Mercer announced today the growth of its North America Private Equity M&A team with the addition of two experienced consultants in its Chicago office.

Jennifer Jakubowski has re-joined the Mercer M&A team in Chicago as Principal with a focus on Midwest-based private equity clients. In this role, Ms. Jakubowski brings a strong background in defined benefit pensions and retirement programs. Her experience includes assisting private equity and corporate clients with mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs, analyzing plan design scenarios and projections under different economic and design scenarios for both small and large clients, and nondiscrimination testing for medium to large size clients.

Ms. Jakubowski joins Mercer from Bridgewater Associates where she served as Program Manager, Retirement Programs. Prior to that, she was part of Mercer’s Retirement business for 13 years. Ms. Jakubowski holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the University of Iowa.

Ken Weinberger has also re-joined Mercer as Principal in the North America Private Equity M&A practice. Mr. Weinberger is an M&A consultant and ERISA attorney who now leads benefits and HR due diligence efforts for private equity clients in the Midwest. In this role he provides a wide range of merger and acquisition services including due diligence, negotiation support, financial analysis, and program implementation. His experience includes both domestic and multinational transactions and includes extensive experience with collectively bargained groups in the manufacturing sector.

Prior to re-joining Mercer, Mr. Weinberger was a Senior Vice President with Aon Hewitt where he led the Chicago M&A practice and held numerous other positions including Chicago Business Development Leader. His initial career at Mercer included serving as an ERISA attorney in the Chicago Legal Practice and working with clients on their M&A needs. Mr. Weinberger has a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Illinois and a law degree from the DePaul University College of Law.

Both Ms. Jakubowski and Mr. Weinberger report to Jeff Cox, Senior Partner and North America Private Equity M&A Leader. “I am happy to welcome Jennifer and Ken back to Mercer,” said Mr. Cox, “Each brings a depth of experience and knowledge that will immediately enhance our insights and service levels to our private equity clients as they try to navigate today’s increasingly competitive and complex deal environment.”

About Mercer

Mercer is a global leader in talent, health, retirement and investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and performance of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s 20,000 employees are based in more than 43 countries and the firm operates in over 130 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC), a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. With 55,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $12 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a global leader in management consulting. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights.