Deals and People June 18, 2021

Retirement Industry People Moves

PBGC appoints new chief policy officer; OneAmerica selects RM leaders; and former Faegre Drinker attorney rejoins firm.

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Art by Subin Yang
Art by Subin Yang
Art by Subin Yang

PBGC Appoints New Chief Policy Officer

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has appointed Ann Orr as chief policy officer.

“PBGC welcomes Ann back to serve in a new capacity,” says PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis. “She previously served at PBGC from 2011 to 2019 and brings a wealth of agency knowledge and experience to our mission of protecting the retirement security of millions of Americans.”

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In her new position as chief policy officer, Orr leads the Office of Policy and External Affairs. In this role, she oversees the coordination of policy development, analysis, research and legislative affairs, as well as agency communications and interactions with PBGC stakeholders. Orr was most recently acting director of the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service. 

Orr served as chief of staff at PBGC from 2011 to 2019, where she helped manage top agency priorities and provided strategic advice to the director and agency officials. She also served as liaison to the board of directors and worked closely with White House officials and Congress.

Previously in her career, Orr worked at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), where she served as chief of staff. Additionally, she spent 10 years on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. There, she aided in efforts to enact legislation in elementary, secondary and vocational education.

Outside of her work in government, Orr was the executive director of two private-sector foundations: the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation and the National Trust for the Humanities.

Orr holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

OneAmerica Selects RM Leaders

OneAmerica has added two seasoned relationship management (RM) leaders. Rusty McGiboney will lead the mid/large market segment for OneAmerica and Todd Ludlum will fill a new regional vice president role on the small market team.

Each brings more than a quarter of a century of experience as a financial professional. They joined the company in May.

McGiboney, based in Atlanta, reports to Alan Blaskowski, vice president, relationship management. Ludlum, based in the Chicago area, reports to Ty Berry, senior director, relationship management, small market.

“Rusty and Todd bring a depth and versatility to our business with a mature approach that ultimately will improve our commitment to providing top-tier client service, while helping participants on their path to a secure retirement,” Blaskowski says. “They each bring a level of capability that enhances our existing talent while driving value for all of our stakeholders.”

Prior to joining OneAmerica, McGiboney led the East Coast Relationship Management team at Charles Schwab Corp., with responsibility for its largest clients.

“In 27 years in the retirement services industry, my goal has always been servicing my clients above and beyond their expectations,” says McGiboney, who leads a team of 20. “It was important for me to join a firm that possesses and lives those virtues every day; OneAmerica is a great fit for me.”

Ludlum, who was most recently with Lincoln Financial Group, will be the fourth small market RM leader—joining Amy Rice (Indianapolis), Bob Blumberg (Atlanta) and Lee Sutton (Denver).

“The OneAmerica approach to best-in-class service aligns with mine, and I’m excited to leverage my background to benefit our clients in a way that will only strengthen an area of focus that we’re known for in the industry,” Ludlum says. “We’ve got the momentum, reputation for collaboration and talent. I’m proud to be a part of the good things happening here.”

Former Faegre Drinker Attorney Rejoins Firm

Rick Pearl has rejoined Faegre Drinker as a partner in the benefits and executive compensation practice group in the Chicago office.

Pearl returns to the firm from McDermott Will & Emery. He formerly was with Drinker Biddle & Reath from 2016 to 2018. 

“Rick is a trusted adviser with a successful track record in high-stakes ERISA [Employee Retirement Income Security Act] and ESOP [employee stock ownership plan] litigation,” say co-leaders of the firm’s ESOP team, Jeremy Pelphrey and Phil Gutwein. “His experience working with businesses across industries on ESOP matters will be a great value to our clients as we guide them through complex ERISA and valuation issues.”

A researcher, writer and speaker, Pearl has been published in the “Journal of Employee Ownership” on the topic of indemnification of ERISA fiduciaries, and he has written papers and presented at national conferences and to university students on complex ERISA issues. 

In addition to his practice, Pearl is a member of the ESOP Association’s Public Policy Council and Valuation Advisory Committee. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and his juris doctor from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Compliance June 18, 2021

ACA Ruling Signifies Relief for Employers

But future expansions of the law could have plan sponsors reconsidering their benefits offerings, experts say.

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The Supreme Court has knocked out a Republican effort to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the third time since 2012.

The 7-2 majority vote squashed the most recent argument to come before the Supreme Court in the ACA litigation trilogy, securing the health law and evading potentially months of plan reversals. Technically, the final decision came down to a basic issue: The court ruled that the Republican-led states challenging the law had not shown that they were harmed by the elimination of the requirement that Americans obtain insurance or pay a penalty, and thus they had no standing to sue.

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“The ruling brings an end to the most recent challenge to the ACA, and, while the full effects of any given Supreme Court opinion are often unknown for some time, that is not the case here,” George Katsoudas, senior vice president, compliance counsel, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., tells PLANSPONSOR. “This ruling means that the ACA remains the law of the land.”

On the policy side, President Joe Biden, his administration and the Senate majority leadership have stated their interest in further building and expanding the ACA, notes Kathryn Bakich, national director of health care compliance and senior vice president at Segal, a human resources (HR) and employee benefits consulting firm. The Biden administration took its first step into health care legislation with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which extended eligibility for ACA health insurance subsidies to those purchasing their own coverage and lowered health insurance premiums for qualified lower- and middle-income families. 

The Biden administration additionally has said it would like to change the firewall between employee contributions and exchanges, to allow and expand subsidies for those who already own employer health plan coverage, Bakich adds. This could potentially wean employees off any existing health insurance coverage, if they find the public option is a better fit for them. “This is something that we must watch carefully because employer coverage is still good coverage,” Bakich says.

Therefore, she says, it’s important for employers to make sure their benefit offerings are up-to-date and remain competitive down the line.

“In the long term, we will likely continue to see employer strategies and benefit offerings evolve to deal with not only the demographic changes and needs of their workforce but, also, to deal with the legislative challenges that they face,” Katsoudas says.

Ahead of the ACA’s ruling, Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at DirectPath, a benefits education, enrollment and health care transparency firm, had warned plan sponsors about what could happen if the ACA was overturned. Now that a decision has been made, she says, and with potential legislative updates looming in the future, employers should rethink what offerings they’ll include for this year’s open enrollment period and what they would like to implement down the line, including health care price transparency and prescription drug coverage.

“I think there was some hesitancy among plan sponsors to make substantive changes to their plans with the fate of the ACA up in the air,” she adds. “Now that this has been resolved, we may see some interesting new plan designs emerging.”

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