Dana Consulting Group, Ltd.

Jennings, Lee T.
President

Attorney and CPA, Lee Jennings established the Dana Consulting Group Ltd. and the Jennings Law Firm Ltd. in 1993 to provide employers and their advisors with a single source of comprehensive and coordinated legal and consulting services. As the sole owner of both firms, Jennings manages all aspects of the practices, including technical expertise and product and business development.

Prior to founding the firms, Lee served Pope, Ballard, Shepard & Fowle Ltd., a national law firm located in Chicago, as a member of the firm’s employee benefits department. He also served as director of the employee benefits and retirement plan practice for another Chicago law firm.

Previously, he served the Chicago office of the international public accounting firm Ernst & Whinney, where he directed the employee benefits practice.

Lee also is a former adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School, where he taught employee benefits law.

Lee holds a juris doctor degree and master of laws degree in federal taxation from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and a bachelor of science degree in economics with a minor in accounting from the University of Illinois. He became a certified public accountant after passing the Illinois CPA exam at the first sitting.

Leritz, David A.
Chairman

David Leritz is chairman of retirement plan services for Dana Consulting Group. He has over ten years of retirement plan administration experience with Dana Consulting Group.

David brings in-depth experience in retirement plan administration to the firm. In his role as chairman, he oversees the preparation of age-weighted contribution calculations, resolutions and amendments to authorize plan contributions, contribution and distribution processing, eligibility and vesting determination, plan asset reconciliations, valuation reports and participant statements, and tax returns for welfare and retirement plans. In addition, he trains department members in all aspects of plan administration.

David also develops uniform procedures and formats for letters, forms and reports, and oversees the system for tracking the completion of projects throughout the retirement plan administration department. He also maintains the firm’s retirement plan administration software and computer systems.

Previously, David administered the union and non-union employee benefit and retirement programs for a high-profile multinational corporation.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in human resources management from The American University in Washington, DC.

Mendis, Robin
Installation Coordinator & Legal Services Liaison

Robin oversees the creation and implementation of systems and procedures relating to installing new clients into our legal and administration practices. Robin also serves as liaison between the retirement plan administration department and the law firm.

Robin’s background includes over 20 years experience in the financial printing industry. As a typesetter, proofreader and customer service representative, Robin coordinated the production and filing of a variety of time-sensitive and confidential documents such as prospectuses, annual reports and forms for final printing or electronic submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Robin had extensive interaction with attorneys, brokers and accountants. This experience makes her the ideal person for coordinating plan installation with new clients, financial advisors, mutual funds and insurance companies, prior administrators and other providers.

Robin graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, B.F.A. in painting.

Berggren, Julie E.
Retirement Plan Administrator

As a retirement plan administrator, Julie is responsible for completing non-discrimination testing, creating cross-tested proposals, verifying participant vesting and eligibility, reconciling plan assets and preparing periodic valuations and participant statements. In addition, Julie also completes the tax returns for the retirement plans and responds to DOL inquiries.

Julie has over 10 years of retirement plan administration experience, she completed her CEBS in 1997. Previously, Julie chaired an internal procedures committee, automated daily recordkeeping reconciliations and trained staff on retirement recordkeeping software and compliance issues.

Bielanska, Anna
Processing Clerk

Anna is an assistant to the administration department and her duties include processing distributions, participant loans and payroll rosters; verifying internal procedures are compliant with applicable regulatory requirements imposed by the financial institutions used by our clients’ retirement plans; serving as a liaison between our administration department and our clients, financial institutions and our financial advisor partners.

Anna also develops office procedures, updates the firm’s project tracking system and tracks the filing and destruction of sensitive materials.

Prior to joining Dana Consulting Group, Anna interacted with federal agencies and students on a daily basis as a Financial Aid Assistant and Registrar Assistant at ORT Technical Institute. She has worked at an art gallery creating designs on and with glass.

Anna is a graduate of the Medical Office Assistant program at ORT Technical Institute in Skokie and Botanical Vocational School in Poland.

Santchi, Karen
Retirement Plan Administrator

Karen is a member of the firm’s administration department and has substantial experience in all aspects of defined contribution plan administration. She determines eligibility and vesting, prepares New Comparability calculations and proposals, reconciles plan assets, performs discrimination testing, and completes periodic valuations and participant statements for our clients.

In addition, she completes government filings for retirement plans and responds to inquiries from the Labor Department and Internal Revenue Service.

Karen has ten years of experience in plan administration. In her previous position, Karen worked closely with mutual fund and insurance companies, brokers, plan contacts and plan participants.

This activity covered a full range of plan administration such as trust accounting, full plan valuations, participant enrollments, answering participant questions, plan distributions, plan loans, deposit processing, compliance testing and government forms filings.

Miarka, Silvia
Administrative Assistant

In her role as an administrative assistant, Silvia finalizes virtually all of the documents prepared for and on behalf of our clients. Silvia also prepares retirement plan documents, including the necessary administrative forms. Upon finalization, the documents are formatted onto a CD and sent to our clients in lieu of a paper manual.

Silvia's attention to detail and her exceptional proofreading skills ensure that our clients will receive quality documents.

Silvia assists in answering the phones and directing client calls and performs a myriad of miscellaneous jobs.

Silvia brings her knowledge of the legal field having worked as a legal secretary for numerous years at a downtown law firm supporting senior attorneys and last held the position of legal support supervisor (or secretarial supervisor). She brings enthusiasm and commitment to her position at Dana Consulting Group and Jennings Law Firm.

Mims, Jackie
Retirement Plan Administrator

As a retirement plan administrator, Jackie is responsible for completing non-discrimination testing, creating cross-tested proposals, verifying participant vesting and eligibility, reconciling plan assets and preparing periodic valuations and participant statements.

In addition, Jackie also completes the tax returns for the retirement plans and responds to DOL inquiries.

Before joining Dana Consulting Group, Jackie was employed by RSM McGladrey, Great-West Life and Benefit Nationals Company. While there, she provided quality retirement plan administration for plans of all sizes, from small, closely held, to large, publically traded companies.

And regardless of size, she treats all of her clients with the same high level of courtesy and respect.

Jackie holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems from Phoenix University.

Gutter, QKA, Lita P.
Retirement Plan Administrator

Lita Gutter brings over 25 years of experience in retirement plan administration, providing high level of client service and dedication to the firm. In her role as a retirement plan administrator, she performs non-discrimination testing, prepares New Comparability calculations and proposals. She also communicates with clients regarding the plan documents, in addition to preparing resolutions and amendments.

She administers defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including, but not limited to, processing contributions, loan calculation and benefit distributions, determining eligibility and vesting, reconciling plan assets, preparing periodic valuation reports, participant statements, prepare tax returns for retirement and welfare plans and respond to Internal Revenue and Department of Labor inquiries.

Prior to joining Dana Consulting Group, Lita worked for Primark Benefits in Northern California for 25 years. As a senior plan administrator, she reviewed and resolved consultation issues with the clients. She also reviewed and confirmed junior administrators’ work for accuracy. She worked together with the actuary to determine the new PPA 06 funding regulations as well.

Lita holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration major in Accounting from University of the East, Manila Philippines.

Gonzales, Rebecca Z.
Associate Attorney

Rebecca joined the firm in 2009 as an ERISA Attorney handling qualified retirement plan matters. She prepares the retirement plan documents, drafts legal documents such as plan amendments and corporate resolutions, and completes QDRO reviews. Rebecca negotiates retirement plans through the IRS and DOL voluntary correction programs, prepares the clients’ IRS determination letter applications, assists with plan terminations through the PBGC, interprets laws, rulings, and regulations, performs legal research, and reviews the clients’ retirement plan administration practice.

Rebecca brings five years of legal experience to the firm. Her experience in the legal field includes several years of work for a large government defined benefit plan where she was responsible for explaining complex statutory requirements to members, attorneys, and internal staff as well as implementing those requirements. Rebecca’s experience also includes working for both large and small law firms in various practice areas. She works extensively on legal research and writing projects.

Her career before becoming an attorney prepared Rebecca for the legal field. Rebecca worked in marketing for five years where she polished her client service and writing skills while learning to pay close attention to detail in a fast-paced environment.

Rebecca holds a juris doctor degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Illinois. Rebecca has been admitted to the Illinois bar and is a member of the Illinois and Chicago bar associations. She brings energy and dedication to her position at the firm.

Sirmons, Kenna Shea
Quality Control Manager

Kenna Shea Sirmons is the Administration Department Quality Control Manager for Dana Consulting. She joined the company in June 2010, bringing more than a decade of experience in the Retirement Plan industry. Her role with the firm involves the development and implementation, as well as the on-going monitoring of quality control procedures.

During her career, Shea has held positions managing plans from beginning to end. She began her career as an intern with a small firm and quickly became a team leader for the firm. A major role as team leader was the training of staff on specialized software and industry practices and procedures.

Whether it’s a plan with four employees or 4,000 employees, her experience lends to customized solutions for any client. Her vast experience and understanding of the various provisions of retirement plans make her a valuable asset to the Dana Consulting team.

Shea holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Accounting from Columbus State University.

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