Introduction
Debra is a shareholder in the Compensation Planning and Employee Benefits Group. Her practice involves a full range of employee benefit programs, including defined benefit pension, cash balance, profit sharing, 401(k), and employee stock ownership (ESOP) plans; health, flexible benefits, and other welfare benefit plans; stock-based compensation and equity-incentive plans; and non-qualified deferred and other executive compensation programs. She advises large and small public, closely held, and tax-exempt employers on plan design, administration, and compliance issues.
She speaks frequently at client seminars, joint seminars with other professional groups about benefit-related topics, including non-qualified deferred compensation, COBRA, and recent developments in retirement and health plans. In the past, she was an Adjunct Faculty at the University of St. Thomas, teaching courses in the administration of retirement and welfare benefit plans.
Education
- University of Iowa Law School, M.A.-J.D., 1990, high distinction
- University of Iowa, B.B.A., Accounting, 1986, highest distinction
Bar Admissions
- Minnesota, 1990
- Iowa, 1990
- North Dakota, 2012
Practice Areas
- Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits
- Bank & Finance
- Employment & Labor
- Tax Planning & Business Organization
- Commercial Law
- Investment Management
- Executive Compensation & Benefits
Selected Publications & Presentations
- “Are You an “Applicable Large Employer” for Health Care Reform? Check Your Ownership Structure!,” FredALERT: Bank & Finance, May 2013
- Presenter, Growing Pains: Compliance Strategies for Growing Companies, April 25, 2013
- Presenter, “Employer Responsibilities Under Health Reform’s Affordable Care Act: What Aging Services Organizations Need to Know,” Aging Services of Minnesota Institute “Expanding the Possibilities,” February 6-8, 2013
- “409A Revisited – Important Deadline,” FredALERT: Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits, November 2012
- “Benefits/Health Care Reform Update,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 28th Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, November 7, 2012
- Presenter, Fredrikson & Byron’s North Dakota Employment Law Seminar, October 24-25, 2012
- Co-Presenter, “Constitutionality of Health Care Reform and What it Means for Employers,” TruSight 2012 Benefits Conference, June 10, 2012
- Co-Presenter, Fiduciary Update for Retirement Plan Sponsors, February 15, 2012
- Co-Presenter, “Benefits and Executive Compensation – Tips & Traps for the Unwary”, Tax Institute, December 9, 2011
- “Wellness Programs Are All the Rage: But Do You Know the Rules?,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 27th Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, November 10, 2011
- Presenter, Fredrikson & Byron’s North Dakota Employment Law Seminar, October 26-27, 2011
- “IRS Issues Clarifications to Internal Revenue Code § 162(m),” FredNEWS: Corporate & Securities, September 2011
- “Wellness Programs – A Complex Cure,” co-authored with Krista Hatcher, FredNEWS: Employment & Labor, September 2011
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Co-Presenter, “Trends in Executive Compensation”, 2011 Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop, January 20, 2011
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- “Top Ten ‘To Do’s’ for Health Care Reform,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Fargo Employment Seminar, October 26, 2010
- “Top Ten ‘To Do’s’ for Health Care Reform,” and “Health Care Reform Has Arrived,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 26th Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, October 7, 2010
- Speaker, Health Care Reform Webinar: What Employers Need to Know, June 2, 2010
- Speaker, Primary Uses of Deferred Compensation Plans Seminar, February 15, 2010
- “Staying Current on Employee Benefit Plans,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 25th Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, October 8, 2009
- “Planning to Make Layoffs? Here Are Some Key Benefits Issues to Consider,” co-authored with Todd Guerrero, Biodiesel Magazine, July 2009
- “IRS Issues Proposed Relief for
- “Are You Laying Off Employees or Planning To? Here Are Some Key Benefits Issues You May Need to Consider,” FredNEWS: Employment & Labor, April 2009
- “More Guidance Concerning the COBRA Subsidy,” co-authored with John Merkle, FredALERT: Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits, April 13, 2009
- “Two New Minnesota Health Benefits-Related Laws,” co-authored with John Merkle, FredALERT: Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits, April 13, 2009
- “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Creates New COBRA Rules for Employers,” co-authored with John Merkle, FredNEWS: Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits, February 2009
- “Military Service Leave,” Twin Cities Human Resources Association Seminar, November 5, 2008
- “Benefits Update,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 24th Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, October 30, 2008
- “What You Need To Know About Employee Stock Ownership Plans,” ESOP Pros & Cons, May 20, 2008
- “QDROs & QMCSOs,” Guest Lecture, University of Minnesota Law School Family Law Seminar, February 1993-2001, 2007-2008
- “Pension & Benefits Update,” Fredrikson & Byron’s 23rd Annual Employment & Labor Law Seminar, October 2007
- “Benefits Update,” Twin Cities Human Resources Association, May 22, 2007
- “Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans, Tax Institute 2005, November 7, 2005
- “Benefits Update,” Twin Cities Human Resources Association, April 26, 2005
Professional Activities
- Iowa State Bar Association
- Minnesota State Bar Association, Tax and Employee Benefits Sections
- Hennepin County Bar Association
- Member, Employee Benefits Council, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2011-present
- American Institute of CPAs
- Minnesota Society of CPAs
- University of St. Thomas Adjunct Faculty MBA Program, 1999-2007
- National Association for Stock Plan Professionals
- The ESOP Association
- Minneapolis Pension Council, President, 2002-2003
Honors & Distinctions
- Order of the Coif
- Associate Editor, Journal of Corporation Law, 1989-1990
- CPA certified, 1987