Biography

Deborah Lifshey is a managing director at Pearl Meyer, where she specializes in advising clients on compensation matters from a legal perspective including securities disclosure, taxation and corporate governance issues, negotiation contracts, and reasonableness opinion letters. 

Prior to joining Pearl Meyer, Deborah practiced at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where she specialized in executive compensation, ERISA matters, and corporate transactions, and at Holland and Knight, where she specialized in employment litigation matters. She has authored and/or co-authored the following works: "The New Qualified Plan Minimum Distribution Rules," The New York Law Journal (Winter, 1996); "IRS Changes Rules Through Field Service Advice – This Time on FICA and ESPP," Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits (January/February 2000); Perquisites, Executive Compensation and Benefits Handbook, BNA Publications (2002); Negotiating and Drafting Employment Agreements, Executive Compensation and Benefits Handbook (2004); and Executive Compensation: The Perspective of the Compensation Consultant, Chapter 15 of Corporate Governance: Law and Practice (2005). Deborah is a frequent speaker and panelist on disclosure and taxation issues, and is regularly quoted on executive compensation best practices.

She is a graduate of the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University and the University of Florida College of Law, and served as a federal clerk for the Honorable Judge Susan H. Black on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Deborah is a member of the New York and Florida Bars.

Biography

Sharon Podstupka is a managing director at Pearl Meyer. She is a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams in the areas of executive and broad-based employee compensation communication and change management. With over 25 years of consulting experience, she is one of the original pioneers of executive compensation disclosure best practices and has proven success in creating effective strategies and delivering content in challenging business environments and under intense scrutiny from investors and proxy advisory firms. Sharon has extensive experience in a broad range of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, oil and energy, retail, biopharma/biotech, and healthcare.

Sharon joined Pearl Meyer in 2013 after 17 years at Towers (Perrin) Watson, where she served as a director in the talent and rewards segment and led the executive compensation communications services team for the Americas. Prior to that, she was a compensation and benefits administrator and communication specialist at EMI-Capitol Music Group.

Sharon is a popular conference panelist at major industry events, including those hosted by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Women Corporate Directors (WCD), and WorldatWork. She frequently contributes to industry publications including Workspan, Corporate Board Member, and CompensationStandards.com, and has also been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business, and Agenda.

She holds a BA in communication from the New York Institute of Technology.

Biography

Jan Koors is a senior managing director with Pearl Meyer and head of consulting services. In this role, Jan is focused on leveraging the firm’s consulting capabilities and enhancing relationships with our national marketing partners. She is a member of the leadership team which guides the firm’s strategy. 

Jan has more than 30 years’ experience in executive compensation and governance and has consulted to companies of all sizes and industries. She advises company boards and management teams on all aspects of strategic human capital decision-making. Jan helps companies deconstruct their long-term value creation objectives into tailored HR strategies that go beyond simple competitive parity—designing programs that consider a company’s specific business strategy, management talent, and corporate culture.

A noted expert in the field, Jan has been quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Marketplace, and Financial Times. She has appeared on CNN’s MoneyLine and NBC Nightly News, and has spoken at numerous seminars on executive and director compensation issues.

In 2025, Jan was named for the eighteenth time to the NACD D100 list of the most influential people in corporate governance. She is an NACD Governance Fellow, and serves as faculty for the NACD’s Master Class programs. She also leads Pearl Meyer’s relationship with Women Corporate Directors.

Jan received her BA from Wellesley College and is a member of the Wellesley College Business Leadership Council. She is on the board of directors for The Big Shoulders Fund in Chicago.

Biography

Dr. Susan Sandlund is a managing director at Pearl Meyer and leads the firm's leadership consulting practice. For more than 30 years, Susan has worked with boards, CEOs, and multiple levels of management on planned organizational changes at public and private companies and not-for-profit entities across numerous industries. As an organization psychologist, her work includes initiating and leading large-scale change to drive new business strategies, culture change, clarifying governance and decision-making, board and executive team effectiveness and coaching, organization design, executive assessment and development, and CEO succession planning processes.

Prior to joining Pearl Meyer, Susan was co-founder and partner of Veritas Partners, a leadership development and organization change consulting firm. Prior to launching Veritas, Susan was a partner with Oliver Wyman, formerly known as Mercer Delta Consulting (MDC) Group, working with CEOs and c-suite leaders on business transformation. She also served on the MDC board of directors. Prior to Mercer-Delta, Susan was a senior consultant with the Hay Group where she led leadership development initiatives for a wide array of clients. She served five years as an adjunct full professor at Columbia University and served on the board of trustees of Bon Secours Health System, Inc. (BSHSI) for 10 years, chairing the compensation and human resources committees. She is currently a director and the compensation committee chair for Peckham Industries.

Susan is a frequent speaker at board and industry conferences on the topics of CEO succession, board development, and organization change.

Susan is a member of the American Psychological Association and is certified in Hogan Assessments. She received her BA from Marquette University and her PhD from George Washington University.

Biography

Jon Boba is a managing director at Pearl Meyer. Over his 30+ years in real estate consulting, he has completed more than 1,000 engagements representing a wide range of firms in the real estate and financial service industries. He also has developed an industry specialization in health care/seniors housing as well as affordable housing, where he is a recognized leader, respected conference speaker, and author of several published articles.

Jon is responsible for managing client relationships, business development, and executive/board-level consulting work. This includes management consulting, succession planning, "right-sizing," talent assessment, and professional development programs, helping firms attract, retain, and develop future leaders. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and a member of the American Seniors Housing Association and the National Affordable Housing Management Association.