This elite group, comprised of experts in the field, personally nominates all invitees and develops the Agenda, which forms the basis of our discussions.
Forum Overview
Dates: September 25 - 27, 2024
Location: Atlanta, GA
For the past nine years, the Forum has brought together 48 corporate executive compensation leaders, lawyers and consultants representing the largest corporations and renowned firms from across America, to exchange ideas, share experiences, and validate strategies on the evolving shareholder, business, and regulatory pressures on executive pay.
Using candid, peer-driven discussion, this Forum explores key trends and developments in executive compensation demands, design and disclosure, to discern best practices that balance stakeholder interests.
2024 Steering Committee
Committee Co-Chairs
Yonat Assayag is a founding Partner of ClearBridge Compensation Group. She has over twenty years of experience consulting with Boards and senior management on executive compensation strategy and design, aligning the interests of companies and shareholders to support sustainable business results. Yonat has extensive experience designing annual and long-term incentive plans, with a focus on goal setting and performance measurement, as well as advising on governance/regulatory issues and outside director compensation programs. She works with publicly-traded and privately-held companies across a wide array of industries, including financial services, media and entertainment, professional services, retail and technology, and has significant experience providing compensation advice in special situations such as mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, IPOs and SPACs. A regular speaker on executive compensation issues, Yonat’s speaking engagements have included the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALI-CLE), The Conference Board, Equilar, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) and WorldatWork. She has authored numerous articles on executive compensation and incentive design and is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Agenda, a Financial Times service. Prior to joining ClearBridge, Yonat was a Principal at Mercer in their Human Capital group, and prior to that she held various corporate HR roles. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Syracuse University and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. When not working, Yonat can be found laughing with her husband, Lou, as they live with their three (sometimes charming) children, Michael, Sasha and Layla, a goldendoodle named Oscar, and Puff the Bearded Dragon.
Kristen is responsible for Total Rewards, Performance, Global Talent Acquisition and HR Business Insights at Microsoft. This includes the global strategy and execution of employee compensation, benefits, relocation, performance management, global talent acquisition, M&A, stock design & administration and HR Business Insights. Kristen is a 20-year Microsoft veteran who spent the first half of her career in corporate finance controller positions in Office, Windows, Server and Xbox. She moved to HR in 2002 to lead University Recruiting and transitioned to Engineering Line leader roles in the Windows, Platforms and Services Division, Online Services and Devices organizations.
Committee Members
Irv Becker is a Vice Chairman in Korn Ferry’s Executive Pay & Governance business. He partners with boards and management teams to create sustainable organizations and enhance the effectiveness of the board/CEO relationship. As part of this effort, he works with these groups in the design and development of reward programs to align executive efforts and results with the success of the company.
His financial background provides him with a grounded perspective on performance measurement and performance management. Since 2008, Mr. Becker has been included almost every year on the Directorship 100, a list published by NACD Directorship magazine recognizing the most influential people who are shaping agendas and corporate governance issues in boardrooms across America.
Mr. Becker has worked with major public and private corporations across multiple industries. His clients range the spectrum from Fortune 100 companies to pre-IPO start-ups. He has worked with companies involved with initial public offerings, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as well as helped organizations develop new reward philosophies and approaches to support a major change in business direction.
Mr. Becker is a frequent speaker on executive compensation topics and has been quoted in numerous notable publications. He is often asked to contribute opinion pieces to the various Board magazines. He is also the co-author/editor of one of the most highly regarded books on Executive Compensation: Understanding Executive Compensation and Governance: A Practical Guide – Fourth Edition.
Mr. Becker received his Master’s of Business Administration in finance from Columbia Business School and has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Massachusetts. He is a licensed CPA in New York State.
