The Advisors' Blog

– Broc Romanek

Check out these notes for CII’s “Spring Meeting,” which includes a mention of how CII is changing its compensation policy soon. Here’s an excerpt:

Two different panels covered executive compensation, always a popular topic. And when we say “different,” we mean different. One was labeled as “Pay Pioneers,” with two companies describing their innovations in pay. The policies they adopted, including stock options for all employees and paying executives in cash so they can buy stock, with required holding periods, were good ones, relatively speaking, but not especially innovative. At least John Trentacoste, of Farient Advisors, the compensation consultant who moderated the panel, had the candor to admit that the question he gets asked most often is “How do you sleep at night?”

A shareholder-perspective panel on pay was very critical of both the amount and the structure of executive pay plans. CII is currently circulating its draft revised policy on CEO pay to the members for comment. “Pay for performance has not worked,” said Simiso Nzima of CalPERS, a pointed rebuttal to the “innovations” of the previous day’s panel.