About Us
The Epler Company, founded in 1971, is one of the largest independent actuarial consulting and compensation firms headquartered in San Diego, California. Services are provided to clients throughout the United States.
Each member of our professional staff has been employed in the benefits and compensation fields for many years and began his/her professional careers at larger insurance companies, national actuarial firms or large corporations in the compensation or benefits division.
Our consulting services include:
- Retirement Actuarial Services
- 401(k) and Defined Contribution Services
- 457 and 403(b) Plans
- Compensation Studies
- Salary and Benefit Surveys
- Group Insurance Retiree Medical Studies
- Group Insurance Consulting Services
Management Staff
Jane Barry
President, CEO
Ms. Barry has been associated with The Epler Company for over thirty years, serving as President and Chief Executive Officer for more than twenty years. As CEO, Ms. Barry is responsible for establishing the firm's work ethic, mission, and quality assurance of all consulting projects. In addition, she is considered a leading authority in the defined benefit and executive compensation fields.
Marilyn Jones
Vice President, ASA, MAAA, EA, FCC
Ms. Jones is Vice President of our actuarial practice. She has over twenty years of experience in the pension and retiree medical areas and brings with her tremendous expertise in these two fields in both the private and public sectors. Ms. Jones' primary responsibility is to maintain the high professional standards that have been the cornerstone of our long history and to continually monitor changes that may become necessary as a result of legislative activity. All personnel in the pension and retiree medical areas of the practice report, either directly or indirectly, to Ms. Jones.
Lin J. Ball
Vice President, RHU, CCP, CBP
Ms. Ball is Vice President of our Compensation and group insurance practice. She has over twenty-five years of experience as a compensation and benefits expert, in addition to her previous eight years as a human resource generalist. Her responsibilities include the development and implementation of all phases of total rewards.
Teena Sarkissian
Senior Benefits Consultant, MSPA, CPC, EA
Ms. Sarkissian has over 20 years of experience in the actuarial field and 17 years experience in defined contribution plans. She is responsible for all aspects of defined benefit and defined contribution administration, including plan asset review, compliance testing, actuarial valuations, allocations, annual filings for the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and the design and preparation of employee benefit statements. In addition, she is proficient in computer programming and various industry software applications.
Maureen C. Ostrich
Manager, Actuarial Support Services
Ms. Ostrich has over twenty-five years of experience in the actuarial field. She supervises the quality assurance for the defined benefit and defined contribution departments. She has extensive experience in all phases of actuarial valuations, data preparation and benefit calculations. In addition, she is responsible for the preparation of information returns required for the Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. She also performs network administrator tasks for our in-house software systems.
Barbara Craven
Senior Compensation Consultant, CCP, CBP
Ms. Craven has over ten years of experience as a compensation and benefits specialist in addition to fifteen years of customer service and sales experience in a variety of industries. Ms. Craven has experience in all phases of total rewards including the development of compensation and benefits surveys, job analysis and job descriptions, merit increase systems, incentive programs, performance evaluation and flexible benefits. In addition, Ms. Craven manages the annual salary and benefits surveys conducted by our Firm for various industries.
Our Approach
The range of our consulting experience and skills represents many years of education, training and practical experience. Each member of our professional staff has been employed in the benefits and compensation fields for many years and typically began his/her career in insurance companies, national actuarial firms or organizations with compensation and benefits departments.
We utilize in-house state of the art computer systems and sophisticated software that enable us to provide a wide range of cost, benefit and financial information vital to the effective design and administration of employee benefits and compensation plans.
We are committed to the maintenance of the highest professional standards and performance. Our principals are directly responsible for every project or assignment.
We believe that a successful engagement begins with an in-depth understanding of the project with our clients to ensure that the objectives and issues are addressed.
Prior to the beginning of an assignment, a proposal letter is written outlining the scopes of services and estimated fees. We provide services on a fee for service basis only and do not accept commissions. Upon completion of an assignment, findings and recommendations are presented typically both in oral and written format.
