EBSA Press Release: Labor Secretary Names ERISA Advisory Council Members [02/09/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

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Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman today appointed seven new members to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans to represent various sectors of the employee benefit industry.

The 15-member council makes policy recommendations on the implementation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). By law, its members are appointed to 3-year terms with one-third of the members rotating off the council each year. In 1998, in order for the council to operate with its full composition, the remaining term of two members were filled with new appointees.

Named to 3-year terms on the council are:

• Judith Calder of Glencoe, Ill.
• Richard Tani of Mount Prospect, Ill.
• Michael Gulotta of Annandale, N.J.
• Eddie C. Brown of Glen Arm, Md.
• Rose Mary Abelson of Hermosa Beach, Cal.

The Secretary also named Janie Greenwood-Harris of St. Louis, Mo., and Judith Mazo of Washington, D.C., to fill unexpired terms caused by the recent resignation of council member Richard McGahey and the death of member Vivian Hobbs. McGahey is awaiting confirmation as the department's assistant secretary for policy.

Judith Calder, who will represent employee organizations, is the founder and chief executive officer of Abacus Financial Group a woman- and minority-owned firm specializing in fixed-income asset management for public and private pension, endowment and Taft-Hartley plans. She has spent nearly two decades in investment management and banking with Wall Street firms and regional institutions, including Lehman Brothers and First Chicago Corp. Immediately before starting Abacus, she was vice president and manager of national markets for Harris Trust's bond department in Chicago. Calder has been a member of the University of Illinois board of trustees since 1992, is currently chairman of its finance and audit committees and is a trustee of the university's $6 billion retirement system.

Richard Tani, representing the general public, has been a retirement consultant with William M. Mercer, Inc., since 1972 and has worked with clients on retirement planning and plan designs. He is a fellow in the Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and has held positions in mathematics at Beloit and Elmhurst Colleges before joining Mercer.

Filling the council's actuarial position is Michael J. Gulotta, the president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey-based employee benefits consulting firm of Actuarial Sciences Associates. He has a multi-faceted perspective in all aspects of employer-provided benefits with his experience as an actuary and consultant who designed corporate plans. Gulotta also participated in sensitive negotiations with major communication unions and provided consulting services for a diverse client group. He is a member of the Financial Executives Institute and chairs the group's employee benefits committee, leading the institute in developing and advocating policy on pension security and expansion of health care coverage.

Gulotta is a member of the board of directors of Queens College Center for the New American Workforce. As chief actuary of AT&T, he was responsible for the actuarial allocation of $54 billion of the former Bell Systems pension plans. He is a fellow in the Society of Actuaries, member of the American Academy of Actuaries and the Conference of Actuaries in Public Practice. He also serves on the board of the Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans and on various committees of the ERISA Industry Committee.

Rose Mary Abelson, assistant treasurer and director of investments and trust management for Northrup Grumman Corp., will represent employer organizations on the council. With over 30 years of experience in the employee benefit field, she oversees investments for Grumman's $17 billion pension fund one of the top 25 largest funds in the country. Until 1996, Abelson headed pension, savings and welfare plan administration for all of the company. Prior to her positions with Grumman, she was manager of defined contribution plans with Beatrice Companies of Chicago and assistant treasurer of Coca Cola Bottling Company of Los Angeles.

Completing the unexpired terms of a departing member is Eddie C. Brown. Brown will represent the investment counseling field. As founder and president of Baltimore-based Brown Capital Management, he has more than 27 years of investment experience and previously was vice president and portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price Associates. For the past 17 years, Brown has been a regular panelist on the nationally televised public broadcasting program, Wall Street Week, and was inducted into the show's 1996 Hall of Fame. A recent news story noted that assets under management by Brown's company jumped almost 30 percent in 1997 alone to $3.2 billion. His company manages the assets of such clients as Texaco, Inc., the Oregon and Maryland public retirement systems and the City of Philadelphia's board of pensions. Brown formed the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Family Foundation to help African-American children in Baltimore and serves on several community boards, including chairmanship of the Baltimore Community Foundation's $60 million endowment.

Also joining the council to fill two unexpired terms are Janie Greenwood-Harris and Judith Mazo. Greenwood-Harris, a senior attorney for Mercantile Bancorporation in St. Louis since 1989, administers employee benefit trusts and other benefit accounts. She will fill one of the three employer posts on the council. Prior to her current position, she was with Citizens and Southern Bank of Columbia, S. C. (now NationsBank) and First American Trust Company of Nashville, Tenn. She was a trial attorney for the Labor Department in Nashville and handled litigation involving violations of various labor laws including Fair Labor Standards Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. She serves on the Metropolitan St. Louis YWCA board of directors, is involved in several committees of the national YWCA and committees of the United Way of Greater St. Louis and Catholic Charities of St. Louis.

Judith F. Mazo, senior vice president and director of research for the Segal Company, will fill the position of employee organizations representing multiemployer plans. In her position with the Segal Company she is responsible for directing research on public policy, legislative and regulatory issues and matters of interest to clients in the actuarial, benefits and compensation areas. Before joining Segal, Mazo served in a private law practice in Washington, specializing in ERISA and served as special counsel as well as senior attorney and executive assistant to the general counsel at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. She also was a consultant to the pension task force of the House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor.

Mazo is a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefit matters, a member of the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School and a member of the editorial advisory boards of BNA Pension Reporter and the Benefits Law Review. She is active in the American Bar Association, serving as chair of its task force on PBGC legislation relating to the tax section of the employee benefits committee, co-chair of the employee benefits committee of the labor law section and a council member of the real property, probate and trust section. For many years, she also has been an active member of the National Coordinating Committee for Multi-employer Plans.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.