Our popular “Meet the Speaker” series, featuring interviews with speakers at the 25th Annual NASPP Conference, is a great way to get to know our many distinguished speakers and find out a little more about their sessions in advance of the Conference.
For today’s “Meet the Speaker” interview, we feature an interview with John Schultz of Compensation & Benefit Solutions, who will lead the session “Think of the Administrators! Simplicity vs. Complexity in Incentive Plan Design.” Here is what John had to say:
NASPP: Why do NASPP Conference attendees need to know about your topic?
John: Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice …. Often, in our experience, we see companies come up with great plan design concepts that ultimately result in chaos once it comes down to the nuts and bolts of administering the program. Some of this can be attributed from not having all stakeholders involved in the plan design, but more often it is simply a matter of unique circumstances in how the mechanics of the various administration inputs operate. Our goal for this session is to walk through some of the more common plan design features that can create the biggest headaches (and costs!) for the administration team.
NASPP: What is a common mistake companies make and how can they avoid this?
John: Not having all the stakeholders involved when designing the incentive plan. That doesn’t mean that all parties need to be involved at every step of the way, but we highly recommend to our clients running key design features by the people that will actually be involved in administering them. For example, payroll often gets the short shrift in plan design (if involved at all), yet that group of stakeholders can flag timing issues that make a design feature much costlier than ever anticipated (think withholding calculations and remittance timing).
NASPP: What is the worst horror story you can tell on your topic?
John: Penalties … lots and lots of penalties ….
NASPP: What is your superpower?
John: Wow, that is a good question. Difficult, though; what does one gauge his response on? Physical prowess? Keen deductive skills? The ability to banter well with super villains? (Brodie Bruce, Mallrats)
Don’t miss John’s session, “Think of the Administrators! Simplicity vs. Complexity in Incentive Plan Design: Session,” at the NASPP Conference!
About the NASPP Conference
The 25th Annual NASPP Conference will be held from October 17-20 in Washington DC. This year’s program features close to 100 sessions on today’s most timely topics in stock and executive compensation; check out the full agenda and register today!
Last week I spoke at meetings for the Western PA and Philadelphia chapters. Here are a few pics from the meeting.
We had a great turn-out for both meetings. Here are a few folks from PNC who attended the Western PA chapter meeting, which was held at Reed Smith’s offices in downtown Pittsburgh.
See more pics of the Western PA meeting on the NASPP’s Facebook page.
Pat Gentile of Reed Smith and Joe Steitz of Ansys. Joe is the new Western PA chapter president and has been hosting some great meetings. If you are in the Pittsburgh area, you should definitely check one out in the future.
A big thank-you to Pat for arranging for the meeting space and also big thanks to Joe and the rest of the board for hosting the meeting (and accommodating my travel schedule).
Attendees at the Philadelphia half-day meeting were invited to enter a raffle for four nifty prizes, including gift baskets and a restaurant gift certificate. Here are two attendees deciding how to allocate their raffle tickets.
Attendees listen intently at the Philadelphia half-day meeting. Emily Cervino of Fidelity and I presented on lessons we can learn from social media for employee communications and Brian Wydajewski from Baker McKenzie presented on complex stock plan issues.
Three-fourths of the CEP’s Accounting Curriculum Committee was in attendance in Philadelphia (Steve Tamsula of PNC, me, and Dan Kapinos of Aon)
The Philadelphia event was held at the Radnor Valley Country Club in Villanova. After the educational presentations, attendees enjoyed mingling and BBQ at a reception on the patio.
Kudos to chapter president Elena Thomas of Plan Management and the rest of the chapter board for hosting a fantastic event.
See more pics of the Philadelphia meeting on the NASPP’s Facebook page.
Last Wednesday, Elizabeth Dodge of Equity Plan Solutions and I presented to the San Diego NASPP chapter. Here are a few pics from the meeting. More pics on the NASPP’s Facebook page.
Chapter president James Tozer of E*TRADE Financial and Lynn Goldacker of NuVasive wait to check in the meeting attendees. Kudos to James and the rest of the chapter board for hosting a fantastic meeting.
