The NASPP Blog

I’m blogging live from the “18th Annual NASPP Conference” in Chicago, which is a phenomenal success, with a full line-up of the best and the brightest speakers in the industry and close to 2,000 attendees. 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 featuring a lively panel on executive compensation. The panelists included well-respected directors Brad Anderson, Vice Chair and Former CEO of Best Buy and Bob Denham, Former CEO of Salomon, Director of Chevron Corp. and Partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, along with John Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Jesse Brill, Chair of the NASPP and CompensationStandards.com. One theme that emerged from the panel is the idea of CEOs forgoing compensation that is excessive or inappropriate or so that additional compensation, such as stock, can be delivered to employees.

Scenes from the 18th Annual NASPP Conference
With over 40 sessions, the Conference will be chock full of practical guidance, best practices, and critical updates.  Here are a few pictures so you can see all the excitement. (Click each thumbnail to see a full-size version of the picture.)

Art Meyers of Choate Hall & Stewart and I present on tax and legal issues at the “Practical Guide to Performance-Based Awards” course.

There are a lot of people here this year–as you can see by the packed exhibit hall during the opening reception.

Feats of acrobatic prowess were performed in Computershare’s booth in the exhibit hall–I’m referring to actual acrobatics, in addition, of course, to their flexible and innovative solutions for stock plan management that were also on display.

 The Morgan Stanley Smith Barney booth is in the center of all the excitement and a popular stop for reception attendees.

Baker & McKenzie featured an unique giveaway in their Conference booth–sure to be of assistance in managing global stock compensation.

Don’t Miss Out–Audio Available
If you aren’t able to attend the Conference or are here in Chicago but can’t get to all the sessions you’d like (with over 40, who could?), you can download the audio from any and all sessions in MP3 format.  Purchase just the sessions you want or save by purchasing a package of sessions.

NASPP “To Do” List
We have so much going on here at the NASPP that it can be hard to keep track of it all, so I keep an ongoing “to do” list for you here in my blog. 

• Purchase the audio for the 18th Annual NASPP Conference.
• Complete the Compliance-O-Meter quiz on ESPP Design.
• Take the “Question of the Week” challenge.
• Renew your NASPP membership for 2010 (if you aren’t an NASPP member, join today).

– Barbara