Professor Norman Stein has been appointed to the Task Force on Retirement Security for Private Sector Employees in Philadelphia, which was created by the Philadelphia City Council in June.

The task force will make recommendations to the City Council for addressing a looming financial crisis faced by Philadelphia residents who work for private employers that do not offer retirement plans.   The 16-member group will explore best practices and make annual reports to Council.

Stein is a recognized authority on pension law, employee benefits and tax law who has played a role in shaping policy at the national level.

He will chair the task force’s Governance and Administration Committee and he will co-chair the Plan Options Committee.

City Councilwoman Cherelle L. Parker, Ninth District, who called for the creation of the task force, is “thrilled” to have someone with Stein’s expertise on board, said her chief of staff, Rachel Meadows.

Before forming the task force, Meadows said, she and Parker solicited suggestions for the group and its membership from officials in other major cities.

In separate conversations with officials from the office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Washington, D.C. based Economic Policy Institute and the New School’s Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, Stein’s name kept coming up, Meadows said.

The task force faces a challenging charge, she added, since the retirement security picture for many private employees in Philadelphia is particularly bleak.