James is also the NASPP’s Regional Representative for the South and is a member of the NASPP’s Executive Advisory Committee.
A few of the early arrivals. The early-bird gets a seat at the table.
Board member Claudia Baranowski of Illumina and Theresa Lee of Qualcomm. Thanks to Claudia for making copies of the slide presentation for everyone.
Board member Thomas Welk of Cooley (and NASPP Individual Achievement Award recipient and member of the Executive Advisory Committee) chats with Ralph Barry of Compensia. The meeting was held at Cooley’s offices; we appreciate the great meeting space.
The folks who got a seat at the table.
In the background, a few folks who didn’t get a seat at the table. It was a great turnout for a 7:30 AM meeting. So great, I think the board might schedule a few more breakfast meetings.
It was standing room only at when I presented to the Nashville chapter this past Tuesday. Here are a few pics from the event:
As you can see from this photo, we had a full house for the meeting. Every seat was filled. I heard rumors of it being a record number of attendees. Nashville is one of the newest NASPP chapters and it’s great to see this level of interest from our members in the area.
I chatted with Catrice Cooke of Discovery Communications and Tami Phillips of UBS before the meeting.
A number of attendees arrived early to catch up with their friends and colleagues before the meeting. It’s always smart to take a little extra time out of your day to make a few connections while you attending your local NASPP chapter meetings.
Pictured here is the new chapter president, Tommy Swindle of UBS and board member Ron Marx of Tractor Supply, along with James Hockaday from Brookdale Senior Living. A big thank-you to Tommy, Ron, and the rest of the chapter board for accommodating my travel schedule and hosting a fantastic meeting!
There were even a few attendees from out of town. Melissa Sims and Dennis Lanham of the CEP Institute were in town for a conference and stopped by for the meeting.
This past Tuesday I presented at the Boston NASPP chapter. Here are a few pics from the meeting (see more pics on the NASPP’s Facebook page).
Kudos to chapter president Mike Albert of Fidelity Stock Plan Services and the chapter board for hosting a great meeting in a great location and also for accommodating my travel schedule. Pictured here with Mike is Ben Gibbons and Art Meyers of Choate Hall & Stewart.
Attending chapter meetings is a great way to catch up with your friends in the stock compensation community and to make some new friends (oh, and also to learn stuff).
The meeting was held at Tripadvisor’s headquarters in Needham, MA, which are pretty spiffy. This might look like a living room, but it’s actually the lobby.
A big thank-you to Kevin Kirby of Tripadvisor for arranging for such a fabulous meeting space. Joining Kevin in this picture is Yoon Park of Yoon Park Advisors.
Pamela Murphy of Charles River Laboratories and Hal Lorton of Fidelity chat after my presentation.
This was possibly the most interesting meeting room I’ve ever presented in. There were comfy sofas, and coffee table, a book shelf filed with travel souvenirs, and even a fireplace (well, technically it was the back of a pizza oven).
It was a great event with lots of informative presentations throughout the day. Kudos to the entire chapter board for putting together such a fantastic program. Pictured here are board members Stacey Langley of Spirit Realty Capital, J.D. Ivy of Alvarez & Marsal, and Patricia Fuentes of Merrill Lynch, along with president Fred Constantinesco (aka Freddy C.).
The keynote for the day was presented by Hector Picard of Don’tStopLiving.org. Hector has many impressive accomplishments, including completing multiple Ironman triathlons. He also lost both of his arms in a work-related accident (before the triathlons) and now devotes his life to helping and inspiring others. The Dallas chapter meeting was a stop on his “Tour to Inspire.”
The Aon team came prepared for Cinco de Mayo (the event was held on May 5) with a full mariachi band of rubber ducks. See a close-up of the ducks on the NASPP’s Facebook page.
In this picture: Patrick Gabel, Stephen Popowsk, Wesley Parker, and Dan Coleman of Aon. Also in the pic is Rebecca Kargl of Concho Resources. (Rebecca doesn’t work for Aon, but she was chatting with the team when I happened by with my camera.)
