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February 24, 2009 Time: 5:30 PM 5:30-6:30 PM: Cocktails & Networking Program Overview: The executive pay model is under significant pressure from a variety of sources: a difficult economic environment, highly volatile financial markets, continued criticism from pay critics and new legislative initiatives. The most immediate impact has come from legislation; the bank bailout package passed by Congress in October 2008 includes lower pay cap deduction levels, an expanded definition of golden parachutes, and limits on incentives to take "unnecessary and excessive risks" for a company. While these provisions have not been applied to the rest of corporate America, influential lawmakers have indicated that they intend to introduce similar restrictions in the near future. In addition to a changing regulatory environment, a confluence of external economic forces such as those involving Wall Street firms has dramatically altered the executive compensation landscape. An economy in crisis has contributed to significant stock price volatility and uncertain earnings forecasts. Executive pay critics, institutional investors and shareholder advisory firms are placing pressure on boards to fundamentally change the way compensation is designed and delivered. This panel will tackle some difficult questions, including:
* Does pay for performance exist in corporate America? What can or should be done to ensure its survival? * What future legislation is predicted, such as "say-on-pay"? * What changes should be made to pay disclosure? * Are executive pay elements such as supplemental retirement plans, severance plans, evergreen contracts, and perquisites likely to be affected? Sandra Gaffin (Moderator) is the Division Practice Leader for Compensation at Watson Wyatt, and has over 25 years experience. Her areas of expertise include executive compensation, global compensation, and total rewards strategy. In the area of executive compensation, Ms. Gaffin has developed compensation philosophy, structured annual and longer-term incentive plans and designed Board of Director compensation programs. Additionally, she supports the development of proxy disclosures, Compensation Committee charters and processes, and executive and Board evaluation tools and processes. In the course of her consulting with clients, she frequently assesses the effect of tax, accounting and legislative regulations. Ms. Gaffin's client work also includes broad based compensation systems. Prior to joining Watson Wyatt, she was a partner at Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. Ms. Gaffin has served on the Advisory Board of WorldatWork and has had the honor of providing testimony before a U.S .Congressional Committee on Civil Service reform. Dennis Leonard is the Senior Vice President of Global Compensation, Benefits & HR Operations at The Western Union Company and is responsible for the Global Total rewards strategy, including compensation, benefits, payroll and HRIS for over 6,000 people in 50 countries. He has responsibility for the design and implementation of executive compensation programs at Western Union and works with the Compensation Committee of the Board in these matters. Prior to joining Western Union in April 2002, Mr. Leonard served as vice president and director, Financial Planning, Broker Transfer - Branch Operations and the Retirement Group, for Merrill Lynch from 1997 to 2002. In addition, he held the role of management consultant for Ernst & Young, LLP from 1996 to 1997. From 1990 to 1996, he held increasingly responsible management roles at Teachers Insurance Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF). Mr. Leonard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Central Connecticut State University and a M.B.A. in Corporate Finance from the University of Dallas. Sanjai Bhagat is Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has worked previously at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Princeton University and University of Chicago. He has an MBA from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Dr. Bhagat has published extensively in the leading Finance and Law academic journals (such as, the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, American Law and Economics Review, Columbia Law Review, Journal of Corporation Law). Dr. Bhagat serves as an expert on executive and director compensation, corporate governance and the duty of care, valuation of minority interest and controlling interest in privately held companies, and litigation arising in the context of M&A and other corporate transactions. He has researched and published on director and executive compensation and the effect of stock ownership on a company's performance. He has advised U.S. government agencies and large and mid-cap companies on corporate governance and finance issues. His work is regularly cited in the popular and financial media such as the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Economist, and New York Times. Ann Costelloe is the Office Practice leader for Watson Wyatt's San Francisco/Bay Area compensation practice. She works with clients and their boards aligning executive compensation programs with strategic business objectives, assessing the structure and competitiveness of executive total compensation programs, developing a long-term incentive/equity strategy, designing annual incentive, long-term incentive and other supplemental and retirement plans, and creating an effective total rewards philosophy and strategy. Ms. Costelloe has 20 years of consulting experience applying innovative problem solving and strategic planning techniques for clients in the financial services, retail, high-technology, life sciences, not-for-profit, healthcare and manufacturing industries in the United States, Europe and Asia. She is a core member of the team that leads Watson Wyatt's Total Rewards Consulting Process and through this helps clients understand the impact of their overall reward programs on business results.
Register Early for these upcoming events! March 10, 2009-Dinner Meeting
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