We are pleased to present the speakers for the 2008 Conference in San Francisco. In many cases we have yet to receive the written biography from a particular speaker. We will continue to post bios as they are submitted by the conference speakers. They are:

Business Background
Thomas Anderson a Director of Client Care for UBS Financial Services’ Corporate Employee Financial Services (CEFS) division. Within Client Care, Mr. Anderson coordinates the delivery of world class service and premiere product offerings to a portfolio of corporate clients.

Mr. Anderson began his Wall Street career over 15 years ago.  For the 8 years prior to joining UBS, he held various positions with another major competitor in the equity compensation business. 

Educational Background
Mr. Anderson holds a BA in political science from the Lehigh University. He also holds an MBA from Fordham University.

John Bagdonas is the North American lead responsible for the development of cross-border employee share plan opportunities within Computershare.  Together with his colleagues in Europe and Asia, John works with existing clients and global plan prospects to develop integrated, cost-effective plan solutions for their multi-regional participants.  He has been with the organization since 1985, and prior to his current assignment, was Product Manager for Employee Stock Plan Services, where he was responsible for defining the strategic product offerings for share plan clients and their employees in more than 150 countries.  

John is a frequent speaker on industry topics, and has participated on many share plan related panels and conferences, both internationally and in the US.  John is a member of The Global Equity Organization (GEO) Board of Directors, and currently serves as Treasurer. He is a member of the Board’s Executive Committee as well as Chair of the Finance and Compensation Committees.

John also serves on the Advisory Board of Santa Clara University’s Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI), and is a member of the Board’s Vision  Committee and International Task Force.  He is a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), the Global Equity Organization (GEO), the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and has participated in ProShare sponsored events in the UK.  John earned his Certified Cash Manager (CCM) designation in 1995, and is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).  He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and received an M.B.A. in Finance from Adelphi University.

Ms. Becking, of counsel in Orrick's New York office, is a member of the Global Corporate Solutions Group. Her practice focuses on international employment and labor laws, with an emphasis on global Equity Compensation and Data Privacy.

Ms. Becking's practice includes advising U.S.-based multinational corporations in the financial, insurance, technology, oil and energy services, as well as pharmaceutical industries on the implementation of employee equity programs worldwide.  Her practice addresses the use of stock options, stock purchase programs, performance-based awards, and other compensation vehicles.  Ms. Becking focuses on securities, foreign exchange, data privacy, and employment laws in over 100 countries.  Ms. Becking also regularly advises clients on global mobility issues.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ms. Becking has practiced in the Ernst & Young allied Law firms in New York and Europe.  She also has worked for Ernst & Young LLP in its New York and Tokyo offices.

Ms. Becking has lectured on a number of topics, including International Data Protection, Employee Equity Programs and Securities and Labor Law Changes and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Rutgers University Business School teaching Legal Environment for Business Managers and Government, Business and Society.

Experience

• Michael joined the firm in 1997 when it was part of iQuanticBuck, a consulting firm specializing in the high technology and life sciences industries.
• His expertise covers a wide range of industries and types of surveys both paper based and electronic. 
• Michael has extensive experience working with technology companies in the areas of equity and executive compensation, equity program practices, and international long-term incentive programs.
• Michael has authored articles regarding survey interpretation and results for publications in the United States and India.

Clients

Michael has worked with more than 250 leading technology and life sciences companies over the years. A small sampling of clients and subscribers includes:

Abbott Laboratories Advanced Micro Devices Alcatel Amazon.com Apple Computer Applied Materials Cisco Systems Cognos Crystal Decisions Dell Computer

eBay Eli Lilly & Co Genentech Genzyme Google Hewlett-Packard Hyperion Solutions IBM Ingram Micro Intel

Intuit Iona Technologies Microsoft Motorola Nokia Palm Pfizer Seagate Technology Texas Instruments Yahoo!

Education & Achievements

• Bachelors degree in International Politics from Georgetown University and graduated with honors (summa cum laude) from the Graduate School of Business of St. Mary’s College of California (Masters of Science, International Business)
  
  

Colin Bernier is a senior manager in Ernst & Young’s French Human Capital / Performance and Reward practice. Colin has 10 years of experience in designing, implementing and communicating equity based compensation schemes.

