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Attorney Katherine Hesse, a Partner at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP and a CEBS Compliant ISCEBS Fellow, presented at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) 67^th Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. Ms. Hesse has been presenting for the IFEBP for over 30 years. Her presentation, which was in collaboration with senior partner of Novara Tesija Catenacci McDonald & Baas PLLC, Paul O. Catenacci, was titled “Benefit Megatrends”. Ms. Hesse and Mr. Catenacci held two sessions of the topic during the conference. The sessions focused on transparency and regulation, benefit mandates, ESG proposed rule, cybersecurity guidance and a focus on DEI. After each topic, Ms. Hesse and Mr. Catenacci listed the key takeaways to remember from the discussion. Other topics discussed included fiduciary litigation (especially fee litigation), gig economy and worker classification, and selected issues from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Hesse practices primarily in labor, employment and employee benefits law. She serves as counsel to Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses, government, tax-exempt organizations and large Taft-Hartley and governmental trusts. She advises clients on employment and benefits issues, and has litigated employment and benefits cases before state and federal trial and appellate courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators. Ms. Hesse also served as a professional trustee for public and Taft-Hartley trust funds and as an expert witness, mediator and arbitrator of benefit fund disputes. She led her team of attorneys to be named the only firm in New England and one of only 11 in the United States to the special ERISA fiduciary litigation panel for one of the world’s largest insurance companies. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Foundation and as Chair of its Government Liaison Committee, and sits on the editorial board of Benefits Quarterly and speaks and writes regularly on employment and benefits issues. Ms. Hesse, a CEBS Compliant ISCEBS Fellow, was inducted into the new ISCEBS Hall of Fame in 2018. She received her B.A. degree from Smith College and her J.D. degree from the Boston University School of Law.