About Us

Our Philosophy -
ERISA's reporting and disclosure rules for health and welfare plans are intended to establish that important balance between the employer and the employee: the employee's rights to know his or her benefits and the employer's rights to rely on a uniform body of Federal law, with all its advantages. Yet, the constantly changing laws in this area can seem daunting for an employer trying to stay in compliance.

ERISA Pros is focused on providing a proactive "Best Practices" system that helps an employer get into compliance and stay there.  To do this we are constantly and rigorously training our staff in this concentrated area. It's our promise to be the best at what we do, period.

Good experience is a great teacher, and our founder, Bernard Kearse, has a great deal of it. He is personally involved in staff training and expects them to love knowing their stuff. His philosophy can be summed up as follows: 

"The Wrap-Tight^sm System is to be the 'gold standard' of compliance. If that's what our clients say about us, then we've done our job."

Bernard V. Kearse, III, JD, LLM
Bernard Kearse founded ERISA Pros to assist employers with the complexities of ERISA reporting and disclosure compliance requirements for health and welfare benefit plans. 
 
Mr. Kearse has focused on ERISA for over twenty-five years and has designed, drafted and reviewed virtually every type of employee benefit plan, representing both public and private companies. His work experience includes acting as Employee Benefits Counsel for a Fortune 200 company, as well as practicing law with two national firms and a boutique corporate merger and acquisition firm before forming his own law firm over fifteen years ago.
 
His health and welfare plan experience includes prior representation of a major insurance company, providing assistance and advice on various ERISA welfare benefit matters, including proper drafting for administrative service only (ASO) agreements for self-funded medical arrangements. He has also been engaged as an expert witness and acted as Employee Benefits Counsel in pension and welfare litigation cases.

Honors/Distinctions -

Education -

Professional Affiliations -

Anne Whipple has over twelve years of professional legal experience, bringing to ERISA Pros, LLC her expertise, including insurance defense litigation, which required a thorough understanding of legal issues and analysis of complex transactions.

She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law in May 1995. Anne served on the editorial board of the Georgia Law Review and completed the Governor's Internship for the Honorable Joel J. Fryer, Fulton County Superior Court, the England Summer Clerkship Program, and the Prosecutorial Clinic Internship for Gwinnett County District Attorney.

Prior to that, Ms. Whipple graduated Cum Laude from the University of Georgia, earning her B.A. in June 1989 as a member of Phi Kappa Phi Academic Society. She also attended Wake Forest University and studied in both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. Anne, a member of the National Association of Chinese Americans, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Ms. Whipple is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, Fiduciary Section, and is admitted to the Federal Court of the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Anne's personal interests include yoga, Chinese language studies, digital photography, listening to NPR podcasts and, of course, keeping up with her two children.

Mary F. Barkley received a B.S. in Business with honors and J.D. with honors at the University of Tennessee. She was on the staff of the Tennessee Law Review and received American Jurisprudence Awards in Civil Procedure I and Civil Procedure II.

Mary practiced law at Vinson & Elkins, LLP, specializing in ERISA, employee benefits, executive compensation. She researched and wrote on various employee benefits matters, including litigation.

Mary also worked as Senior Tax Attorney for Tenneco, Inc, specializing in employee benefits, executive compensation arrangements, payroll taxes, and state and local income tax controversy and planning. She advised clients with respect to state sales and use taxes, federal income tax issues with respect to lobbying, and negotiated settlements of state income and sales and use tax matters. Mary was formerly a Business Law Instructor with the Certified Employee Benefits Specialist ("CEBS") program. Mary is licensed to practice law in Texas (Inactive Status Currently).

Her personal interests include letterboxing and geocaching with her two children. She also enjoys reading, vegetable gardening, needlework and soapmaking.

Michael Eaton, Vice President of Sales, heads up ERISA Pros' sales and marketing efforts with the objective of establishing strategic partnerships with insurance brokers, benefits consultants, and other professional advisors to provide ERISA Pros' compliance programs as a value added service to their clientele. He is a veteran business development executive with 16 years of experience in mobile communications and ecommerce technology sales. Prior to joining ERISA Pros, Michael was president of Powertrade, Inc., a start up company he built into a multi-million dollar business providing internet based inventory disposition of excess merchandise to Fortune 500 companies such as Home Depot, Pep Boys, and Palm. Most recently, he was an internet sales consultant to The PGA Tour Superstore where he built a high-volume production facility, implemented ecommerce software, and employed interactive advertising strategies to sell large quantities of brand name golf equipment through various internet sales channels. Michael's business and sales acumen has earned him recognition from various companies, including Nextel, Philips, and Intellivoice Communications.

Andrea Goodman is a recent graduate of Agnes Scott College with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Organizational Management. She graduated magna cum laude, and is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the national economics honors society, and Mortar Board and Phi Beta Kappa, two national honors societies. Andrea enjoys reading, traveling, art, crossword puzzles, and spending time with family and friends. She is also an avid fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team.