The NASPP Blog

I’m blogging live from the “17th Annual NASPP Conference,” which is a huge success. We have a lot of people here in San Francisco this year and a lot of great speakers and sessions. Today is the first day of the Conference, so I thought I would share some scenes from the pre-Conference programs and last night’s opening reception with my readers.

The Conference started off this morning with a keynote presentation that included an address by J. Mark Iwry, who is the Senior Advisor to US Treasury Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary. We all know that executive compensation is a key focus of Treasury right now (for example, see Rachel’s blog from last week on “Everybody Loves Equity“). I was excited to hear Mr. Iwry announce that Treasury staffers are attending the nationwide live vide webcast of CompensationStandards’ “6th Annual Executive Compensation Conference.”

I’m also impressed by the sheer heft of the Conference books.  We asked speakers to submit more substantive materials this year and they really came through for us. The books are 1,200 pages and filled with articles, memos, checklists, sample documents, and other great resources.

Here are a few pictures so you can see all the excitement.  (Click each thumbnail to see a full-size version of the picture.)

Bruce Brumberg of myStockOptions.com and Emily Cervino of the CEP Institute presented a rousing session on plan design at the “Restricted Stock Essentials” program.  I know you’re wondering just how rousing plan design for restricted stock can really be, but I think you’d be surprised if you saw their presentation.

 Mark Borges of Compensia and Keith Higgins of Ropes & Gray present during CompensationStandards “4th Annual Proxy Disclosure Conference.”  The Conference was videocast live nationwide in addition to the presentation here in San Francisco.

Mission control for the nationwide live video webcast.  It’s pretty complicated to videocast presentations live via the internet.

Computershare sponsored the Conference registration area.  They handed out packages of Integral OTC, a new drug that is an all-purpose remedy for equity ailments (and, amazingly, tastes like chewing gum) and had a medical theme to their booth, complete with all their staff in scrubs and white coats.

Baker & McKenzie went with an Alcatraz theme, with all of their staff in t-shirts that read “Avoid the Island” and hand-cuffs (luckily with keys) as giveaways.

Look for more scenes from the NASPP Conference in the next blog entry.  If you aren’t here live, you can still get in on the great content and presentations by purchasing the Conference audio and materials.

– Barbara