Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has scheduled a mark-up to consider Lisa Gomez to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the Department of Labor.
The hearing will take place next Tuesday, November 30, at 10:00 AM ET. If confirmed, Gomez will replace Acting Assistant Secretary Ali Khawar.
Gomez is a partner with New York City-based law firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP and the Chair of the Firm’s Management Committee.
According to a White House statement, Gomez has developed deep technical and practical experience in the multifaceted field of employee benefits law since 1994, representing various Taft-Hartley and multiemployer pension and welfare plans, single-employer plans, jointly administered training program trust funds, a federal employees health benefit (FEHB) plan, supplemental health plans, and VEBAs.
“Gomez would likely play a key role in determining the regulatory approach for a number of significant high-profile issues.”
In 2014, she was inducted as a Fellow of The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Inc. in recognition of her over 20 years of practice in employee benefits law and her contributions to the field.
EBSA has been led by Khawar, a political appointee, since March 25, 2021. He succeeded Acting Assistant Secretary Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson, who replaced Preston Rutledge following his departure at the end of May 2020.
If confirmed by the Senate, Gomez would likely play a key role in determining the regulatory approach for a number of significant high-profile issues making headlines in the past year.
Among them are changing the definition of fiduciary, ESG investing, cybersecurity guidance, missing participants and private equity in DC plans.
EBSA oversees nearly 722,000 retirement plans, 2.5 million health plans, and other benefits plans in the amount of $10.7 trillion dollars. It announced earlier this week that it recovered more than $2.4 billion in direct payments to plans, participants, and beneficiaries in fiscal year 2021.
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.
