About Tom Reeder
Tom Reeder began his employee benefits career as an associate attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld and later at Paul Hastings, where he became a partner in the national employee benefits practice group. He is the 15th Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. GE’s debt to and pension liabilities total $144 billion or 15x its run-rate segment profits. The company’s level of debt is daunting, and in the Shock Exchange’s opinion, GE is “dead man walking.”
The company wants to sell assets to pare debt, but it is unclear how much of the proceeds from asset sales will go cure its underfunded pension plan and protect employees. The PBGC probably has more leverage now than it would during a bankruptcy scenario. The question remains, “Why isn’t Reeder driving a hard bargain with GE use sale proceeds to close its pension gap?” This could be one of the biggest bankruptcies in history and the PBGC does not appear to be as active as it could be. The time for Reeder, The PBGC and President Trump to act is now.
