The Future of Executive Compensation: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

Stephen F. O’Byrne is President and co-founder of Shareholder Value Advisors Inc., a consulting firm that helps companies increase shareholder value through better performance measurement, incentive compensation and valuation analysis. His work on measuring the strength and cost-efficiency of top management incentives has been published in the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Investing, Conference Board Director Notes, the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance and the WorldatWork Journal. He is the co-author, with Professor David Young of INSEAD, of EVA and Value-Based Management. He was previously head of the compensation consulting practice at Stern Stewart & Co. and a Principal in the executive compensation practice at Towers Perrin.

Shane J. Stroud is the chair of Pryor Cashman’s Executive Compensation, ERISA Employee Benefits Practice. With over 20 years of experience, he advises clients on employee benefits and executive compensation matters related to mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, private equity, and leveraged buyouts. Shane provides practical advice on excessive compensation, deferred compensation, golden parachute, and Section 409A issues to both individual executives and employers. He has extensive experience in negotiating executive employment, incentive, and severance agreements, and designing equity-based and incentive compensation plans. Shane also counsels clients on various ERISA issues, including plan reporting, fiduciary responsibility, and plan termination. His clients span various industries, including pharmaceutical, financial, energy, and entertainment.

David Lewin, Ph.D., is a Managing Director of the Berkeley Research Group (BRG), head of BRG’s Labor & Employment and Human Capital Practices, and the Neil H. Jacoby Professor Emeritus of Management, Human Resources and Organizational Behavior at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is the author of many published works on such topics as human resource management practices and business performance, workplace and organizational dispute resolution, and compensation and reward systems. Dr. Lewin also frequently serves as an expert witness in labor and employment litigation. His recent expert retentions involve issues of no poaching and non-compete agreements, the reasonableness of executive compensation, independent contractor vs. employee status, wrongful termination, employee and managerial misclassification, and employment discrimination.