Caryn McNeill Presents at 5th Annual ESOP Association Conference

RALEIGH, N.C. – Caryn McNeill presented at the Carolinas Chapter of the ESOP Association’s 5th Annual Conference, August 16-17, at the Pinehurst Resort in the Village of Pinehurst.

Ms. McNeill, along with Merri Ash, Vice President of First Bankers and Trust Services, led a trustee training program titled “Best Practices for Internal ESOP Trustees.” The program, which was designed to help internal ESOP trustees improve their understanding of their roles and responsibilities, included sample policies and checklists for attendees.

ESOPs are a special type of qualified retirement plan. Although ESOPs can be used in a number of settings, they are most commonly used by shareholders of privately-held companies to diversify out of their holdings on a tax-advantaged basis. Used this way, they serve as one answer to a dilemma common to a growing number of baby-boomer entrepreneurs pondering the future of companies they have built from scratch – how to cash out of their closely-held company and diversify their holdings.

The ESOP Association, founded in 1978, is a national non-profit membership organization, with 18 local Chapters, serving approximately 2,500 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies, professionals with a commitment to ESOPs, and companies considering the implementation of an ESOP.

Smith Anderson’s ESOP Practice Group has more than 50 years combined experience working with ESOPs and is active in the national ESOP community. Caryn McNeill, a Smith Anderson partner, is a vice president of the Carolinas Chapter of The ESOP Association and a member of its Executive Committee.

About Caryn McNeill
Ms. McNeill leads Smith Anderson’s Employee Benefits and Compensation Practice Group. She regularly advises clients on all aspects of the design, implementation and administration of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, including stock option plans and other types of equity-based compensation arrangements. A significant part of her practice is devoted to counseling and negotiating on behalf of clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions. She also has extensive experience with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”) and ESOP transactions.