and pension counsel.  Michael has a law degree and an MBA.

ROSS GASCHO - Email: rgascho@fasken.com

Ross Gascho is a partner in the Pension and Benefits Group of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Toronto, Canada.  Fasken is one of Canada’s largest law firms and also has offices in London, Paris and Johannesburg.  Ross has extensive experience advising private and public sector employers on governance, funding, administration and implementation of retirement and group benefit programs as well expertise in changes to related legislation and regulatory policy affecting registered plans. 

MAJA MARIC - Email: M.Maric@DNB.NL

Maja Maric is supervisor-lawyer for the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). She works at the expert centre material compliance and supervision. DNB exercises prudential and material supervision of financial institutions, amongst others, Dutch pension funds.

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Note: This workshop is taking place on Monday, May 23, 2011 at 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM.

JEFFREY MAMORSKY - Email: MAMORSKYJ@gtlaw.com

Jeffrey D. Mamorsky is a Shareholder with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Chairman of its Global Benefits and Compensation Group.  Jeff has over 40 year of experience in all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation law.  Jeff's publications have been cited as authority on numerous occasions by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal and state courts. In addition, he lectures widely on ERISA and employee benefits and was one of the drafters of the ERISA law and subsequent governmental regulations thereunder. 

JUDITH DONNELLY - Email: donnellyj@gtmlaw.com

Judith Donnelly is a senior pensions lawyer in the London practice of Greenberg Traurig Maher.  Greenberg Traurig Maher advises a range of clients on pensions law, including pension fund trustees, investment managers and public bodies on all aspects of pensions law, and was previously a regulatory lawyer at the pensions regulator.  Judith has particular expertise in legal advice relating to the investment of pension fund assets, and has worked in-house in the investment management industry.

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JOS GIELINK - Email: j.gielink@pensioenrechtadvies.nl

Jos Gielink (1959) is a tax adviser for Bergamin & Gielink pensioenrechtadvies B.V. in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Bergamin & Gielink pensioenrechtadvies B.V. provides legal advice, both tax and civil law, to pension funds and corporate organisations with regard to fiscal and civil law matters relating to pensions.

Jos’ primary field of activity relates to the taxation and legal aspects of pension schemes. He advises corporate organisations, pension funds and insurance companies about pension schemes and insurance products. These matters often include international aspects or the corporate or the wage tax aspects of pensions.

KONSTANTINOS KREMALIS (Coordinator) - Email: kkremalis@kremalis.gr

Professor Dr. Konstantinos Kremalis  (1947) is the Managing Partner at KREMALIS-Law Firm, which is the exclusive Greek member of Ius Laboris Global Human Resources Lawyers. In this alliance of independent law firms the Professor has participated for many years at the International Practice Group for "Pensions".

He practices in the areas of employment and labour law, administrative law, social security, and insurance and health law.

Since 2002, Professor Kremalis is Director of the Athens University Laboratory of Social Security, Health and Social Welfare. The Professor teaches National, European and International Law of Social Security, Health and Welfare at the Law Department of Athens University for pre- and postgraduate students. He has participated at several experts and law-drafting committees, playing a key role in the major employment, private insurance and social security law reforms. He contributes on a regular basis as a university expert, mediator and arbitrator by offering legal advice to several Ministries, as well as public organizations and private companies.

KLAUS STUERMER – Email: klaus.stuermer@aka.de
Klaus Stuermer is Managing Director of the Association of Local and Church Pension Schemes (AKA) (=Arbeitsgemeinschaft für kommunale und kirchliche Altersversorgung (AKA) e.V.) in Munich.
Since 1994 he has hold different executive positions within the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany’s largest public pension institution. From 1999 to 2003 he became additionally legal counsel in AKA’s General Secretariat. Since 2004, he is Managing Director of AKA. His main areas of activity are European Occupational Pensions and Occupational Pension for the Public Service in Germany. He gained international experience while working for the Office of County Counsel, San Diego, USA (1989/1990), with the Commission of the European Union, Brussels (1998) and with Caisse des Dépots et Consignations (CDC), Service International, Bordeaux (1998). He published various articles covering European social rights and pensions, tax law, portability of pension rights and decisions of the ECJ.

KEVIN L. WRIGHT - Email: klwright@littler.com

Kevin Wright is a Shareholder in the Washington, DC and McLean, Virginia offices of Littler Mendelson, P.C. Littler Mendelson is the largest labor and employment law firm in the United States.  Mr. Wright’s practice is focused exclusively on advising employer’s on pension and benefits issues and compliance, with a primary focus on pension and benefits in unionized workplaces.  His clients include multinational employers and the Trustees of several large pension plans.

MARK ZIGLER - Email: mzigler@kmlaw.ca

Mark Zigler is the Managing Partner of Koskie Minsky LLP in Toronto. He has practised in the pension and benefits field since 1980 as well as labour relations and civil litigation. He is an author and contributing editor of “Employee Benefits in Canada”. He advises Boards of Trustees of multi-employer plans, unions and employee groups. Mark has been involved as counsel in many of the leading pension and benefit cases in Canada, at all levels of Courts and Tribunals.

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HAROLD ASHNER (Coordinator) – Email: haroldashner@keightleyashner.com 

JANET DOWNING (Coordinator) – Email: janet.downing@towerswatson.com

STAN HECHT - Email: stanhecht@keightleyashner.com

Stanley M. Hecht is with Keightley & Ashner LLP, Washington, D.C., which specializes in defined benefit pension plan issues involving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a U.S. government agency.  Before joining the Firm, he held senior legal/policy positions with PBGC.  He is a graduate of Rutgers University and the George Washington University Law School and is Vice Chairman of the Bankruptcy Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits/Executive Compensation Committee of the American Bar Association.

MAARTEN MINNAARD - Email: m.minnaard@houthoff.com

Maarten Minnaard is an attorney at Law at Houthoff Buruma (senior associate) in Amsterdam. Maarten specialises in the areas of Labour & Pensions, with a strong focus on pensions (both pertaining to civil law and tax law). Houthoff Buruma is with over 300 legal professionals one of the leading (independent) full-service law firm in the Netherlands, and member of the Lex Mundi network. Houthoff's Pension Sector Group is one of the leading specialist teams in the Dutch legal pensions sector. The Pension Sector Group comprises the specialist Pensions Law Practice Group, as well as the Investment Management Practice group.

BETHUNE WHISTON - Email: bwhiston@morneaushepell.com

Bethune is a Partner in the Retirement Consulting practice of Morneau Shepell.  Morneau is the largest Canadian-based firm providing human resource consulting and outsourcing services. Bethune manages the firm’s Toronto legal team and is responsible for advising on a broad range of pension plan issues including governance, wind-ups and class action settlements.  She edits the Summary of Pension Legislation in Canada and the Morneau Sobeco Handbook of Canadian Pension & Benefit Plans (CCH), is on the faculty of the Osgoode Certificate in Pension Law and has held leadership positions in a number of industry organizations.

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BRIAN BUGGY - Email: brian.buggy@mop.ie