Mike joined Sandberg Phoenix in 2022. He is a member of the Business practice group and focuses his practice in business and tax law, specifically in employee benefits, ERISA and executive compensation. He has extensive experience with both tax-qualified retirement plans and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, ESOPs, health plans, fiduciary law, equity compensation, stock options and restricted stock, and incentive and deferred compensation plans. Mike also focuses on the rescue of plans with document or operational defects.
Mike has won designations as a specialist in ERISA. He is the innovator of the ESOF (Employee Stock Ownership Fund), an alternative to an ESOP. With clients ranging from individuals and small business to large companies with thousands of employees, Mike has secured more than 45 years of experience in ERISA law, including designing, drafting and implementing plans of every size and type. Mike is frequently in demand as a seminar speaker and an author.
Outside of the office, Mike enjoys spending time with his family, cycling, reading mysteries and works about historical events, watching classic movies, listening to music of all kinds and playing the piano.
American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries
National Association of Plan Advisors
National Center for Employee Ownership
The ESOP Association
J.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
• Law Review, published comment
B.A. in Journalism, University of University of Missouri-Columbia
Missouri
Kansas
United States Tax Court
Association for Objective Law, Vice President
Executive Reports, “Establishing ESOPs: Determining the Best Plan and Implementing It Effectively“
Author, “Maximizing Value When Developing ESOPs” by Michael V. Conger, Equity Shareholder, Polsinelli Shalton Welte Suelthaus PC, pp. 5-16
Chapter author and editor of “Qualified and Non-Qualified Retirement Plans of Tax-Exempt Organizations,” 7th edition, et seq., Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, by Bruce Hopkins, principal author (2016)
Co-Author, “Key Points and Strategies for Setting up an ESOP and Getting It Right” by Robert L. Abramowitz and David Ackerman, Partners, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, pp. 17-28 (2005)