Q&A: Linda Kellner
POMERANTZ MONITOR | MAY JUNE 2021
By The Editors
Pomerantz recently spoke with Linda Kellner, the President of Savasta & Co., Inc., a third-party administrator for Taft-Hartley pension plans.
Monitor: What path brought you to a career in pension management?
Linda Kellner: I was hired by the Teamsters Local 295 as a secretary. I eventually became the bookkeeper’s assistant, and then a claims examiner working in the pension department, where I learned everything that went on in the fund office. While working for the Teamsters, I got a Bachelor of Business Administration. By 1994, when the Teamsters’ fund’s third-party administrator left, I had long experience working for their pension and welfare funds. They offered me the job, but I had two little kids at home and didn’t want the added responsibility. The fund hired Neil Savasta as their third-party administrator, and I became an employee of Savasta & Co.
M: What changed for you then?
LK: Neil and I started reaching out to other funds that needed a third-party administrator, and the company grew. I took the requisite courses and earned the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation from the International Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans. I served as Executive Vice President of the firm for a while. As Neil aged and started stepping back, I became the President and Neil took on the role of Chairman. It is four years now since he passed away.
M: And the Teamsters 295 funds are still Savasta clients?
LK: Yes. I’ve been working for that local for decades now, so they are very near and dear to my heart.
M: The Teamsters 295 funds are lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against AT&T that Pomerantz is litigating. What was your role in signing them on?
LK: Pomerantz provided us with the information needed, the reasons they thought it would benefit the funds to serve as lead plaintiff. We, of course, had to bring it to the board of trustees for the funds, who opted to go forward. There’s a good group of trustees on these funds, and the employer side is big corporate. Both the employer side and union side agreed.
M: Is there often friction on boards that are equal parts employer and union trustees?
LK: With some boards, sure, when they come to the table, there is tension on both sides. The trustees on this board, though, have been working together a long time and are a pretty cohesive group, truly interested in pursuing things that will make the members happy and make their lives better.
M: Have you had to devote much time to the litigation in which the Teamsters is lead plaintiff?
LK: No, not at this time. Pomerantz is taking care of almost all the business and daily events that go on within this class action.
M: What common concerns are hearing from your clients now?
LK: There are pension funds that are insolvent, or that are critical and declining. Everyone is anxiously waiting for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s guidance on the American Rescue Plan, which will be out in mid-July. Many plans will benefit. Pension funds are long-term entities; most are projected to provide benefits for 40 or 50 years. The American Rescue Plan aims to provide pension benefits for 30 years. The funds that are insolvent are really going to get a nice chunk of money that will make a big difference in what they can do with their income and contributions and investments. Considering that the PBGC in October 2020 had projected its own insolvency in 2024 or 2025, this is quite something.
M: If you could make one change to the Taft-Hartley fund plans, what would it be?
LK: I would like to see more awareness among members as to the great benefits that they have. The old timers tend to be more appreciative because they’re closer to retirement, but younger members generally take their benefits for granted. A lot of them don’t contribute to the premiums – those are paid directly by the employer. A percent of the members’ pay goes into their pension and welfare and annuity funds, rather than their paychecks, but they often don’t realize what they’re receiving in return.
M: How could that change? With education?
LK: Definitely. We do our best, writing regular newsletters for some of our funds. Recently we did an article about a member who passed away without ever changing his beneficiary. So everything he had went to his mother, even though he’d been married for something like twenty years. It was amazing how many phone calls we got after that, with people checking who their beneficiary was or asking for a change of beneficiary form.
M: Is there anything else you would like to mention?
LK: Just that I have enjoyed my career. It turned out that what I thought would be a temporary job evolved into a rewarding, lifelong career.