Proxy Advisor Oversight Takes Center Stage This Summer
Proxy Advisor Oversight Takes Center Stage This Summer sophia.defreit…Deb Lifshey
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.
I help the firm’s clients approach executive compensation from the legal and technical perspective. As they strive to go beyond a check-the-box exercise and instead develop pay plans that align with their business and leadership strategies, there is still a devil lurking in the details. My Technical Services Team helps clients ensure they are making sound decisions relative to contracts, securities disclosure, taxation, and overall sound corporate governance practices.
Managing Through Today’s Chaos in the Life Sciences Sector – Look To Your Board
Managing Through Today’s Chaos in the Life Sciences Sector – Look To Your Board sophia.defreit…Terry Newth
Biography
Terry Newth is a managing director and head of our life sciences practice at Pearl Meyer. He consults on the design, development, and assessment of executive compensation programs that support each organization’s business objectives, long term business strategy, and organizational culture. His clients range from private venture-backed to large multinational life science companies. Terry’s areas of expertise include pay strategy and philosophy development, market-based pay studies, incentive plan design, severance and CIC arrangements, outside director pay, transaction-related compensation, CD&A and supporting table disclosures, corporate governance, and share plan authorizations.
Before joining Pearl Meyer, Terry was a senior consultant in the executive compensation practice of Towers Watson. He also had responsibility for the analysis, development, and implementation of global compensation programs at American Power Conversion and at Thomson Financial.
Terry holds a BS from Providence College and a MS in labor relations/human resources from the University of Rhode Island.
Every day, business moves in a more rapid and dynamic fashion and so it is important that I move just as quickly, not just in terms of responsiveness, but also in anticipating how changing business and talent strategies impact compensation design and decisions. It is my goal to provide thoughtful advice and an informed point of view covering the various matters compensation committees and management teams deal with each year.
Susan Sandlund, PhD
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.
The best CEOs are curious about the world and are learners. I help leaders and their teams increase their overall effectiveness and performance, and build the capabilities required to achieve the current and future strategic goals of the organization. I live by the motto "with truth comes change" and believe no leader will remain successful for long unless they can adapt to the constantly changing environment. I am committed to helping leaders become more flexible, manage constant change, and lead their teams and organizations successfully through major transformation.
From Innovation to Accounting and Back Again
From Innovation to Accounting and Back Again sophia.defreit…Aalap Shah
Biography
Aalap Shah is a managing director at Pearl Meyer. With more than 20 years of experience, Aalap advises public and privately held companies on executive compensation issues, with focus on pay governance, pay-for-performance alignment, and incentive plan design. Of particular interest is the intersection between business strategy, people strategy, and compensation strategy, believing alignment of all three is required to design effective programs.
Aalap advises clients in a variety of industries, including high-tech, healthcare, financial services, consumer products, retail, manufacturing, real estate, and media. He also consults on special compensation programs for IPO and merger and acquisition transactions.
Prior to joining Pearl Meyer in 2006, Aalap was with Mercer Human Resource Consulting, where he specialized in executive remuneration advisory services.
Aalap holds a BS degree in industrial and labor relations with a concentration in international human resource management from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
Organizations create and sustain their competitive advantage by offering a distinctive value proposition to both their customers and investors. That value proposition manifests itself in various ways—products and services, the brand, operational efficiencies, and so on. My responsibility is to craft unique compensation structures, within the context of effective corporate governance, that guarantee your organization’s people strategy will be a competitive advantage. I do this by partnering with you to dive deep and think creatively.
Mark Rosen
Biography
Mark Rosen is a managing director and consulting team leader at Pearl Meyer. In his management role, he oversees a team of senior compensation consultants in the execution of the firm’s growth strategy and in the development of consultants at various stages in their careers. Mark has consulted on executive and board compensation issues for more than 20 years for a broad range of public companies, as well as tax-exempt organizations and academic institutions. He has extensive experience with benchmarking, retirement plan design, governance issues, and tax and accounting considerations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mark was a partner in the human capital practice of Arthur Andersen, where he led the southeast compensation practice as well as the Carolinas’ human capital practice.
He holds a BBA and an MS in accounting with a specialty in taxation from Texas A&M University. Mark is also a certified public accountant.
