Rob advises plan sponsors, financial institutions, service providers, and other clients on the federal tax rules governing retirement plans and IRAs. In addition, he has significant experience with issues involving nonqualified deferred compensation plans, the taxation and reporting of fringe benefits and welfare benefits, and employment taxes. He draws on significant government and private-practice experience to help clients navigate complex regulatory requirements, evaluate new legislation and guidance, and resolve difficult interpretive and implementation questions.
Before joining Groom, Rob served as an Attorney-Advisor in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, where he helped develop and implement federal retirement policy. He was a core member of the Treasury team responsible for implementing Trump Accounts, including developing and coordinating guidance, advising on legal, policy, and operational issues, working with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and financial agents, and engaging with stakeholders inside and outside the federal government.
Rob also worked closely with the IRS on regulations and other guidance implementing SECURE and SECURE 2.0, including the Roth catch-up requirement, automatic enrollment, the Saver’s Match, rollover simplification, and retirement plan correction programs.
Rob’s government experience gives him a distinctive perspective on how retirement legislation and regulatory guidance are developed, interpreted, and implemented. Having worked through the legal, policy, and operational considerations that shape new rules, he helps clients identify practical and defensible solutions when the law is developing, the guidance is unclear, or implementation presents novel questions.
Rob received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served as Executive Articles Editor of the Georgia Law Review. During law school, he received multiple legal writing awards and published scholarship on federal tax issues. Rob also received his LL.M. in Taxation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center.
Outside the office, you may find Rob hiking abroad with his wife, running around D.C., or playing drums.
