William Sweetnam

William F. Sweetnam joined Groom in May, 2005 and he co-chairs the Policy and Legislation Group. Before joining Groom, Mr. Sweetnam was the Benefits Tax Counsel in the Office of the Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Benefits Tax Counsel is the principal legal advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury with regard to all aspects of employee benefits taxation and related matters, including pensions, health care and executive compensation. While at Treasury, Mr. Sweetnam led the teams that provided guidance for Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements, the preliminary guidance regarding executive deferred compensation arrangements under Section 409A and the regulatory and legislative proposals regarding cash balance pension plans. In addition, Mr. Sweetnam was part of the Bush Administration’s task force to restructure the defined benefit plan funding system (which resulted in the Pension Protection Act of 2006), and he testified before Congressional Committee on behalf of the Administration’s proposal. Prior to his services at the Treasury Department, Mr. Sweetnam was Tax Counsel for benefits matters on the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, under the chairmanship of Senator William V. Roth of Delaware. nnnHonors & Distinctionsnn – Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefit CounselnnPrevious Experiencenn – Benefits Tax Counsel, Office of the Benefits Tax Counsel, Department of the Treasuryn – Tax Counsel, Majority Staff, U.S. Senate Committee on Financen – Technical Consultant, Towers Perrinn – Chief Counsel, Compensation and Benefits, Sun Company, Inc. (Sunoco)nnProfessional Affiliationsnnn – American Bar Associationn – Employers Council on Flexible Compensationn – Co-Chair, ALI-ABA Program on Pension, Profit Sharing, Welfare and Other Compenation Plansn – Co-Chair, ALI-ABA Annual Fall and Spring Employee Benefits Video Updaten – Editorial Board, Journal of Retirement Planningn – American College of Employee Benefits Counsel