As the executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Belt will oversee an agency charged with rescuing ailing traditional pensions from employers who can no longer meet their obligations, including those mired in bankruptcy. Belt replaces Vincent Snowbarger, named as acting executive director, who stepped in when former agency head Steven Kandarian left to return to the private sector (See Ex-Kansas Congressman Named as Acting PBGC Chief ).

According to the DoL, Belt has served as an executive with a financial services company, president of a public affairs and management consulting firm, and managing director of a government relations firm. He also has served on the boards of directors of privately held companies.

Belt has also held a number of government posts with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As counsel with the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and Securities Subcommittee, Belt was involved in the development of major reforms of the nation’s financial services laws.

Belt holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the PBGC is charged with encouraging the continuation and maintenance of private defined benefit pension plans and to provide timely and uninterrupted payments in the case of terminated plans. The agency is funded through insurance premiums from covered companies and investment income.