The Hospitals and Health Systems Executive Compensation and Benefits Survey
Board Effectiveness: How Can You Get to Optimal?
Board Effectiveness: How Can You Get to Optimal? sophia.defreit…Susan Sandlund, PhD
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.
The best CEOs are curious about the world and are learners. I help leaders and their teams increase their overall effectiveness and performance, and build the capabilities required to achieve the current and future strategic goals of the organization. I live by the motto "with truth comes change" and believe no leader will remain successful for long unless they can adapt to the constantly changing environment. I am committed to helping leaders become more flexible, manage constant change, and lead their teams and organizations successfully through major transformation.
What to Do When Salary Compression Pinches the Life Sciences Industry
What to Do When Salary Compression Pinches the Life Sciences Industry sophia.defreit…Monal Patel
Biography
Monal Patel has over 10 years of compensation experience performing broad-based pay benchmarking analysis by adapting multiple market sources to clients’ human capital strategy. She has extensive experience designing global job architectures that have enabled clients to define career progression, offer targeted training and development, and are flexible enough to respond to changes in business conditions. Monal develops financial impact modeling attendant to new/revised salary administration programs. She also has created transition strategy alternatives for program implementation.
Monal holds a BS in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from DePaul University.
Companies are experiencing a significant amount of change and growth. My goal is to work with clients to design compensation programs that support the business strategy and are flexible enough to adapt to organizational changes.
Quick Poll: Annual Incentive Plan Communication Amid Uncertainty
Creating Space for Non-Financial Metrics
A Comprehensive Look at Executive Incentive Plan Design
Pearl Meyer’s Comment Letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission
Pearl Meyer’s Comment Letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission teresa.osborne…Deb Lifshey
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.
I help the firm’s clients approach executive compensation from the legal and technical perspective. As they strive to go beyond a check-the-box exercise and instead develop pay plans that align with their business and leadership strategies, there is still a devil lurking in the details. My Technical Services Team helps clients ensure they are making sound decisions relative to contracts, securities disclosure, taxation, and overall sound corporate governance practices.
Flipping the Script: How Trump’s Tariffs Upend CEO Pay Design
Testing Assumptions: Do We Have the Right Metrics?
Testing Assumptions: Do We Have the Right Metrics? sophia.defreit…Aalap Shah
Biography
Aalap Shah is a managing director at Pearl Meyer. With more than 20 years of experience, Aalap advises public and privately held companies on executive compensation issues, with focus on pay governance, pay-for-performance alignment, and incentive plan design. Of particular interest is the intersection between business strategy, people strategy, and compensation strategy, believing alignment of all three is required to design effective programs.
Aalap advises clients in a variety of industries, including high-tech, healthcare, financial services, consumer products, retail, manufacturing, real estate, and media. He also consults on special compensation programs for IPO and merger and acquisition transactions.
Prior to joining Pearl Meyer in 2006, Aalap was with Mercer Human Resource Consulting, where he specialized in executive remuneration advisory services.
Aalap holds a BS degree in industrial and labor relations with a concentration in international human resource management from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
Organizations create and sustain their competitive advantage by offering a distinctive value proposition to both their customers and investors. That value proposition manifests itself in various ways—products and services, the brand, operational efficiencies, and so on. My responsibility is to craft unique compensation structures, within the context of effective corporate governance, that guarantee your organization’s people strategy will be a competitive advantage. I do this by partnering with you to dive deep and think creatively.
Mark Rosen
Biography
Mark Rosen is a managing director and consulting team leader at Pearl Meyer. In his management role, he oversees a team of senior compensation consultants in the execution of the firm’s growth strategy and in the development of consultants at various stages in their careers. Mark has consulted on executive and board compensation issues for more than 20 years for a broad range of public companies, as well as tax-exempt organizations and academic institutions. He has extensive experience with benchmarking, retirement plan design, governance issues, and tax and accounting considerations.
Prior to joining the firm, Mark was a partner in the human capital practice of Arthur Andersen, where he led the southeast compensation practice as well as the Carolinas’ human capital practice.
He holds a BBA and an MS in accounting with a specialty in taxation from Texas A&M University. Mark is also a certified public accountant.