Gregory A. Marrs

GREGORY MARRS focuses his practice on a broad variety of employee benefits and executive compensation issues, including routinely advising clients on such issues in connection with corporate transactions (including mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures and spin-offs) and related employee integration efforts. 

Greg’s practice includes counseling clients with respect to qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, including advising on plan design and implementation, strategic terminations, mergers and day-to-day compliance issues, drafting plan documents, participant communications and government filings, and preparing filings under corrective programs. Greg has significant experience advising clients with respect to the negotiation and design of equity, equity-based, employment, severance, retention and change-in-control plans and arrangements. His knowledge includes the various tax and other regulatory issues relating to executive compensation arrangements, including Sections 409A and 280G of the Internal Revenue Code.

Prior to joining the firm, Greg served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jennifer Walker Elrod of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and to the Honorable Michael P. McCuskey of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Greg graduated first in his class and summa cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and received Rickert Awards for Excellence in Oral Advocacy, Legal Writing and Academic Excellence.

Prior to law school, Greg worked as an associate at a large public accounting firm. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois.

Recent examples of corporate transactions on which Greg has advised include:

• The special committee of the board of directors of Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) in its US$6.25 billion acquisition by certain members of the Nordstrom family and El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. de C.V.
• Aon plc in its sale of Healthy Paws to Chubb.
• Synchrony Financial in its acquisition of Ally Financial Inc.’s point-of-sale financing business, including US$2.2 billion of loan receivables.
• Waltz Health, a digital health company developing technologies and services that support better-informed decisions on prescription care, in its merger with EVERSANA, a leading independent provider of global services to the life sciences industry.
• OSEA Malibu, a family-owned, seaweed-infused clean skincare brand, in a strategic growth investment by General Atlantic, a global growth equity investor.
• Premium haircare brand K18 in its agreement to be acquired by Unilever PLC.
• Synchrony in its sale of Pets Best, its pet insurance managing general agent (MGA).
• Avantax, Inc. in its acquisition by Cetera Holdings.
• ChrysCapital on its acquisition of Xoriant Corporation, a Silicon Valley-headquartered digital product engineering, software development, and technology services firm.
• Hero Mighty Patch brand, in its US$630 million sale to Church & Dwight.
• ChrysCapital on its acquisition of Results CX, a customer experience company working with Fortune 100 and 500 companies worldwide, from One Equity Partners.
• Home Partners of America, Inc., a single-family residential acquisition and rental business, in its US$6 billion sale to Estate Income Trust, Inc., an affiliate of The Blackstone Group Inc.
• The Navigators Group in its US$2.1 billion all-cash sale to The Hartford.
• Cabela’s Incorporated in its sale to Bass Pro Group, LLC, a transaction with an aggregate value of US$5.5 billion.
• R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company in connection with its US$7.1 billion corporate spinoffs of its publishing and retail-centric print services and office products business, LSC Communications, Inc., and its financial communications and data service business, Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc.
• Diplomat Pharmacy in its sale to UnitedHealth Group for an enterprise value of approximately US$900 million.
• Aon in the sale of its benefits administration and human resources business process outsourcing platform to Blackstone for US$4.8 billion.
• Hood Companies, Inc. in various acquisitions.