CLEVELAND, OH—Taft is pleased to announce that Matthew A. Secrist has joined as a partner in the Cleveland office. Practicing law for 15 years, Secrist focuses his practice on employee benefits and executive compensation matters. He is experienced in a wide range of employee benefits matters, including tax qualified retirement plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans and arrangements, welfare benefit plans, COBRA, HIPAA and Patient Protection, and Affordable Care Act issues. He also advises clients regarding compliance with Code Sections 162(m) and 409A. Secrist’s executive compensation experience includes employee fringe benefit plans, stock option plans, supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs), employment agreements, and severance plans.
In addition to assisting employers with day-to-day employee benefits-related matters, Secrist guides employers that participate in distressed multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWA) where a court appoints a receiver/independent fiduciary to oversee plan liquidation and payment of employee medical claims. He also counsels clients on employee benefit matters in employer bankruptcies. He advises tax-exempt entities from formation to termination, and represents clients in controversy proceedings before the IRS and the Department of Labor.
Secrist earned his J.D, magna cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2007. He also earned an M.B.A. from Cleveland State University in 2007 and holds a B.S.B.A., cum laude from Robert Morris University in 2003.
