Mark D. Wincek

Mark D. Wincek

Mark D. Wincek is a partner and leader in the Employee Benefits Practice Group of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, whose practice concentrates on qualified retirement plans, welfare benefits and flexible and executive compensation.

Mr. Wincek is a former Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he lectured on Tax Aspects of Welfare Benefit Plans. In addition, he is a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Benefits Law Journal, 1988-present, a member of the ECFC Flex Advisory Council, and a member of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association, where he served as Chairman of the Statutory Welfare Benefits Subcommittee, 1986 1990. Mr. Wincek is listed in the 2007 and 2008 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Law as well as in 2005 as both a "Leading Individual (Employee Benefits)" and as a leading member of one of only four Washington, D.C. benefits practices receiving Chambers highest rating ("Band 1"). He also has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Employee Benefits Law since 2005. Mr. Wincek is admitted to the Bar in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts, and he is certified in flexible compensation instruction.

Selected Experience

· Since 1981, representation of a Fortune 50 company that was one of the nation's earliest adopters of flexible benefits and that has been a consistent innovator in the delivery of employee benefits to its employees;

· Developer of a widely imitated VEBA pre-funding strategy for collectively bargained employees (the only pre-funding strategy that has survived IRS challenge);

· Serving as counsel to the Cafeteria Plan Coalition, an employer group that worked to protect cafeteria plans in Congress and with the IRS;

· Founding the Cash Balance Practitioners Group, a group that had worked for reasonable rules for cash balance plans;

· Assisting the Coalition to Promote Employee Stock Ownership to achieve enactment of the Worker Economic Opportunity Act, which exempts certain stock compensation programs from the overtime provisions of the federal wage and hour laws;

· Playing a leading role in the coalition that successfully sought relief for the pension funding pressures caused by recent declines in 30-year Treasury bond yields.

· Assisting the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) on cafeteria plan and welfare benefits matters (including representing ECFC in the IRS hearing on the section 132(f) transportation benefit regulations and leading the discussion with Treasury and IRS regarding HRAs at the ECFC's July 11, 2002 conference); and

· Working with IRS and Treasury to fashion reasonable rules for using debit cards to make payments under HRAs and FSAs.

· From 1976 to 1981, Mr. Wincek was on the staff of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, serving as Senior Subcommittee Counsel to the Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee in 1980 and 1981. While on the Hill, Mr. Wincek participated in the initial drafting and enactment of Code section 125, the Code provisions on dependent care assistance, as well as provisions that still govern health and welfare plan nondiscrimination.

Publications, Articles and Speeches

Mr. Wincek is a frequent writer on employee benefits matters. He has contributed to the Benefits Law Journal, the Journal of Pension Planning and Compliance, the National Law Journal, the Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, Tax Notes, the Journal of Pension Benefits and the Proceedings of the New York University Annual Conference on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (NYU Annual Conference). His articles and publications include:

· Taxation of Educational Assistance to Employees, a publication of the American Society of Training and Development.

· DOL's MEWA Booklet: Accidental MEWA Trap Widens, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Summer 1993, at 193.

· IRS Confirms that Most Health FSAs Funded with Cashable Credits Are Exempt from HIPPA, THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, June 1998.

· How to Fix a Broken Cafeteria Plan (Parts I, II and III), THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, September 1998, March 1999, September 2000.

· Identifying Deferred Compensation under the Final 3121(v)(2) Regulations, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Autumn 1999, at 37.

· Working with the Final 3121(v)(2) Regulations, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Winter 1999, at 51.

· Another IRS Green Light for Negative Elections (But Where's DOL?), THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, March 2000.

· Congress Passes Bill to Exclude Stock Option Profits from Overtime, EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION UPDATE, May 2000.

· Making the Overtime Laws Safe for Stock Options, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Autumn 2000, at 11.

· ECFC Testifies at the Transportation Regulations Hearing: Much Ado About Vouchers, THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, June 2000

· Charging Ahead with FSA Debit Cards - What Do the Regulations Say? THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, December 2000.

· Split-Dollar Deflation: Notice 2001-10 and TAM 200002047, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Spring 2001, at 53.

· EGTRRA's Impact on FSAs - A Mixed Bag (At Best), THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, September 2001.

· Reinventing Vacation Trading, THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, December 2001.

· Emerging Flexible Benefit Opportunities, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Winter 2001, at 9.

· EGTRRA Throws a Wet Diaper on Dependent Care FSAs, THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, March 2002.

· Split-Dollar Redux: Notice 2002-8, BENEFITS LAW JOURNAL, Summer 2002, at 83.

· An Employer Roadmap and Implementation Model for the HIPAA Privacy Rules, THE ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, June 2002.

· Final HIPAA Privacy Regulation Modifications: Highlights for Group Health Plans and Plan Sponsors, ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, September 2002.

· Guidance on Debit Cards: How Policymakers Should Proceed, ECFC/CPAC FLEX REPORTER, September 2002.

· Mr. Wincek is a regular speaker at the ABA National Institute on Welfare Plans and conferences sponsored by the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation. He is the featured presenter on Celesq, Inc.'s video seminar entitled "Essential 2003 Health Plan Compliance: HIPAA and ERISA." His speaking appearances also include the NYU Annual Conference, the Southern Employee Benefits Conference, the Enrolled Actuaries Annual Meeting and conferences sponsored by Executive Enterprises, Prentice Hall, and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

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