Pay Ratio, Perks Disclosure and PVP on SEC’s Chopping Block—Agenda

Robin A. Ferracone, Farient Advisors founder and CEO, was among the business leaders and experts at the SEC’s Executive Compensation Roundtable on June 26 at its DC headquarters focused on the effectiveness of executive pay.

The afternoon session explored whether regulations promulgated under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 have become more burdensome than beneficial. In his opening remarks, SEC Chair Paul Atkins committed to a shift towards deregulation. Atkins, a one-time SEC commissioner, described the current disclosure requirements as “a Frankenstein patchwork of rules.”

“The volume and complexity of these rules may be just as scary to a law firm associate performing a ‘form check’ of a proxy statement, as the monster was to Dr. Frankenstein himself when the monster opened its eyes,” he said. The session focused on mandated disclosures such as the CEO pay ratio, pay-versus-performance, and executive security disclosures.

In an article for Agenda covering the event, Ferracone emphasized the delicate balance the SEC must strike between transparency and cost. “In this regard, more disclosures are generally good,” she said. “On the other hand, fewer or simpler disclosures are good” when the cost of compliance becomes prohibitive.

“The SEC must balance these two competing forces and make the right trade-offs for investors and issuers,” Ferracone said.  “It must judge whether the pendulum has swung too far one way or the other.”

Read more Read Farient’s SEC Comment Letter here

 

About Robin Ferracone

Founder and CEO, Farient Advisors/GECN Group

New York: (646) 626-6931
Los Angeles: (626) 799-2700
robin.ferracone@farient.com

Robin Ferracone is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Farient Advisors LLC, an executive compensation, performance, and corporate governance advisory firm. Farient helps clients make performance-enhancing and defensible decisions in the best interests of their shareholders and other stakeholders. Robin provides these advisory services to public and private companies.

From 2005 to 2007, Robin was President of the Human Capital business of Mercer, a business that included talent and compensation consulting, software, and data services globally. Prior to that, Robin was Chairman of the U.S. West Region for Mercer’s parent company, Marsh & McLennan Companies; market leader and Worldwide Partner at Mercer; and President and Chairman of SCA Consulting, a firm she co-founded and sold to Mercer.

With over 30 years of consulting experience, Robin advises clients in the areas of business and talent strategies, executive compensation, organization, value management, and performance measurement. She is the author of the book entitled, “Fair Pay Fair Play: Aligning Executive Performance and Pay.” Her work focuses on providing high-impact decision-making support and organizational solutions based on strategic and market insights. In addition, Robin has authored numerous articles, is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and Directorship Magazine, and often is quoted in national publications. She is a frequent speaker for prominent organizations, such as the Council of Institutional Investors, Society for Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, NACD, and The Conference Board.

Robin is currently on the Board of Directors of The Woodlands Financial Group (TWFG) where she serves as chair of the Compensation Committee. She also serves on the Board of WildAid, a global non-profit dedicated to protecting endangered species and reducing climate impacts. Robin is a trustee emeritus of Duke University. In addition, Robin is a member of 50/50 Women on Boards, the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, YPO Gold, and the Trusteeship. She formerly served on the Board of Trupanion, Inc., where she chaired the Compensation Committee. Of special significance, Robin has been named to the NACD Directorship 100, a list of the most influential people in corporate governance and the boardroom, an unprecedented 14 times. And, in 2014, she was selected as one of EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women, a competition that annually recognizes female entrepreneurs.

Robin received an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where she graduated with high distinction, and a BA summa cum laude in management science and economics from Duke University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Click here to meet the rest of the team.