Susan B. Niver

Susan Niver provides seasoned guidance across retirement plan design, governance, and regulatory compliance matters offering clients practical, strategic counsel and delivering business-minded solutions.

She help employers, plan sponsors, and boards of trustees navigate complex challenges with precision and insight. Susan provides practice guidance on the full lifecycle of qualified retirement and employee benefit plans, from initial design and implementation to ongoing administration and plan termination.

Clients value Susan's solutions-oriented approach and responsiveness. She has a unique ability to distill complex legal and regulatory concepts into clear, actionable strategies that help organizations make informed business decisions while minimizing risk. With deep knowledge of IRS and Department of Labor regulations, Susan guides clients confidently through the constantly evolving employee benefits landscape. She defends employers and plan sponsors in IRS and DOL investigations, and negotiates closing agreements and settlements that help clients move forward with confidence

Susan is a trusted advisor to retirement plan sponsors, Taft-Hartley multiemployer funds, educational institutions, tax-exempt organizations, financial institutions and private companies. She regularly advises them on fiduciary compliance, governance, tax-qualification requirements, plan drafting and amendments, plan administration, plan corrections, prohibited transactions, workforce transitions, restructuring, plan investments, pension funding, employee benefit structures and tax-efficient arrangements and benefit plans that attract and retain top talent.

Susan’s practice also includes guiding clients through high-stakes matters such as government investigations, plan mergers and spin-offs securing special financial assistance, large-scale pension de-risking, and plan terminations involving hundreds of millions of dollars in plan assets. A Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, she previously served as Chair of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities.

Experience

• Advised a $2 billion multiemployer pension fund with over 24,000 participants in a Department of Labor investigation involving prohibited transactions, fiduciary breaches, cybersecurity compliance, missing participants, and investment valuation and reporting issues.
• Counseled the Board of Trustees of a multiemployer pension fund on freezing pension accruals, adopting a rehabilitation plan, and obtaining special financial assistance of nearly $700 million averting insolvency and avoiding substantial reductions of benefits for 30,000 service industry workers.
• Guided an international bank through the termination of its pension plan, including distributing $50 million to participants through a lump sum window program, transferring $75 million of plan liabilities from the bank’s balance sheet to an insurance company through the purchase of a group annuity contract, transferring surplus assets to a qualified replacement plan, and securing IRS approval of the plan’s tax treatment on termination, while successfully navigating a PBGC audit. Also provide ongoing counsel with respect to all aspects of employee benefits, including 401(k) plan design, compliance and administration, and health and welfare benefit issues.