Our Services
Board Advisory Services
Investors expect executive pay to closely reflect company performance. At Meridian, we help companies assess the pay and performance alignment of their compensation programs and ensure that program designs are structured to reward for achievement of stretch goals while appropriately mitigating excessive risk taking behaviors.
- Facilitate Compensation Committee meetings
- Assist with committee calendar and agenda development
- Represent the Committee’s point of view in discussions with management
- Compensation risk assessments
Compensation Benchmarking
Compensation Benchmarking (reviewing the market, and understanding best practices and what others are doing) helps to address two fundamental questions in Executive Compensation: How to pay (i.e., compensation program design and structure), and How Much to pay
Compensation benchmarking provides an external quantitative perspective on how other comparable companies are paying similarly situated executives.
- Peer group development
- Position matching
- Public and Survey based market data
Corporate Restructuring
Corporate restructuring activities present many unique issues that some clients may only face once in their careers (and others may encounter regularly…)
Meridian consultants understand the executive compensation implications that must be considered as part of any transaction.
- Initial public offerings
- Divestitures and spin-offs
- Bankruptcy restructuring
- Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
- Private equity buyouts
Performance Alignment
Investors expect executive pay to closely reflect company performance. We help companies assess the pay and performance alignment of their compensation programs and to design pay arrangements that create strong alignment between performance and pay outcomes.
- Performance metric evaluation and selection
- Degree of stretch and range around target performance levels
- Application in short & long-term incentives
- Realized compensation assessments
Program Design
Compensation programs should attract and retain the critical talent needed to drive strategy and create value.Meridian strives to understand each client’s unique objectives to bring compensation design solutions tailored to their needs. We bring our deep knowledge of compensation design, experience with thousands of clients and extensive understanding of market practices to every client relationship.
- Peer group development
- Position matching
- Short & long-term, stock ownership, and perquisite comparisons
- Compensation survey evaluation
- Comparison of all pay elements
- Review of long-term incentive valuation methodologies
Regulatory Issues & Compliance
Meridian maintains dedicated internal teams to focus on the regulatory, tax, accounting and shareholder issues that influence executive compensation.
We ensure our clients have a robust understanding of all the relevant impacts on executive compensation so they can make informed decisions.
Meridian also provides our clients with equity award valuations and other support services required for necessary regulatory disclosures
- Shareholder voting (Say on Pay) strategies
- SEC reporting and compliance
- Proxy disclosure drafting and review
- Tax and accounting strategies
- Stock plan modeling and approval strategies
- Proxy advisor strategies (e.g., ISS, Glass Lewis)
- Employment agreements
- Severance/change-in-control liability calculations
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SEC Cracks Down on Violations of Whistleblower Protection Rules
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Massachusetts Adds To The Growing Number Of States To Pass Pay Transparency Laws
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High Court Strikes Down Chevron Deference
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SEC Approves NYSE and Nasdaq Amendments to Listing Standards Requiring Listed Companies to Implement Mandatory Clawback Policy