Cindy serves as the firm's retirement plan administrator and only employee benefits paralegal. She is responsible for the daily, firmwide operations of the 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan and Cash Balance Plan. The retirement plan administrator's role and responsibilities provide Cindy with a unique viewpoint and understanding of the challenges clients’ human resources and finance team members face in administering qualified retirement plans for compliance, implementing best practices, and addressing the needs of the employees and partners.
As an employee benefits paralegal, Cindy’s experience includes assisting clients with qualified retirement plan design and compliance matters, creating employee communication documents, and drafting and amending individually designed qualified plans and administrative forms. Cindy is also skilled in reviewing qualified domestic relations orders, preparing the necessary forms and documentation for submission of qualified plans to the IRS for a determination letter or review under the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (voluntary compliance program or VCP), and assisting clients with the necessary steps to self-correct plan administration matters under the VCP.
In addition, Cindy drafts responses to issues raised by the IRS on specific client plans, prepares the documentation needed to terminate a qualified retirement plans, and performs client audits relating to retirement plan compliance.
Cindy's corporate transactional skills are multifaceted. Her involvement has included reviewing employee benefit plans and retirement plans for compliance and transition purposes, organizing and analyzing other corporate, contract and real estate due diligence documentation, and drafting closing documents.
Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg, Cindy worked for a retirement plan administration firm as a pension and employee benefits paralegal. She also worked for Muldoon, Murphy & Faucette and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C., as a corporate finance and regulatory paralegal primarily involved in initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions.
