The Department of Labor today announced the appointment of five new members and leadership for the 2025 ERISA Advisory Council.
“The ERISA Advisory Council plays an invaluable role advising the Department of Labor on important issues.”
Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez
The 15-member council, formally known as the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, 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 3-year terms representing nine fields. Three members represent employee organizations, three represent employers and three represent the general public. One member is selected from accounting, actuarial counseling, corporate trust, insurance, investment counseling and investment management fields.
“The ERISA Advisory Council plays an invaluable role advising the Department of Labor on important issues,” said Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez. “We look forward to the contributions of the new members and are thankful for the extensive expertise and experience they will bring to the council, and we thank the outgoing members for their time, service and contributions to the work of the council.”
The 2025 appointees and their areas of expertise are as follows:
- Actuarial Counseling: Christian Benjaminson is a vice president and principal consulting actuary at Cheiron Inc. primarily advising multiemployer plans in the trucking, manufacturing, construction, communications and grocery industries. Benjaminson has more than 25 years of experience as an actuarial consultant and a Society of Actuaries’ Fellow, and an enrolled actuary and member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
- Employee Organizations: Wendell Young is the President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 Keystone State as well as Vice President of the UFCW International Union. Young serves as a trustee overseeing health and pension benefit trust funds for the union’s 35,000 members. He also serves on the Strategic Initiative Steering Committee for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
- Employers: Jay Dorsch is the chair of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice of Cozen O’Connor, a law firm representing clients in all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation matters and related fiduciary and tax concerns. Dorsch represents clients before the IRS, the Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
- General Public: Elizabeth Hopkins is a senior partner at Kantor & Kantor LLP and head of the law firm’s pension practice. Hopkins joined the firm in 2018 after a long career at the Department of Labor where, for 15 years, she served as head of the ERISA appellate and amicus program. In that role, she oversaw nationwide litigation designed to advance the interests of workers and their families with regard to their employee benefits.
- Investment Counseling: Craig Wright is a founding partner at Strategic Financial and has 15 years of experience as a financial advisor. Wright received a master’s degree in business administration from Southwest Baptist University. He is a Certified Financial Planner and has holds a Chartered Financial Consultant designation.
Current ERISA Advisory Council member Mayoung Nham will continue to serve as Council Chair in 2025. A principal with the law firm of Slevin & Hart PC, Nham has over 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 Anusha Rasalingam will serve as the council’s Vice Chair in 2025. A partner at Friedman and Anspach, Rasalingam 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.
The outgoing members are Actuarial Counseling: Tonya Manning, U.S. Defined Benefit Consulting and Administration Practice Leader and Chief Actuary at Gallagher; Employee Organizations: Shaun C. O’Brien, Policy Director at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Employers: Holly Verdeyen, partner and U.S. Defined Contribution Leader at Mercer; General Public: Jeffrey Lewis, partner at Keller Rohrback LLP; Investment Counseling: Beth Halberstadt, senior partner and U.S. Defined Contribution Investment Solutions Leader at Aon Investments USA Inc.
The five new members join the following returning members:
• Mayoung Nham (2023-2025), Principal, Slevin & Hart, PC, Washington, DC, representing Employee Organizations, Advisory Council Chair
• Mark DeBofsky (2023-2025), Principal Member, DeBofsky Law, Ltd., Chicago, IL, representing the General Public
• Regina T. Jefferson (2024-2026), Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, representing the General Public
• Gwen Mazzola (2023-2025), Partner and ERISA Practice Leader, HoganTaylor LLP, Fayetteville, AR, representing Accounting
• Kathleen M. McBride (2024-2026), Founder and President of FiduciaryPath LLC, Rumson, NJ, representing Investment Management
• Alice Palmer (2023-2025), Vice President, Chief Counsel, Retirement Plan Service, Lincoln Financial Group, Radnor, PA, representing Insurance
• Anusha Rasalingam (2024-2026), Partner, Friedman & Anspach Attorneys at Law, New York, NY, representing Employee Organizations
• William E. Ryan III (2024-2026), Partner and Head of Defined Contribution Solutions, New England Pension Consultants LLC, Chicago, IL, representing Corporate Trust
• John M. (Jack) Towarnicky (2023-2025), Of Counsel, Koehler Fitzgerald, LLC and member, aequum, LLC, Powell, OH, representing Employers
• Charles B. Wolf (2024-2026), Retired, Shareholder of the law firm Vedder Price P.C., Chicago, IL, representing Employers
More information about the ERISA Advisory Council, including the reports of the ERISA Advisory Council, can be found on the council web page.
SEE ALSO:
• 2025’s Best ERISA Law Firms Revealed; Groom Takes Top Honor
• Department of Labor Calls for Nominations to ERISA Advisory Council
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
