Wharton’s Pension Research Council Taps Covington’s Shea
October 17, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC, October 17, 2012 — Richard Shea, a Covington & Burling partner and leading pension authority, has been appointed to the Pension Research Council Advisory Board at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Wharton’s dean appoints the board from leaders in the employee benefits field, including academics, government policymakers, financial industry executives, actuaries, and labor representatives.
The Pension Research Council sponsors interdisciplinary research on private pension and social security programs, as well as related benefit plans, in the United States and around the world. Mr. Shea, a senior partner in Covington’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice, will serve a 5-year term on the board.
“We are delighted to welcome Richard Shea to the Pension Research Council, and we look forward to his insights about pension design, regulatory and tax issues pertinent to the retirement system, and thoughts on plan sponsor challenges and opportunities,” said Olivia Mitchell, executive director of the Pension Research Council and professor of insurance and risk management at Wharton. Mr. Shea joins the board at the same time as Dr. Raimond Maurer, professor of finance at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mr. Shea is widely regarded as an industry leader in helping companies design and implement innovative benefit plans. His practice encompasses legislative, rulemaking, audit, litigation, and advisory roles of significance to his clients.
Before joining Covington in 1991, Mr. Shea served in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was responsible for developing federal tax legislation and regulations governing employee benefits and executive compensation.