Daniel Aronowitz Nominated to Head EBSA

Daniel Aronowitz, president of Encore Fiduciary, was nominated on Tuesday to become the next assistant secretary of labor and lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Daniel Aronowitz

The nomination was received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The same committee, which had scheduled a confirmation hearing for today on former Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s nominee for secretary of labor, this morning postponed that hearing to February 19 due to a snowstorm in Washington, D.C.

Aronowitz’s nomination comes after Lisa Gomez, the previous assistant secretary of labor for employee benefits security, resigned from her post with the change in administration.

EBSA is responsible for enforcement of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and related laws and regulations, along with protecting employer-based retirement, health and welfare benefits for workers and retirees. The EBSA head must be confirmed by the full Senate.

Aronowitz has 30 years of experience in the professional liability industry as a coverage lawyer and underwriter. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University Law School and has achieved the RPLU+ designation from the Professional Liability Underwriting Society.

Aronowitz co-authored an analysis for PLANADVISER last month, discussing the high frequency of ERISA excessive fee class action lawsuits that have come out in the last year.

His firm has tracked ERISA-related litigation for about a decade, and he has served as president of Encore Fiduciary for more than 13 years.