Ryan Moore of Stock & Options Solutions has an exciting array of giveaways for attendees to take home, all artistically arranged on his table.
The day concluded with a reception featuring, what else on Cinco de Mayo—margaritas! In this pic, Brittaney Reese of Gamestop, Janet Clements of Morgan Stanely, Suzanne Kraemer of Celanese Corporation, and Anton Sardos of Fluor catch up during the reception.
Here’s what’s happening at your local NASPP chapter this week:
KS/MO: The chapter hosts a holiday luncheon, featuring highlights from the 2016 NASPP Conference, planning for chapter meetings in 2017, and discussion of current hot topics. (Tuesday, December 13, 11:30 AM)
Connecticut: Daniel Kapinos and Kate Hall of Aon Hewitt present “Are you Feeling Crazy Yet? The Ever Changing Environment Thanks to Regulatory Updates.” (Thursday, December 15, 10:00 AM)
NY/NJ: The chapter presents a recap of two sessions from the 2016 NASPP Conference: “Our Company Is in Play: What to Do Before and After the Transaction” and “What the Board Giveth, the Clawback May Taketh Away.” (Thursday, December 15, 8:30 AM)
San Fernando Valley: Paul Gladman of Deloitte Tax presents “A Global Perspective On Contingent Workers.” (Thursday, December 15, 11:30 AM)
Here’s what’s happening at your local NASPP chapter this week:
Austin: The chapter hosts its Holiday Happy Hour, featuring cocktails and nibbles at The Dogwood at Rock Rose. (Tuesday, December 6, 3:30 PM)
Chicago: Don Nemerov of FGMK presents “Are Private Equity Practices the Next Step for Public Company Executive Compensation?” (Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 AM)
San Diego: The chapter hosts is annual holiday social and networking event at Rough Draft Brewing Company. (Tuesday, December 6, 3:00 PM)
Boston: Emily Cervino of Fidelity presents “Turning Up the Heat with Hot Topics in Equity Compensation.” (Wednesday, December 7, 8:30 AM)
Philadelphia: The chapter hosts a presentation titled “Legal Hot Topics in Equity Compensation for 2017.” (Wednesday, December 7, 3:30 PM)
Silicon Valley: Robert Purser of PwC and Jillian Forusz of Adobe Systems present “FASB Simplification of Stock Compensation and Early Adopters Insight.” (Wednesday, December 7, 11:00 AM)
Phoenix: The chapter hosts its annual holiday reception and networking event at Tapas Papa Frita. (Thursday, December 8, 4:00 PM)
Here’s what’s happening at your local NASPP chapter this week:
Atlanta, KS/MO, Philadelphia, Nashville: The chapters host a joint webcast featuring Kerri McKenna and Robert Purser from PwC along with Thomas Swindle from UBS presenting “FASB Simplification of Stock Compensation Accounting and Early Adopters Insights.” (Wednesday, November 30, 3:00 PM Eastern)
Twin Cities: The chapter hosts a double-session featuring Jason Jones and Chris Ansley from EY presenting “Changes to Statutory Withholding under ASU 2016-09 – Practical Considerations” and ” Issues to Consider with Equity Plans during Corporate Transactions.” (Thursday, December 1, 7:30 AM)
Here’s what’s happening at your local NASPP chapter this week:
Connecticut: Lenka Haase of E*TRADE Financial presents “Year End Procedures—How Your Equity Vendor Can Help You!” (Tuesday, November 15, 10:00 AM)
Ohio: Daniel Dunn and Lenka Haase of E*TRADE Financial present “Year End Procedures—How Your Equity Vendor Can Help You!” (Wednesday, November 16, 9:00 AM)
Carolinas: Paul Bailey from Red Hat presents “ASC 718 in Motion: The FASB’s Amendments.” (Thursday, November 17, 11:30 AM)
NY/NJ: Stephen Giove of Shearman & Sterling and Christine Cognetti McCasland of Morgan Stanley present “Hot Topics for Public Companies.” (Thursday, November 17, 8:30 AM)
