President Trumps’s nomination of Preston Rutledge has many outside the Beltway rightly wondering just who Rutledge is, and how he compares with regulatory powerhouse Phyllis Borzi who preceded him.
Supporters and detractors alike note Rutledge is very familiar with the responsibilities of the role.
“As the Senior Tax and Benefits Counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, Rutledge is well acquainted with the staff and activities at EBSA,” the ESOP Association said in a statement Monday. “And as a practicing employee benefits litigator and counselor, he has seen first-hand how tax and benefit regulations are applied in the workplace.”
His responsibilities currently include employee benefits, retirement issues, tax-exempt organizations, health tax issues, and the tax provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
“Most importantly, if Mr. Rutledge’s nomination is approved, EBSA will be led by an individual familiar with the commitment of the Trump Administration to regulate business in a manner that is not burdensome to law-abiding corporations,” the organization adds, signaling Rutledge’s more “regulation averse” leanings than his predecessor.
Prior to joining the Finance Committee, Rutledge served as a senior tax law specialist on the headquarters staff of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the Internal Revenue Service, and as a senior technical reviewer in the Qualified Pension Plans Branch of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel.
During his tenure there, according to a bio released by the White House, he was a top performer and the recipient of an Office of Chief Counsel National Award.
Rutledge also served as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and worked in private law practice as an employee benefits counselor and ERISA litigator.
Rutledge earned a B.S. in business, cum laude, from the University of Idaho; J.D., with high honors, from the George Washington University School of Law, and an L.L.M.–taxation, with distinction, including a certificate in employee benefits law, from the Georgetown University Law Center.
“If confirmed, Rutledge will oversee, among other matters, the disability claim regulation discussed above, as well as the fiduciary rule, parts of which (like the best interest contract exemption) are postponed until July 1, 2019,” noted James Plunkett of the law firm Ogletree, Deakins.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
