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2012 Officers
President Jeff Capwell
McGuireWoods LLP
Charlotte, North Carolina
jcapwell@mcguirewoods.com
Vice PresidentKathy Solley Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP Atlanta, Georgia kathy.solley@nelsonmullins.com TreasurerDebra Mackey Burr & Forman LLP Birmingham, Alabama dmackey@burr.com Secretary Howard Whitehead Atlanta, Georgia hmwhitehead_2000@yahoo.com 2012 Steering Committee Bert Carmody Southeastern Fiduciary Services LLC Atlanta, Georgia bertcarmody@comcast.net Jim Hill Regions/Morgan Keegan Atlanta, Georgia jim.hill@regions.com Frasier Ives Wells Fargo Insurance Services Charlotte, North Carolina frasier.ives@wellsfargo.com Susan Rosenbleeth Buck Consultants Atlanta, Georgia susan.rosenbleeth@buckconsultants.com Keith Wagner Allianz Global Investors Distributors Atlanta, Georgia keith.wagner@allianzinvestors.com James Worrell Georgia Gulf Corporation Atlanta, Georgia worrellj@ggc.com Executive Director
Anne McKillips3334 Peachtree Road NE Suite 709 Atlanta, Georgia 30326 404-812-9132 amckillips@sebc.org
Bransford Fund Committee Chair
Allianz Global Investors Distributors
Atlanta, Georgia
keith.wagner@allianzinvestors.com
Communications Committee Chair Melinda Burnham PricewaterhouseCoopers Tampa, FL melinda.burnham@us.pwc.com Fundraising Committee Chair David Lyons Lowe Brockbrough & Co. Richmond, VA dlyons@lowebrockenbrough.com Membership Committee Chair Christina Broxterman Ogletree Deakins Atlanta, GA christina.broxterman@odnss.com Program Committee Chair Fred Stewart Portfolio Evaluations, Inc Atlanta, GA fstewart@porteval.com Website Committee Bert Carmody Southeastern Fiduciary Services LLC Atlanta, Georgia bertcarmody@comcast.net **************************************** SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Your Fundraising Committee is actively seeking sponsors for our events next year. Thank you to the following firms that have already committed to be sponsors for 2012: SPRING CONFERENCE SPONSORS CIGNA- Title Sponsor McGuire Woods LLP - Breakout Session Nelson Mullins - Registration Desk FALL CONFERENCESPONSORS McGuire Woods LLP - Closing Reception Nelson Mullins - Breakout Session Our Sponsors are critical to the financial well being of the conference. Without them we would not be able to bring the high quality programs we do to you the members at the very reasonable cost we do. Also, please note the SEBC is a 501(c)3 organization and as such we also look for donations. We will be happy to provide you with a letter documenting your donation and a copy of our letter for your records. To make a donation, just send a check to: SEBC 3334 Peachtree Road, NE Suite 709 Atlanta, Georgia 30326 To make a donation by credit card, just let Anne McKillips know and she will take it from there. We would appreciate all donations - big or small! Any questions about Sponsorships, please contact either Fundraising Committee Chair David Lyons at dlyons@lowebrockenbrough.com or Anne McKillips at amckillips@sebc.org. ****************************************
Every newsletter the Communications Committee will try and focus on one of our members. With that in mind please meet Bert Carmody:
Bert is the founder of Southeastern Fiduciary Services, LLC providing independent fiduciary, operations and governance support to retirement plan sponsors. In October of this year, his company partnered with Millenium Investment and Retirement Advisors, LLC. Together the companies bring stronger compliance and investment consulting to their plan sponsor clients. Bert brings over 30 years of experience in his field. Bert enjoys the special gift that enables him to explain his very complex subject matter in an easy to understand manner.
On a personal note, Bert always has a smile on his face and his hand out to meet new professionals
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Bert has been a SEBC member since 1995 and currently serves on the Steering Committee and is the website coordinator. In the past he has also served on the Program and Communications Committees. Bert enjoys participating in the SEBC because of the professional interchange of ideas, the strong legal bent of the organization and after all these years, the professional fellowship between members.
