J. Mark Iwry
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
He previously was a co-founder and principal of the Retirement Security Project (2003-09), research professor at Georgetown University, and the Treasury Department’s Benefits Tax Counsel (1995-2001). He also was a partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling and Of Counsel to the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, providing advice and assistance to major corporations, financial institutions, trade associations, small businesses, and non-profits.
He is co-editor of three books—”Wealth After Work: Innovative Reforms to Expand Retirement Security” (Brookings 2021), “Automatic: Changing the Way America Saves” (Brookings 2009), and “Aging Gracefully: Ideas to Improve Retirement Security in America” (Century Foundation 2006)—and has testified before Congress on more than 25 occasions. He has provided policy and legislative advice to numerous federal and state legislators (Democrats and Republicans) and five Presidential campaigns.
Mr. Iwry co-authored President Obama’s “auto IRA” legislative proposal to expand retirement savings coverage to some 40 million additional households through automatic enrollment in IRAs. He played a central role in initiating and designing the nationwide initiative to encourage states to adopt auto IRAs and other retirement savings programs for private-sector citizens, the direct deposit of tax refunds into IRAs, the small business startup tax credit for new retirement plans, and the rollback of the FSA “use it or lose it” rule. He also led the government’s efforts to promote lifetime retirement income (including the “QLAC” longevity annuity and annuities embedded in 401(k) plan default target date funds), and was a principal architect of the Saver’s Credit to expand 401(k) and IRA coverage (claimed annually on 8 million tax returns), the “myRA”, and the “SIMPLE” IRA plan (covering 3 to 4 million workers). In the 1990s, he formulated and directed Treasury’s strategy to define, approve, and promote 401(k) automatic enrollment as well as automatic rollovers and payroll deduction IRAs, and later was instrumental in developing the Pension Protection Act of 2006 autoenrollment provisions.