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This will be the first in a series of updates that Meridian will produce, on potential impacts to executive and director compensation programs and related governance issues, from the economic turndown that has followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent…
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First and foremost, we hope you, your families and your colleagues are staying safe and healthy during this global health crisis. We appreciate that normal business operations for many companies have been upended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that…
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In our last two postings, we highlighted a number of potential compensation implications for oil & gas companies in the current environment. Beginning with this update, we’ll select some key topics to review in a bit more depth. And, since…
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With phrases like “shelter-in-place,” “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” becoming common vernacular, the U.S. and its economy have entered uncharted waters in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many industries are feeling the effects of this evolving crisis, retailers…
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On March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (‘‘CARES Act”) which passed both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives earlier last week with bipartisan support. The CARES Act…
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First and foremost, we hope you, your families and your colleagues are staying safe and healthy during this global health crisis. We appreciate normal business operations for many companies have been upended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only through the…
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Mere weeks after boards approved compensation outcomes from 2019 performance, there’s a temptation to revisit or change those outcomes under the lens of 2020 performance. We believe that in the large majority of cases, those 2019 outcomes should stand on…
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There is a clear appetite to set the right tone at the top as business leaders balance (a) keeping their workforce and customers safe and healthy with (b) navigating supply chain uncertainty and weakened demand for their products and services.…
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That was rough… The week of March 9, 2020 may have marked the single worst week for oil and gas stocks on record. A lot has changed, and the only thing certain is that more change will come. Here is…
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Periodically we receive requests from our clients to profile advantages, challenges, and best practices associated with administering pay programs that combine a very modest base salary with large equity grants. The $1 Salary Plan is the most extreme version of…
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More recently, many have stopped waiting. In public company boardrooms across the United States and abroad, there is a growing trend to expand company clawback policies beyond current regulatory requirements to include additional triggers for addressing employee misconduct through the…
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Executive compensation continues to be a major focus for institutional investors, yet the conversation is shifting. Compensation committee agendas have expanded to include topics like human capital management, company culture, ESG, and succession planning—all factors that are increasingly tied to…
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On January 29th, Meridian Compensation Partners celebrated its tenth year as a leading executive compensation and corporate governance consulting firm in North America. Originally formed through a planned separation from its prior parent company, Meridian has expanded to over 85…
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As companies review their executive compensation program designs and related corporate governance policies, current market practices and recent trends can provide competitive benchmarks that are helpful in understanding emerging standards, as well as facilitating productive boardroom discussions. In order to…
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Many of the public company boards and corporate executives (very notably, 181 CEOs signing the Business Roundtable Statement avowing Stakeholder primacy1) that are eager to demonstrate this responsiveness cite compensation as an existing, meaningful and highly visible tool that is…
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These plans are a ubiquitous feature of public companies’ compensation programs. They allow companies to grant various types of equity and equity-based awards to their non- employee directors, executives and other key employees. Although equity plans are broadly similar, companies…
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NEWTON, MA—According to a recent study of annual “run rate” and “overhang” levels among Fortune 100 companies by Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC, the annual and three-year average run rates (or share usage) for Fortune 100 companies have remained constant at…
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In recent years, we have observed a remarkable level of homogenization of compensation practices for non-employee directors, even as what is expected from board members of public companies continues to evolve and—generally speaking—expand. In our client work, we have also…
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That is, Committee decision-making must pass muster under fiduciary standards to be defensible and withstand judicial scrutiny. To meet these fiduciary standards, Compensation Committees should have in place a robust governance process from which to develop sound compensation determinations and…