He and his wife, Alice, live in Atlanta. His children are grown, son is a Presbyterian Minister and daughter is a social worker. Bert is a grandfather to a cute (!!) 18 month old boy. His favorite hobby is cycling *********************************
Don't forget to join the Linked-In Group Southern Employee Benefits Group. We pose questions we get on here for discussion or answers. The more interaction we have the better it is for everyone and those that are not SEBC members but belong to the Linked In Group may see some of the membership benefits by joining the SEBC. |
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HAPPY HOIDAYS TO ALL AND BEST WISHES FOR A SAFE, PROSPEROUS AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR FROM THE SEBC!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT ALL IS HAPPENING?
The SEBC has been very busy behind the scenes. In addition to creating a retiree membership class, there are many other changes you will see in the next couple months.
For the past few years Drohan Management was our back office for administrative, event and financial reporting support. Effective January 1, 2012 we will be working with Projects Unlimited Inc. out of Birmingham. Many of you know Cathy Vail, who was with Drohan and has attended our conferences, will be missed but your Steering Committee determined our needs have changed. Ed Fields from Projects Unlimited Inc. will be at the conference in the Spring and I am sure everyone will enjoy meeting him.
Also as part of many changes, we will be changing our credit card processing company as well as our website hosting. This will mean an upgrade to our website and the way you use the website for conference registration and paying your dues. We will keep you posted but wanted to ask your patience if over the next couple of months we hit some glitches.
With the moves we are making, we will reduce our overhead by several thousand dollars a year. With the economy the way it is, your Steering Committee continues to work diligently to be good stewards of your organization.
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ANNUAL DUES ARE DUE!!!
Annual Dues remain at $250 per person for service providers such as attorneys, brokers, consultants, money managers, etc.
For Plan Sponsors only the annual dues of $250 is a corporate membership whereby they can have as many members as is appropriate for their firm.
You can renew your dues on our website here
Not a member - you should be - click here to join
You can renew or join on line or by check if you prefer. Renew now if you want to get it in this year's budget rather than in 2012's budget.
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Thank you to all those who completed the survey. 83% of those responding like the idea of an event the day before a full day of educational sessions. And 85% and 100% of those completing the survey indicated they did not attend the Spring or Fall conference, simply due to schedule conflicts. Costs and locations were the reasons less than 15% did not attend. Our events continue to be a good value and worth the time and cost to attend.
The choice of Monday and Tuesday was the preferred format for 49% with Thursday and Friday being the second choice at 25% and Wednesday and Thursday coming in third at 15.7%.
Your Steering Commmittee will use this information as we plan future events. Thank you to each of you who took the time to complete our survey. |
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ANNUAL EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE
Pre-Conference Activities-Monday April 16, 2012
Educational Sessions - Tuesday April 17, 2012
Chateau Elan - Braselton, GA
(just north of Atlanta)
Planning is well underway underway for this wonderful and always excellent event. We are pleased to let you now that our lunch speaker on Tuesday the 17th will be Jeff Arnold - founder of WebMD, How Stuff Works and his newest venture ShareCare. He is a visionary, well-known entrepreneur and venture capitalist. It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on everything from the role of social media, healthcare and so much more.
On Monday, we will have our annual Golf Fundraising Tournament - we will start about noon or so to allow everyone to fly in on Monday morning. Tim McCabe will be organizing the event as he has for several years so we know everyyone will have an excellent time.
Monday will also include a bike ride, and other ways to network and get to know one another. That is one thing that came out in our survey and conversations with members - have more activities that allow time to meet others in the industry. Our educational sessions are well attended and because we have such a tight schedule on that day, we are looking at ways to provide additional networking times.
Tuesday morning we will begin bright and early around 8am (so you may want to come in Monday night) with sessions all day. And these sessions will be packed with timely and relevant information. We have guaranteed rates of $169 which is available for the weekend prior to the conference. Chateau Elan is a great place for a weekend get-away. The spa, golf course, winery and so much more. Plan now to make it a weekend get-away.
Watch for more details to come. But make sure it is on your calendar!! |
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COMMITTEE UPDATES
Communications Committee - Chair - Melinda Burnham
Under the leadership of Melinda, committee members Aylmer Magill, Marcia Jerding, Kate Crouch and Bard Brockman are responsible for preparing updates fo rthe newsletter. All are new to the committee except for Bard who has been providing the legal update for our ongoing SEBC Newsletter, The group will be preparing updates for the newsletters which includes the SEBC committee updates, information about fellow SEBC members (so we can get to know some of our members) and will continue to provide a legal update.
