» What’s Dinkin Thinkin: Covering compensation, benefits, retirement, management, sales, and marketing.

Elliot Dinkin is equally comfortable whether he is in a courtroom providing testimony or in a CFO’s office providing strategic counsel.

The 25-year plus veteran of the actuarial, compensation and employee benefits field continues to make his mark. Today, as President and CEO at Cowden Associates, Inc., Elliot provides leadership to position the company at the forefront of the industry.  His exceptional ability to view issues in the framework of a “total compensation” philosophy provides clients with a unique perspective as they search for creative ways to address their compensation, benefits and retirement needs.  Elliot earned his MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in Economics (Cum Laude) from Dickinson College.

Elliot’s breadth and depth of experience recently enabled him to lead a complex pension-freeze process for a client. Though it was initially underfunded by about $50 million, the freeze resulted in a fully funded $250 million pension plan. He was also instrumental in creating a new executive compensation program for a bank holding company as it prepared to change ownership. This process involved the intricate handling of both current and future owners, while still creating an effective total compensation package that would reward and motivate key executives.

The entrepreneurial spirit that Elliot has at Cowden Associates, Inc. is the same that led him to conceive and build Elliot Dinkin and Associates, Inc., where he served as president for eight years.  His insight into the challenges facing the C-suite, as well as his understanding of the global and regional marketplace makes him a natural at servicing clients and continually finding new ways to meet their needs.

In addition to providing value for clients, Elliot’s expert knowledge of management, collective bargaining and pensions has been tapped by publications including The Bankers Magazine and Employee Benefits News. His broad understanding of the issues has also made Elliot a frequent expert witness in legal proceedings on concerns ranging from compensation and collective bargaining issues to retirement.