The 2013 Pension 40: Mark Iwry

Since 2009,Mark Iwry(pronounced “eevry”) has been the U.S. Treasury Department’s senior adviser to the secretary and deputy assistant secretary for retirement and health policy, a position created for him. So far, the 63-year-old Iwry has focused on the variable annuity marketplace, pushing for new regulations that would make investing in securities that offer a lifetime income stream an option for most 401(k) and individual retirement accounts. He’s been far less vocal about defined benefit pensions, though as a former ERISA lawyer he’s well versed in the issues. Marcia Wagner, a leading ERISA attorney and founder of  Wagner Law Group in Boston, thinks Iwry will soon turn to defined benefit plans. “Mark believes in the defined benefit system,” Wagner says, “but he is realistic about what can be done.” Iwry, who has a master’s in public policy and a JD from Harvard University, also served at the Treasury during the Clinton administration, as benefits tax counsel. Before taking his current post, he was a nonresident senior fellow at Washington think tank the Brookings Institution and a principal of its Retirement Security Project.