Editor/Contributing Author

Gita K. Sharma (since 2010). Ms. Sharma is a Senior Editor at Thomson Reuters/EBIA. Prior to joining EBIA, Ms. Sharma practiced law for 15 years in the employee benefits field with leading law and consulting firms in the New York/New Jersey area. She also teaches as an adjunct professor at the Rutgers Business School. She received her law degree in 1993 from Albany Law School of Union University and her LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law in 1997.

Contributing Authors

John R. Hickman (since 2010). Mr. Hickman is a partner in the Employee Benefits Practice Group with Alston & Bird in Atlanta and is head of its Health Benefits Group. He is a member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White 2011) and serves as chair of the ECFC Technical Advisory Committee. Mr. Hickman received his law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1989.

Cheryl Musselman-Brown (since 2010). Ms. Musselman-Brown is a Vice President at Thomson Reuters. Before joining Thomson Reuters/EBIA in 1999, Ms. Musselman-Brown practiced employee benefits law for nine years in one of Seattle’s largest law firms. She received her law degree in 1990 from the University of Washington, and was Executive Editor of Operations for the Washington Law Review.

Christy A. Tinnes (since 2010). Ms. Tinnes is a Principal with the Groom Law Group in Washington, D.C. She is recognized in the 2010 Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a “notable practitioner” in healthcare, particularly for her work with HIPAA. Ms. Tinnes received her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1998.

Christine Williams (since 2010). Ms. Williams is Of Counsel at Perkins Coie in Los Angeles. She was formerly Director of Seminars at EBIA and was the Editor and a Contributing Author of EBIA’s HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security manual. Ms. Williams has practiced exclusively in the employee benefits area since 1987 as both counselor and litigator and has represented single employer, multiemployer, and multiple employer plans. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law and was awarded the Order of the Coif.

Contributor

Cheryl Risley Hughes (since 2010). Ms. Hughes is Of Counsel with the Groom Law Group in Washington, D.C. Ms. Hughes serves on ECFC’s Technical Advisory Committee. She has an L.L.M. degree in Taxation and a Certificate of Study in Employee Benefits Law from Georgetown University Law Center and graduated cum laude from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1995.

EBIA Staff Contributors: Katherine J. Alexander, Senior Director and Publisher (J.D., WA Bar); Brigid Carroll Anderson, Director, Seminars (J.D., WA, NY Bar); Virginia L. Briggs, Senior Editor (J.D., LL.M., CO Bar); John W. Haine, Senior Editor (J.D., MN, CA Bar); Carrie J. Molenda, Senior Editor (J.D., WA Bar); Susan R. Monkmeyer, Senior Editor (J.D., MN Bar); Jean M. May, Managing Editor – Benefits (J.D., WA Bar).