Nathan is the Vice President of Global Compensation for Cardinal Health. He is responsible for Cardinal Health’s compensation philosophy, maintaining market competitive pay for its approximately 48,000 employees worldwide. Nathan also is responsible for designing and administering strategic solutions for the organization’s broad-based, sales, and executive compensation programs, including both cash and stock-based incentives. He and his team are responsible for the design and administration of the organization’s pay equity processes, including information contained in the annual ESG report filing. He owns preparation of all materials used for the Board of Directors’ HR & Compensation Committee meetings and all compensation information disclosed in the Company’s annual proxy statement filing. Nathan also has oversight responsibilities for the global assignment program and providing mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures due diligence support for Total Rewards in partnership with Benefits leadership.
Vijay Iyer is SVP, Associate General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Booking Holdings Inc. Vijay has been with the company for 8 years, including serving as General Counsel of its KAYAK & OpenTable brands. He was previously with Sullivan & Cromwell for 8 years, in its New York and Tokyo offices.
Blair Jones has 30 years of executive compensation consulting experience. She has deep expertise in advising boards on company transitions, significant investor concerns, and an expanding human capital management mandate. Previously, Blair was the practice leader in Leadership Performance and Rewards at Sibson and an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. Blair holds the designations of Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), and Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP). Blair has been named to the D100, NACD Directorship’s annual list of the most influential people in the boardroom community, including directors, corporate governance experts, regulators, and advisors, for 10 consecutive years (2013–2022).
Dan Laddin is a founding partner of Compensation Advisory Partners LLC (CAP) in New York. He consults with Boards and management in all areas of executive compensation, including annual and long-term incentive design, performance measurement, target setting, and regulatory/compliance issues, as well as outside director compensation programs. Dan works closely with Committees to ensure strong governance of their executive compensation programs to drive performance and align with shareholders. Dan’s background in finance and accounting serve him well in making sure that compensation programs align with the client’s strategy and financial objectives. Dan has over 15 years of experience working with both private and public companies across industries with a focus in consumer brands, media and manufacturing. Dan was named to the National Association of Corporate Director’s Directorship 100 for his contribution and influence in boardrooms. Dan teaches executive compensation through WorldatWork and is a regular speaker on executive compensation. He is regularly quoted in leading publications of the business press. Prior to joining CAP, Dan was a principal in Mercer’s Human Capital business. Dan joined Mercer through the acquisition of SCA Consulting in 2001. Prior to that, Dan was a CPA and worked as an auditor in KPMG’s business assurance practice. He also worked at David Berdon & Company where he provided both audit and tax services to clients. Dan received his MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Albany with a BS in Accounting.
Betsy Oliphant is senior vice president and managing counsel of State Street Corporation’s global human resources legal team. She leads a team of attorneys and legal professionals to advise State Street on employee relations, human resources, compensation, and benefits matters.
Marc Treviño is the co-head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s corporate governance practice and the managing partner of its executive compensation group. He joined the Firm in 1993 after graduating from Yale Law School (J.D., 1993) and summa cum laude from Princeton University (A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, 1990). Mr. Treviño is a recognized leader in structuring and counseling senior executives and boards in significant matters involving reputation, overlapping regulatory regimes, fiduciary conflicts and multiple jurisdictions, with a particular emphasis on matters involving financial institutions. Mr. Treviño teaches Corporate Crisis Management at the Yale Law School and is a co-author of The Public Company Deskbook (The Practising Law Institute), which has been hailed as “the bible for securities lawyers” by Fortune. For over twenty years Mr. Treviño has represented prominent institutions and individuals in their most public and challenging transactions. His clients have included AIG, Anthem, Bank of Butterfield, Bank of New York Mellon, Barclays, Cheniere, CIT Group, The Clearing House Association, Evercore, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Fortress, Goldman Sachs Group, ISS, JPMorgan Chase, Kodak, Lending Club, Microsoft, Moody’s, New York Stock Exchange, Priceline, RBS Citizens Financial Group, SandRidge Energy, Sotheby’s, UBS, UNFI, Vector Group, Verily Life Sciences, Volkswagen, Waymo and Wells Fargo & Company. Many of his most important matters are resolved without public attention.
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