CHICAGO — ORBA, one of Chicago's largest public accounting firms, is pleased to announce that Heather Sinclair-Smelley has joined the firm as its new Employee Benefits Consultant and a member of the firm's Employee Benefits Group. She has experience helping clients with the oversight, management, planning, and compliance of employee benefit plans and activities. Additionally, she regularly consults with plan sponsors regarding plan amendment requests and translates request instructions to amendment processors.

Heather is an expert in understanding ERISA compliance department processes, procedures and standards, as well as quality control review for nondiscrimination testing. She is also adept at filing IRS forms such as the 5500 returns.

In her previous roles, Heather also served as an ERISA Compliance and Benefits Consultant. She has significant experience with plan design, testing, IRS returns, corrections, and many other aspects of Employee Benefits oversight and management. In addition, she has received certified Expert-level American Retirement Association designations, including those as a Qualified 401(k) Consultant (QKC), Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) and a Qualified Pension Administrator (QPA).

Heather is a member of the American Retirement Association and earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a Minor in Finance, from the University of South Alabama.