Tom Greene
Partner
Practice Areas
Biography
Tom is a partner resident the firm’s Boston office and specializes in Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation. Prior to joining the Wagner Law Group, Tom was a partner at Mintz Levin, Holland & Knight and a boutique law firm in which he was a named partner and oversaw the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice.
Tom focuses his practice on the design, development and implementation of executive compensation arrangements and employee benefit plans. This often includes stock incentive plans, bonus plans, deferred compensation programs, Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs), employment agreements, equity-based compensation packages, severance arrangements, and tax-qualified retirement and welfare plans.
Tom has extensive experience advising clients on compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), fiduciary duties, bankruptcy, and mergers and acquisitions. This experience includes working with clients on the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA, negotiating service agreements, prohibited transactions and listed transactions. His practice also involves counseling nonprofit, tax-exempt, governmental entities and their respective executives on benefits and compensation matters, including intermediate sanctions (rules limiting compensation at non-profits, tax-exempts, universities, colleges and secondary schools).
Tom’s client have included multi-national public companies, closely held businesses, executives, educational institutions and governmental agencies. Over the years, Tom has developed a particular niche in mergers & acquisitions and negotiating high stakes deals for management teams and principals. He has worked on hundreds of transactions in his career. A representative list of his engagements appears below.
Tom has been repeatedly listed in Chambers USA “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits Law (ERISA). He previously served as the Co-Chair of the Boston Bar Association’s ERISA Committee.
In addition, Mr. Greene has commented on benefits and compensation issues in national, regional and trade publications, including USA Today, Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel Magazine and Employee Benefit News. He has also been interviewed on benefits and compensation matters by WCVB-Channel 5 Boston, Fox News, Fox Channel 25, New England Cable News Network and WBZ Radio. Additionally, he has been a panelist on numerous employee benefit programs.
Representative Engagements
- U.S. employee benefits counsel to Informa USA, Inc. and Informa PLC for its $5,500,000 acquisition of UBM PLC
- Represented the management team of Champion Enterprises Holdings, LLC (Champion Homebuilders, Inc.) in Champion’s combination with Skyline Corporation to form Skyline Champion Corporation
- Served as employee benefits and executive compensation counsel to Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc. in its sale of a majority interest to Nestlé
- Served as employee benefits counsel to Informa plc and Informa USA, Inc. in connection with its $1,560,000,000 acquisition of Penton Information Services from MidOcean Partners
- Represented the management team of Homesite Group, Inc., in its $616,000,000 merger with American Family Mutual
- Represented the management team of Duff & Phelps, Inc., in its $665,500,000 million “go private” sale to a private equity consortium comprised of Carlyle Group, Stone Point Capital, Pictet & Cie and the Edmond de Rothschild Group
- Served as executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. in its $646 million acquisition by PerkinElmer.
- Served as counsel to the CEO of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
- Served as executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in its sale to Pfizer, Inc.
- Served as executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to Nokia, Inc. in its acquisition of Novarra, Inc.
- Served as U.S. executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to Nokia, Inc. in its acquisition of Oz Communications, Inc.
- Served as executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to QIAGEN NV in its $1,600,000 billion acquisition of Digene, Inc.
- Served as executive compensation and employee benefits counsel to Nokia, Inc. in its sale of Identity Systems, Inc. to Informatica Corporation.
- Served as employee benefits and executive compensation counsel to OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in its $935,000,000 acquisition of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Represented the management team of Duff & Phelps, Inc. in connection with its $132,000,000 IPO
- Represented the management team of Narragansett Bay Insurance Company in its $200,000,000 financing transaction with Pine Brook Capital Partners LP, Soros Strategic Partners LP and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 1998
- LL.M.
- Honors: Certificate in Employee Benefits Law with distinction
- Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts, 1995
- J.D.
- Honors: cum laude
- University of Massachusetts Boston, 1991
- B.A.
Bar Admissions
- Massachusetts – 1995
- District of Columbia – 1998 (Inactive)
- Georgia – 1999 (Inactive)
Professional Associations & Honors
- Boston Bar Association ERISA Committee, Co-Chair 2012 – 2014
- Chambers USA “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” for Employee enefits and Executive Compensation 2010-2019
- Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits Law (ERISA)
Publications & Presentations
Representative Publications
- “Supreme Court: ERISA Fiduciaries Have Ongoing Duty to Monitor Investments,” Mondaq; Association of Corporate Counsel, May 26, 2016
- “In-Patient Hospitalization and ‘Minimum Value’ Under the ACA,” Mondaq; Association of Corporate Counsel, November 6, 2014
- “Excepted Benefits Under the ACA,” Mondaq; Association of Corporate Counsel, October 8, 2014
- “Plan Fees: Hi-Lex Puts Welfare Plan Vendors on Notice,” Mondaq; Association of Corporate Counsel, June 5, 2014
- “IRS Issues Windsor Guidance for Qualified Retirement Plans,” Mondaq; Association of Corporate Counsel, April 16, 2014
Representative Presentations
- Are You Ready for 2014? What You Need to Know About Healthcare Reform’s Employer Responsibilities, with CBG Benefits at Burlington Marriott – March 7, 2013
- Representing the Corporate Executive in Employment Matters, Chair, for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education at MCLE – June 14, 2006
- A Practical Guide to the New Deferred Compensation Regulations: Internal Revenue Code § 409A Explained, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education at MCLE – March 15, 2006
- Plan Fees: Revenue vs. Exposure, National Retirement Partners/401*k Advisors USA 2006 Annual Conference in Waimea, Hawaii – February 25, 2006
- Treatment of Deferred Compensation Under Internal Revenue Code § 409A: Traps for the Unwary, for NEHRA in Waltham, Massachusetts – January 29, 2006
- Basics of Employee Retirement Plans: The Legal and Regulatory Environment for Qualified Retirement Plan, New England Employee Benefits Council in Waltham, MA- October 26, 2005