Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation:President Names PBGC Advisory Committee Members

 

News and Media Release

President Names PBGC Advisory Committee Members FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 16, 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has appointed the following members to serve on the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC): Jeanmarie Grisi of New Jersey, Mike Jacobson of Maryland, Joe LoCicero of New York, and Kweku Obed of Illinois.   “I am pleased to welcome the new members of the Advisory Committee,” said PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis. “They will represent the interests of employers and the public and we look forward to working with them.” The experience and expertise of the seven-member Advisory Committee will advise the agency on investment policy and other matters related to PBGC’s mission. Grisi has been reappointed to the Advisory Committee and will serve as the chair. She is head of global pensions at Nokia. She is responsible for the oversight of the investments and the group accounting for the Nokia pension and post-retirement benefit assets totaling over $35 billion. Previously, she was the U.S. chief investment officer of Alcatel-Lucent and served in a variety of retirement plan positions over the span of 21 years. Grisi is a member of the Board of Governors of St. John’s University, a director of Vantage Trust Company, LLC, a member of the GSUSA Investment Committee, and director for the Nokia Bell Pension Fund. She is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from St. John’s University in Queens, NY. She will continue to represent the interests of employers in addition to serving as Committee chair. Jacobson retired from his position as administrator of the National Automatic Sprinkler Industry (NASI) Funds; a position he held from 1984 to 2020. The NASI funds include three multiemployer defined benefit pension plans providing benefits to more than 10,000 retired participants in the construction industry; who were employed by more than 600 contributing employers nationwide. Jacobson is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist and holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary science education from the University of Maryland. He will represent the interests of the general public. LoCicero is currently the chair of the Segal Group. In 2005, he joined Segal as the president and chief executive officer (CEO). Prior to joining Segal, and following his combat service in the U.S. Army, LoCicero began his actuarial career at Buck Consultants where he became president, CEO, and chair. During his career, LoCicero served as a consulting actuary, where he worked on the design and funding of defined benefit retirement plans. LoCicero received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Hunter College and holds a Juris Doctorate degree from New York Law School. He is a fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and an enrolled actuary. LoCicero is a retired member of the Bar of the State of New York and the Bar of the State of New Jersey. He will represent the interests of the general public. Obed is a managing director for Marquette Associates and serves on the firm’s board of directors. His responsibilities include working with defined benefit and defined contribution clients on asset allocation, performance measurement and analysis, investment manager search, and investment policy development. Obed holds a Bachelor of Science with honors in economics from Queen Mary College, University of London, and a Master of Science in development economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a recipient of the Bernard Corry Prize in Economics. Obed is a chartered financial analyst and holds the chartered alternative investment analyst designation. He will represent the interests of employers. About PBGC PBGC protects the retirement security of over 33 million American workers, retirees, and beneficiaries in both single-employer and multiemployer private sector pension plans. The agency’s two insurance programs are legally separate and operationally and financially independent. PBGC is directly responsible for the benefits of more than 1.5 million participants and beneficiaries in failed pension plans. The Single-Employer Program is financed by insurance premiums, investment income, and assets and recoveries from failed single-employer plans. The Multiemployer Program is financed by insurance premiums. Special financial assistance for financially troubled multiemployer plans is financed by general taxpayer monies.