Vedder Price

Susan B. Niver

Shareholder

1633 Broadway 31st Floor New York, New York 10019

+1 (212) 407 7645

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Susan B. Niver

Shareholder

Susan B. Niver is Shareholder in Vedder Price’s New York office and a member of the firm’s Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits group.

Ms. Niver focuses her practice on advising compensation, retirement, investment, and audit committees, as well as boards and plan administrators, in a broad range of employment related matters. Her experience spans ERISA, qualified retirement plans, executive compensation, fiduciary responsibilities, health and welfare benefit programs and issues specific to tax exempt organizations.

She provides comprehensive guidance on qualified plans including single-employer, multiple-employer and multi-employer defined benefit plans, cash balance, variable annuity plans, profit sharing plans, ESOPs and 401(k) plans. Her counsel covers the full plan lifecycle, from design and structuring to administration, amendment, merger, and termination. She also assists plan sponsors and fiduciaries on issues of governance, compliance, investments, disclosures, lump sum windows, pension de-risking, missing participant procedures, cybersecurity compliance and matters in connection with IRS and DOL filings, audits, investigations, correcting failures and minimizing risk and liabilities.

In the area of executive compensation, Ms. Niver advises employers on the design of executive compensation arrangements including bonus plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, excess plans, top-hat plans, rabbi trusts, retention awards, severance, long-term incentive plans, split-dollar plans and deferred compensation award agreements. She helps employers, boards and committees on compensation strategies, tax issues, restrictive covenants including noncompetition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements and 409A compliance. Her work includes drafting and negotiating executive employment, consulting, separation and release agreements.

Ms. Niver regularly counsels clients on minimizing fiduciary risk through training, education and the development of strong governance practices, including committee charters and internal policies. She represents employers in navigating legal, financial and administrative challenges and keeps them informed on legislative and regulatory developments, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity and plan oversight.

Her extensive experience with tax exempt organizations and educational institutions includes advising on 403(b), 457(b) and 457(f) plans, Form 990 reporting and compensation benchmarking and compliance with intermediate sanctions under Section 4958 and excise tax mitigation strategies under Section 4960. She prepares and updates plan documents, rabbi trust and vendor agreements, top-hat filings and supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs).

Ms. Niver also handles health and welfare benefit programs, including compliance with the ACA, HIPAA Privacy and Security, vendor agreements, fringe benefits, FSAs, VEBAs, MEWAs, retiree plans, COBRA, COVID-19, and legislative and regulatory developments.

Susan B. Niver

Shareholder

Education

  • Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, J.D., 1994
  • University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1991

Susan B. Niver

Shareholder

Bar Admissions

  • New York, 1995

Affiliations

  • IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT), 2015-Present
    • Chair, 2017-Present
    • Vice Chair, 2016-2017
  • Strafford Publications Inc. Employment & ERISA Advisory Board, 2015
    New York City Bar Association, 1994-Present
    • Executive Compensation and Benefits Committee, 2015-Present
  • New York State Bar Association, 1995-Present
    • Employee Benefit and Compensation Committee, 2004-Present; Co-Chair, 2016-Present
    • Committee on Women in the Law, 2015-Present
  • International Foundation of Employee Benefits, 1998-Present
 

Susan B. Niver

Shareholder