Employee Benefits in M&A: Navigating Compensation, Health Insurance, and Executive Packages for Successful Transactions

Sarah Ivy, Esq., focuses her practice in the areas of employee benefits law, executive compensation and taxation. She has more than 20 years of experience analyzing regulations under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and applying those rules to a range of benefits plans such as qualified retirement (401(k), 403(b), profit-sharing and pension plans), welfare benefits plans, non-qualified deferred compensation plans and equity-based compensation plans.

Because many types of employee benefits involve the use of insurance policies, Sarah has significant experience evaluating and advising clients with respect to health insurance products, the use of life insurance as a funding mechanism for deferred compensation and business succession planning and the advantages and disadvantages of self-insuring certain benefits.

Sarah advises clients across all industries including both for-profit and nonprofit organizations with respect to compliance with complex employee benefits regulations and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). She works closely with clients to design benefits plans that maintain compliance with federal law and assists employers involved with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits or reviews.

She counsels companies on the design and documentation of executive compensation arrangements including severance agreements as a business transition planning tool. She has substantial experience evaluating and advising with respect to various types of methods used to fund certain benefits, including, but not limited to self- insurance, split-dollar life insurance, key man life insurance and other forms of insurance-based products. Sarah also advises clients on employee benefits issues that arise in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. She also conducts reviews of various employment-related documents such as employee handbooks, employment  agreements and non-compete agreements.

Prior to joining Saxton & Stump, Sarah worked as an executive compensation, employee benefits and ERISA attorney with various law firms including Stevens & Lee, P.C., Fox Rothschild LLP and McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC. Most recently, she was a partner with FisherBroyles, LLP in Philadelphia.

David Bovenizer is a co-founder that has built Lionheart Industrial Group into a global diversified group of industrial manufacturing business with three platforms in combustion systems; pneumatic valves; and precision aerospace and defense components. He has completed more than 30 transactions totaling over $2.0 billion in value including leveraged acquisitions, cross-border M&A, public debt offerings, joint ventures, acquisitions and divestitures.

Patty is a Partner at Third Arch Investments, a Philadelphia-based investment firm making long-term investments in high quality small businesses. She has 15 years of investment, advisory, and portfolio oversight experience dedicated to lower middle market businesses across a variety of industries, including the media, consumer products and manufacturing sectors. Prior Third Arch, Patty was a Principal at Versa Capital Management. She began her career as a financial analyst at Rothschild Inc., where she focused on consumer M&A and restructuring.

Michael A. Schroeder has served as President of Roundstone since 2005. Mike offers more than twenty-five years of management experience and has a proven track record of building and leading fast-growing, innovative insurance businesses.

Roundstone is a health benefits captive providing self-funded solutions to small and mid-sized employers. Recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. 5000 for six consecutive years as well as a winner of the Northeast Ohio Top Workplaces Award since 2019, Roundstone’s continued success is a testament to the ever-increasing demand from business owners for a better way to fund their employees’ health benefits.

Prior to Roundstone, Mike served as Vice President and General Counsel for an insurance company while it transitioned into a NASDAQ listed AM Best A-rated insurer. He founded a medical malpractice underwriter and drove rapid growth prior to its acquisition. Mike also held senior executive positions with a worker’s compensation insurer, a non-standard auto insurer, and served as an associate of a Cleveland law firm. Named a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2022, Mike is known for his innovative thinking in the insurance industry. He received his Juris Doctorate from The Ohio State University College of Law and received his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Tulane University.