Mark J. Ugoretz, President, The ERISA Industry Committee

Mark Ugoretz has been President of The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) since 1983 and has overall responsibility for directing ERIC, its mission and objectives. ERIC represents exclusively the employee benefits and compensation interests of America's major employers. All of ERIC's members provide comprehensive benchmark retirement, health care coverage, and other economic security and compensation benefits directly to tens of millions of active and retired workers and their families.

ERIC actively represents and advocates its members' interests on retirement security, health care coverage, compensation, taxation of employee benefits, federal preemption of state employee benefits legislation and other employee benefits and compensation issues. The association has a strong interest in and actively advocates proposals affecting its members' ability to deliver those benefits, their cost and effectiveness, as well as the role of those benefits in the American economy.

ERIC also provides educational programs for its members, holds conference calls for its members and other employers (Washington Update and "FocusOn" calls) publishes electronically the highly regarded weekly ERIC Executive Report, bulletins describing legislation and regulatory proposals and their effects on employee benefit plans, and maintains for its members and the public ERIC OnLine (www.eric.org), an Internet site devoted to employee benefits issues.

Prior to joining ERIC in 1983, Mr. Ugoretz was assistant general counsel to the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association (formerly The Proprietary Association) where he directed the organization's nationwide state legislative and regulatory interests.

Mr. Ugoretz served as Administrative Assistant and Chief of Staff to the late U.S. Rep. Dominick Daniels of New Jersey who, as Chairman of the House Manpower Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Civil Service Retirement, was responsible for landmark legislation on employment training, worker safety, civil service retirement, and employment security and retirement legislation. Prior to joining Mr. Daniels' staff, Mr. Ugoretz was an attorney/advisor to the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.

Mr. Ugoretz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, did graduate work in industrial relations, and received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin.