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Craig Kovarik
Craig A. Kovarik
Partner
Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
vCard
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Direct: 816.983.8249
  • Fax: 816.983.8080
  • Email craig.kovarik huschblackwell.com
  • vCard
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Direct: 816.983.8249
  • Fax: 816.983.8080
  • craig.kovarik huschblackwell.com
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Craig A. Kovarik

Partner
Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
Partner
Overview
  • Overview
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  • Experience
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  • News & Insights

Craig is member of the Firm’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation team (and former Certified Public Accountant) who has spent his entire legal career helping clients navigate complex ERISA, tax and related laws pertaining to employer-sponsored benefit plans and compensatory arrangements. Among the areas Craig counsels clients (both public and non-public) include the following:

  • Equity-based compensation (including required SEC disclosures)
  • Executive employment agreements
  • Annual and long-term incentive plans, including customized award agreements
  • Non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements
  • Compliance with Internal Revenue Code Sections 162(m), 280G and 409A
  • Qualified 401(k), pension and other retirement plans  

Craig also has significant expertise with health and welfare benefit plan compliance matters, including ERISA, HIPAA and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Kansas Bar Association
  • The Missouri Bar

Awards and Recognitions

  • The Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2009-2018, Lawyer of the Year, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2017
  • Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, Employee Benefits/ERISA, 2006-2007

Civic Involvement

  • Employee Benefits Institute of Kansas City, Steering Committee
  • Mid-America Coalition on Health Care, Board of Directors

News & Insights

  • IRS ACA Penalty Letters Have Landed in Your Mailbox…Now What?
  • Year-End Deadlines Reminder for Employee Retirement, Health and Welfare Plans
  • Annual Higher Education Seminar
View More +

Experience

  • Assisted large international benefits broker with HIPAA privacy and related confidentiality issues regarding the client's web-based marketing strategy.
  • Routinely helps clients with the design and implementation of their executive compensation programs. His recent experience includes the drafting of 3-year rolling long term incentive plans and related award agreements.
  • Represents three major tax-exempt hospital systems, collectively with more than 15,000 employees, on all employee benefit and executive compensation matters.
  • Represented numerous large and midsize companies, both public and nonpublic, on virtually all employee benefit and executive compensation matters.
  • Advised more than 20 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) clients in transactions exceeding $100 million.
  • Routinely represents clients on employee benefit and executive compensation matters relating to mergers and acquisition strategies and integration. Most recently, represented a packaged foods company in connection with its $2.7 billion divesture.
  • Negotiated a tax-penalty abatement of more than $300,000 arising from an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) payroll tax audit.
  • Filed and received a compliance statement on more than 20 submissions under the IRS’ Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS).
  • Advised hundreds of clients relating to compliance with section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

News & Insights

November 27, 2017 Alert IRS ACA Penalty Letters Have Landed in Your Mailbox…Now What?
November 14, 2017 Alert Year-End Deadlines Reminder for Employee Retirement, Health and Welfare Plans
August 15, 2017 In The News Husch Blackwell Places 156 Lawyers in 2018 Best Lawyers in America
Energy & Natural Resources Financial Services & Capital Markets Food & Agribusiness Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education Real Estate, Development & Construction Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation
April 7, 2017 Seminar Annual Higher Education Seminar
Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
March 1, 2017 Alert IRS Offers Easier Option for Substantiating Hardship Withdrawals
January 3, 2017 News Releases Husch Blackwell Represents Algonquin in Closing $2.3 Billion Acquisition
Energy & Natural Resources
December 7, 2016 Alert Supreme Court to Decide Trio of Church-Affiliated Pension Disputes
Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
November 16, 2016 Webinar Issues in Higher Education Webinar: Limiting Retirement Plan Liability in Light of Recent Litigation
Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
November 10, 2016 Seminar What's New In Labor and Employment Law?
August 16, 2016 In The News Husch Blackwell Places 151 Lawyers in 2017 Best Lawyers in America
Energy & Natural Resources Financial Services & Capital Markets Food & Agribusiness Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education Real Estate, Development & Construction Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation
View More +
  • Industry Focus
    • Healthcare, Life Sciences & Education
  • Practice Areas
    • Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
    • Employee Stock Ownership Plans
    • Ancillary Service Providers
    • Healthcare
    • Healthcare Operations
    • Hospitals & Health Systems
  • Admissions
    • Missouri, 1994
    • Kansas, 1995
  • Education
    • J.D., University of Kansas School of Law, 1994
      • Order of the Coif
    • B.B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1989, with honors
  • KC Board of Trade sale named a 2013 Deal of the Year
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