President Bush has selected George M. Kraw of San Jose, Calif., Judith F. Mazo, of Washington, D.C., and Melody L. McDonald of San Francisco, for appointment to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
As members of the Advisory Committee, Mr. Kraw and Ms. Mazo will represent the interests of employees and Ms. McDonald will represent the interests of the general public. All three will serve for terms that will expire in 2005.
Mr. Kraw practices employee benefits law with the firm of Kraw & Kraw in San Jose. He represents multiemployer and multistate plans, including defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. Mr. Kraw holds a bachelor of arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz, a master of arts from the University of California at Berkeley, and a J.D. from the University of California's Boalt Hall School of Law.
Ms. Mazo is senior vice president and director of research for The Segal Company, a national benefits, compensation and human resources consulting firm. While practicing law in Washington, D.C., she specialized in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) law, and served as special counsel, senior attorney and executive assistant to the general counsel at PBGC. Ms. Mazo is an honors graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School.
Ms. McDonald is managing director at Dresdner RCM Global Investors LLC, an investment firm in San Francisco. Her investment management and banking career includes 15 years at DRCM and 4 years at Wells Fargo Bank. Ms. McDonald received a master of arts from the New England Conservatory of Music, a doctorate in music from Stanford University and a masters in business administration from Harvard Business School.
PBGC is a federal corporation created under ERISA to guarantee payment of basic pension benefits earned by about 44 million American workers and retirees participating in more than 35,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans. The agency receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed largely by insurance premiums paid by companies that sponsor pension plans and investment returns.
The PBGC Advisory Committee carries out several specific responsibilities outlined by ERISA, including advising on PBGC investment policies and procedures, the trusteeship of terminated plans, and other matters as determined by the PBGC.
