Heidi A. Lyon

Experience

• Designing and drafting defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans, including 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), 457, ESOPs, cash balance pension plans, and governmental plans
• Counseling employers and other plan fiduciaries on their duties, including engaging and retaining service providers through an RFP and plan governance issues
• Assisting ESOPs with strategic and compliance issues
• Implementing cash balance pension plans to facilitate tax-deferred retirement savings in excess of what a standard 401(k) plan allows
• Coordinating the merger and transition of retirement plans sponsored by a publicly traded company from multiple recordkeepers and investment service providers to one new provider
• Advising governmental plan sponsors on compliance with the unique framework of state and federal laws applicable to their plans
• Counseling tax-exempt employers and service providers on the issues raised by the final 403(b) regulations
• Designing early retirement programs to transition workforces
• Assisting employers with planning for acquisitions of new subsidiaries with substantially different existing benefit plan arrangements
• Structuring a plan with different levels of contributions for union and non-union employees at multiple locations within the same organization
• Reviewing, designing, and drafting non-qualified deferred compensation plans to reward executives and key employees and comply with Code Section 409A
• Performing preventative plan audits and client training to identify areas of non-compliance and inefficiency