US Department of Labor appoints new ERISA Advisory Council members

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of five members and leadership for the 2024 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

By law, members serve for staggered three-year terms representing nine fields. Three members represent employee organizations, three represent employers and three represent the general public. One member each from accounting, actuarial counseling, corporate trust, insurance, investment counseling and investment management is selected.

“The ERISA Advisory Council plays a fundamental role in advising the Department of Labor,” said Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez.  “We look forward to the expertise that each of the new members will bring to the council and are thankful for their invaluable contributions of time and talent.”

The 2024 appointees and their areas of expertise are as follows:

• Corporate trust: William E. Ryan III is the head of defined contribution for investment consultant New England Pension Consultants LLC. Ryan leads the firm’s defined contribution plan practice and is responsible for a team of investment professionals that support clients with over $400 billion in retirement assets. 
• Employee organizations: Anusha Rasalingam is a partner at Friedman and Anspach, Attorneys at Law and has 20 years of experience in employee benefits law. She advises on healthcare and retirement benefits issues for single and multiemployer plans and counsels on compliance with multiple areas of ERISA. 
• Employers: Charles B. Wolf is a retired shareholder of the law firm Vedder Price P.C. and teaches Employee Benefits Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He practiced employee benefits law for more than 40 years, representing employers and multiemployer benefit funds on benefit plan administration, withdrawal liability, and corporate and plan sponsor transactions and planning. 
• General public: Regina T. Jefferson is a professor of law at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law with more than 30 years of experience teaching ERISA and tax-related courses. From 2015-2021, she served on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Advisory Committee.
• Investment management: Kathleen McBride is an accredited investment fiduciary analyst, with investment advisory, research, fiduciary process and conflicts of interest expertise. Founder and President of FiduciaryPath LLC, she is an ERISA 402(a) fiduciary expert for Fiduciary Wise LLC. 

Current ERISA Advisory Council member Mayoung Nham will serve as council chair in 2024. Nham is a principal with the law firm of Slevin & Hart PC. She has more than 15 years of experience in employee benefits law, representing multiemployer pension plans and welfare funds on plan design, tax qualification, disclosure, contracting, compliance and other issues. 

Current ERISA Advisory Council member Shaun C. O’Brien will serve as council vice chair in 2024. O’Brien is a policy director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He has more than 25 years of experience in employee benefits and oversees AFSCME’s federal policy work on employee benefits issues.

The council’s first meeting for 2024 will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, and is open to the public. Notice of the meeting will be published in the Federal Register and details will be available on the council web page in April.

More information about the ERISA Advisory Council, including the reports of the 2023 ERISA Advisory Council, can be found on the council web page.