Commitment to Clients
Our mission is to help organizations build and maintain great leadership teams to create value for the organization's stakeholders over the long term. All of our work on compensation benchmarking, plan design, and related governance issues is structured to fulfill this mission. Our advice is thoughtful, tailored to the organization, frequently innovative, and always straight-forward, open, and candid.
Biography
David Swinford is chairman of Pearl Meyer. He is a senior advisor to the firm’s leadership team and serves on the board of managers. As of the end of 2023, he no longer has a consulting role.
For more than 45 years, Dave has worked with boards and management teams in all major industries. He has been with Pearl Meyer over 26 years, and was President and CEO from 2007 through 2021. During his tenure as CEO, he guided the firm’s growth and its approach to working with organizations to develop and maintain excellent leadership teams to generate long-term success. Prior to 2007, he served as senior managing director and head of Pearl Meyer’s New York office.
Before joining Pearl Meyer, he was a managing director and worldwide partner of William M. Mercer, Incorporated, where he was a national practice leader for executive compensation. Dave also served as a vice president at Towers Perrin, with worldwide responsibility for the executive compensation consulting practice, and in positions at Sibson & Company and Harris Corporation. He holds BS, MS, and JD degrees from the University of Wisconsin.
Publications and Presentations
by
David Swinford
Leading an Effective CEO Transition: It’s a Journey, Not an Event
How Inflation Complicates the Compensation Committee’s Job
Compensation Strategies for Succession Planning
