Michelle Mellon-Werch

Michelle Mellon-Werch advises pensions, benefits and investment plans on fiduciary duties, plan governance, administration and compliance. She has counseled government entities, private companies and other organizations on retirement plans and trust funds for 18 years.

Michelle currently serves as fiduciary counsel to the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Idaho and provides fiduciary legal services to the San Francisco County Employees Retirement System and a large multinational private company. As such, Michelle advises on fiduciary duties, pension benefits administration, policy development, federal tax qualification, compliance with the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and the applicable regulations, guidance and case law. Michelle frequently assists plans in the development and drafting of internal policies and procedures, member notices and communications and analysis of legislative proposals for compliance with federal tax laws and regulations. She has also assisted with the development of statutory and regulatory amendments required to remain compliant with federal tax laws and regulations and has experience representing plans before the IRS, including in requests for determination letters, private letter rulings and compliance statements in connection with Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP) application submissions under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), as amended by the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 Act and further guidance.

Before joining Nossaman, Michelle served as Assistant General Counsel for 14 years and Director of Communications for two years for the Texas Municipal Retirement System. At TMRS, Michelle advised management on compliance issues, filing regulatory filings with the IRS, drafting regulations, policies and procedures and working with auditors and other outside consultants. As Data Privacy Officer at TMRS, she introduced and launched a data privacy program, directed the development of privacy policies and notices, as well as a data breach response plan. Michelle worked with subject matter experts to draft a request for proposal for a pension administration system. She negotiated a multi-million-dollar pension administration system implementation and professional services, license and subscription agreement and a maintenance and support agreement with a third-party vendor that executed on time and on budget. She also managed open records and open meetings compliance and implemented and directed a benefit payment corrections program.

Michelle frequently presents to peers at NAPPA’s Legal Education Conference, has taught the legal framework and fiduciary duties course in the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems’s (NCPERS) Advanced Fiduciary Institute, and presents regularly at the National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR), and the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS).

Experience

Advised a large state-wide public pension system on the development of rules, policies and procedures regarding required minimum distributions (RMD), corrections of error, claims and appeals, qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs), funding policies, regulatory compliance, qualification issues, open records, open meetings and overpayments.

Advised public pension systems on the development of regulations and procedures related to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) requirements, overpayment policies and procedures, missing participant policy and procedures.

Prepared Voluntary Correction Program (VCP) filings with the IRS and Self Correction Program (SCP) internal memoranda for several private sector employer and public pension plans for correction of errors due to Plan and Operational Failures.

Received a No Action Letter for a private sector client pursuant to a Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) filing with the Department of Labor (DOL) regarding delinquent contributions to a defined contribution plan.

Led a data privacy and cybersecurity assessment of a statewide public pension system using nationally accepted privacy frameworks. Established a data privacy program with an interdisciplinary team chartered to develop a system-wide data risk management program.

Served as lead counsel in negotiations of multi-million-dollar technology licensing, professional services and maintenance and support agreements

Publications

Speaking Engagements

News

Community & Professional

National Association of Pension Plan Attorneys – Co-Chair of Cybersecurity Education Committee and Member of the Benefits Committee

American Bar Association, Tax Section, Exempt Organizations and Governmental Entities Subcommittee Leadership Team

Texas Association of Pension Plan Attorneys, Member and former President

State Bar of Texas, Computer and Technology Section, Member and former Leadership Team

International Association of Privacy Professionals, Privacy Bar and Women Leading Privacy Sections, Member

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Member

Texas Bar College, Member

Honors & Recognitions

Certificate of Achievement, Public Plan Policy Employee Pensions (CAPPP), International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Texas Bar College, 2015-2025