We now know what’s next for the former head of the Employee Benefit Security Administration.
Former Assistant Secretary of Labor Preston Rutledge has launched The Rutledge Policy Group, a government affairs consultancy focused on retirement savings and employee benefits policy. The new initiative was mentioned during Rutledge’s presentation that kicked off the 2020 NAPA 401(k) Cyber Summit along with NAPA Executive Director Brian Graff.
Rutledge left the agency at the end of May. He had been nominated to the post in October 2017 by President Trump. He was confirmed by voice vote of the Senate later that same year.
His tenure included a number of significant regulatory advances, including Association Retirement Plans and an e-delivery safe harbor regulation, as well as working on clarifications and regulations emerging from the passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Rutledge has a rich history with retirement policy. Prior to heading up the EBSA, Rutledge was senior tax and benefits counsel on the Majority Tax Staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, where his responsibilities included employee benefits, retirement issues, tax-exempt organizations, health tax issues and the tax provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Prior to that he served as a senior tax law specialist on the Headquarters Staff of the IRS’ Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division and as a senior technical reviewer in the Qualified Pension Plans Branch of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel. During his tenure there, he was the recipient of an Office of Chief Counsel National Award.
Rutledge also served as a law clerk on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and worked in private law practice as an employee benefits counselor and ERISA litigator. Rutledge earned a B.S. in business, cum laude, from the University of Idaho; J.D., with high honors, from the George Washington University School of Law; and an L.L.M. in taxation, with distinction, including a certificate in employee benefits law, from the Georgetown University Law Center.
More information is available at https://www.rutledgepolicy.com.
