Cash-Balance Pioneer Byrne Joins Watson Wyatt

Byrne may be best known for the conception of an increasing orescalating annuity, which facilitated IRS qualification of the first cashbalance plan. Further, he developed a methodology for variable actuarialassumptions that maximizes contribution possibilities, meets IRSstandards and maintains contribution predictability, according to a news release.

Prior to joining Watson Wyatt, Byrne was a principal at Buck Consultants and headed up the Buck-Unifi integration. His departure comes less than a week after the announcement of some organizational shufflings at Mellon and its Buck subsidiary, as well as the departure of Jude Metcalfe, who had headed Mellon HR Solutions (see Mellon Shuffles HR Services Units, Metcalfe Exits ).

Earlier in his career, Byrne was chief executive officer of KwashaLipton, aposition he held until Kwasha Lipton’s merger with Coopers & Lybrand’sHuman Resource Advisory services, at which point he was in charge of theoutsourcing and retirement practices. Coopers & Lybrand merged withPrice Waterhouse and the retirement and outsourcing practices becamepart of Unifi.

Byrne holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from GeorgiaInstitute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries anda member of the American Academy of Actuaries and the Conference ofConsulting Actuaries. He has served on the Pension Committee of theAmerican Academy’s Actuarial Standards Board and as a liaison betweenthe Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.