Executive Compensation – What Are We Facing Now?

Corporate Secretary and Foley hosted Executive Compensation — What Are We Facing Now? as part of the Corporate Wavelength Web conference series.

This program addressed the results of the economic downturn and the increased scrutiny of executive compensation, companies are grappling with new questions about executive pay:

• What is the new normal? What are the messages to compensation committees about executive pay?
  
• How does the most recent pay data reflect the economic crisis: trends in salaries, bonuses, and equity grants?
  
• What are companies doing about underwater stock options?
  
• Will the recent executive compensation legislation aimed at companies that receive federal “bailout” funds (i.e., TARP recipients) be expanded to apply to all companies? If so, what will that mean?
  
• How can companies ensure their pay programs do not encourage excessive risk taking?
  
• What are the hot-button issues being focused on by RiskMetrics and other shareholder services companies?
  
• What are companies doing about retention and engagement of key talent?

Leigh C. Riley, Foley Tax & Individual Planning and Tax & Employee Benefits Partner, was joined by Claudia Zeitz Poster, Principal in Towers Perrin’s Executive Compensation Practice, to address key issues of executive compensation in a turbulent economic environment, including an update of the rules in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that govern executive compensation for TARP recipients.