The committee has also agreed to take on documenting the spring and fall education events with photos. We may ask some of our members to take pictures as these events and email them to us or Anne McKillips for our newsletters and reports back to the SEBC. With camera phones many of us carry today, this should be a pretty easy task to accomplish.
Membership Committe - Chair - Christina Broxterman
The Membership Committee welcomes Tilda Kaplan as our first Retiree Member. There have been many requests for this membership class for years and this year it was implemented. Retiree's pay $100 membership dues and plan sponsor rates to attend conferences. Many of our members have become friends and developed great relationships over the years they have been members and want to remain in touch. There are several other applications pending and we look forward to welcoming more retiree members.
We also welsome Felicia Mitchell who is an associate at McGuire Woods LLP in Charlotte as a new member of the SEBC. We look forward to meeting her at the April meeting.
In their first meeting, the Membership Committee discussed taking larger efforts to increase membership. They have created a business plan that they reviewed and committed to at their second meeting. Items discussed included targeted letters and emails, complimentary breakfast briefing, etc. They are currently preparing a list of industries they may want to target to increase plan sponsor membership. In their meetings they have discussed the many benefits of SEBC membership that can be promoted (e.g.discounts on functions, newsletter, referral source, job bank, linked-in group, which functions as a virtual network). More to come.
Program Committe - Chair - Fred Stewart
During December, the '12 Program Committee "officially" met for the 1st time to begin planning the Program for the year. Many great ideas were shared and happy to report that we have a 1st draft of a comprehensive agenda of topics to engage & inspire the SEBC members! Our goal is to develop a program that is inclusive of many of the challenges Plan Sponsors face in the areas of Health/Welfare, Retirement Plans, and even emerging issues in the workplace including social media.
With Jeff Arnold as our luncheon speaker, this will be a program not to be missed.
Website Committee - Chair - Bert Carmody
The Website Committee is responsible for keeping the website updated for benefit of the SEBC members, prospective members and visitors. This includes making sure the membership list is the most up to date, all notices and pages reflect the latest conference or fly-in information and membership application/renewal forms. Of particular interest is the Resources tab where you access links to the DOL, IRS, Congress, and professional organizations. The Committee is in constant operation updating pages. The success of the website also rests on the members - if you find an error, let us know.
Legislative update - Thank you to Bard Brockman from Bryan Cave LLP for his contribution to this. Please remember this is general information and you should consult your legal counsel for specific advise for your situation. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bard at bard.brockman@bryancave.com
Qualified Plan Limits
The IRS recently issued a press release announcing its 2012 cost-of-living adjustments for retirement plans. The chart below reflects the qualified plan limits for calendar years 2011-2012.
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Type of Limitation |
2012 |
2011 | |
Elective Deferrals (401(k) & 403(b); not including adjustments & catch-ups) |
$17,000 |
$16,500 | |
457(b)(2) and 457(c)(1) Limits (not including catch-ups) |
$17,000 |
$16,500 | |
Section 414(v) Catch-Up Deferrals to 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), or SARSEP Plans[1] |
$5,500 |
$5,500 | |
SIMPLE 401(k) or regular SIMPLE plans, Catch-Up Deferrals |
$2,500 |
$2,500 | |
415 limit for Defined Benefit Plans |
$200,000 |
$195,000 | |
415 limit for Defined Contribution Plans |
$50,000 |
$49,000 | |
Annual Compensation Limit |
$250,000 |
$245,000 | |
Annual Compensation Limit for Grandfathered Participants in Governmental Plans Which Followed 401(a)(17) Limits (With Indexing) on July 1, 1993 |
$375,000 |
$360,000 | |
Highly Compensated Employee 414(q)(1)(B) |
$115,000 |
$110,000 | |
Key employee in top heavy plan (officer) |
$165,000 |
$160,000 | |
SIMPLE Salary Deferral |
$11,500 |
$11,500 | |
Tax Credit ESOP Maximum balance |
$1,015,000 |
$985,000 | |
Amount for Lengthening of 5-Year ESOP Period |
$200,000 |
$195,000 | |
Taxable Wage Base |
$110,100 |
$106,800 | |
FICA Tax for employees and employers |
7.65% |
7.65% | |
Social Security Tax for employees and employers |
6.2% |
6.2% | |
Medicare Tax for employees and employers |
1.45% |
1.45% |
[1] This number is only the catch-up available under code Section 414(v). Code Sections 457(b)(3) and 402(g) provide separate catch-up rules, which must also be considered in appropriate cases.
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