NEWS RELEASE

January 28, 2009
PR-09/03
For additional information:
Jason Hammersla
202-289-6700

Council welcomes Porter as senior vice president, international benefits & chief actuary

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “With a great deal of pleasure, we welcome Kenneth W. Porter to the American Benefits Council staff as senior vice president, international benefits & chief actuary,” Council president James A. Klein said today. Porter comes to the Council after a distinguished 35-year career at The DuPont company, where he most recently served as director of corporate insurance & global benefits financial planning.

“Few corporate benefits professionals are as well known and as highly regarded in the business community and among government officials as Ken Porter,” Klein said. “Ken’s expertise has been sought not only by his peers in the business and benefits community, but by government officials of both parties in both the legislative and executive branches of government. In addition to frequently testifying before Congress and regulatory agencies on health and retirement matters, Ken has served as an outside advisor to the White House regarding national health financing and as an advisor to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in redesigning the federal retirement system.”

Porter had represented DuPont on the Council’s Board of Directors since 1989 and was elected by his colleagues as the Chair of the Board of Directors in 1997-1998. He has held numerous other leadership roles representing employers and the actuarial profession, including chair of the Board of Directors of the ERISA Industry Committee, chair of the Business Roundtable Working Group on U.S. Pension Reform, and as a director of the American Academy of Actuaries.

“For 35 years Ken has faced many of the same challenges as all our members and he helped shape creative strategies that major plan sponsors require to compete globally. This is an invaluable resource for our member companies and for the legislative and regulatory officials who rely on the Council to help craft sound employee benefits policy,” Klein said.

Ken’s principal duties at the Council will be to work with the rest of the policy and advocacy staff on the full array of U.S. health, retirement and non-qualified deferred compensation matters on behalf of our members. In addition, Ken will have primary responsibility for our international benefits activity, which is an area of growing engagement for the Council, particularly in the Council’s service as a private sector advisor to the U.S. delegation to the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“2009 and the years ahead will present enormous challenges and opportunities for the employee benefits system and potentially dramatic change in health and retirement policy,” Klein said. “We are excited to have Ken Porter on our team to meet those challenges and pursue those opportunities on behalf of our members.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Council staff, please contact Jason Hammersla, Council director of communications, at jhammersla@abcstaff.org or by phone at 202-289-6700 (office) or (202) 253-5458 (cell).

The American Benefits Council is the national trade association for companies concerned about federal legislation and regulations affecting all aspects of the employee benefits system. The Councils member's represent the entire spectrum of the private employee benefits community and either sponsor directly or administer retirement and health plans covering more than 100 million Americans.

http://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/issues/retirement/pension.cfm