He is working on individual social and tax planning as well as structuring remuneration via Equity plans (Stock-options, Restricted Stock Unit, etc) deferred remuneration plans, and benefits-in-kind.

Colin has assisted numerous multinationals on regulatory issues, labour law implications as well as social security and personal and corporate tax issues. He assisted notably foreign corporations in bringing into compliance the equity plan so that they can benefit from the most favorable social security treatment in France.

Veena has been a frequent guest speaker at the GEO and NASPP conferences on a wide range of topics, from international compliance to mergers and acquisitions.

Veena combines her engineering background with her equity compensation experience to bring a valued approach to the industry. Prior to joining SOS, Veena was with Cisco Systems, where she managed Cisco's international equity plans, which encompassed 35,000 employees in over 70 countries. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University, a Master of Science degree from Santa Clara University, and her CEP designation.

Trisha is based in the Global Shares headquarters in West Cork, Ireland.  Trisha is responsible for the plan administration department that delivers plan administration for global stock plans around the world.  Prior to joining Global Shares, Trisha was the Director of Global Equity Services at Accenture for five years, Senior Manager of stock programs at Applied Materials, Inc. for four years and she was with Amdahl Corporation for 16 years where she was responsible for Amdahl’s stock programs.  She was also Amdahl’s Assistant Corporate Secretary and manager of legal administration for nine years.

Trisha is a member of GEO, NASPP, NCEO and the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.

Juan is a Partner of the Barcelona Office of CUATRECASAS, Spain. He was formerly an International Associate in the law firm of PÉREZ ALATI, GRONDONA, BENITES, ARNTSEN & MARTÍNEZ DE HOZ (jr.), in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is specialist in international labour and employment laws, pensions and incentives, and has broad experience in employee equity participation and business-transfer laws, both in contentious and non-contentious matters. He has strong background on international practice, advising international clients on major transactions on a world-wide basis, particularly in the European Union and Latin-America.

He has a Magister Juris Degree by the University of Oxford (1999), and is Graduate in Law by the University of Zaragoza (Spain).

Juan is a lecturer on employment law by ESADE University in Barcelona, Spain, and coordinates the Spanish Chapter of GEO.

Nicole Bonsness is the Director of Shareholder Services for Broadcom Corporation in Irvine, California.  She has 14 years of professional stock plan experience with publicly held companies including Broadcom Corporation, Qwest Communications, and Boston Market.  Nicole is responsible for all facets of equity plan administration, including analysis, design and implementation of stock programs, insider trading compliance, FAS 123R valuation, stock plan acquisitions, employee education, corporation governance issues, automation implementation, and overall audit procedures.

Nicole received a Masters of Business Administration from Colorado University.  She has been a Certified Equity Professional since 2003.

Marianne Brannock-Hill, CTP CEP, is an equity accountant, consultant, and the resident expert for FAS 123(R) for public and private US corporations. She is the lead auditor for the high-level projects, advises on equity plan design, as well as teaching compliance under equity regulations.

She founded and is the President and CEO of FRS Equity Strategies, an equity consulting firm and educational institute.  Ms. Brannock-Hill has 25 years experience in equity compensation also having worked as a treasurer, financial analyst, accountant, equity plans manager for various corporations: Borland, Altera, Alcatel/Genesys, Octel, and Lam Research.

Cormac, along with other team members, is currently finalising a new publication, "Profit Sharing Schemes in Ireland". This is due for publication in April/ May 2008 and will provide a comprehensive update of approved and unapproved employee incentive schemes in Ireland and, in addition to the tax issues, will cover all legal aspects of such incentive schemes including  employment and regulatory issues.

Cormac is a member of the Executive Council of the Irish Profit Sharing Association and is also a committee member of the Tax Committee of the Incorporated Law Society in Ireland. He also sits on two liaison committees with the Irish Revenue Commissioners which deal with tax simplification and levels of service.

Education
Cormac holds a Business degree from Trinity College, Dublin a Master's degree in Business from University College Dublin. He is a Member of the Irish Taxation Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and has been working exclusively in tax for 17 years.

June Anne has advised U.S., U.K., Canadian, Dutch, Japanese, Indian, Italian, Swedish and Swiss multinational companies as to the tax, legal and accounting considerations relating to equity programs and other long-term incentive vehicles in over 150 countries.  Typical projects include plan implementation, compliance with overseas securities laws and currency restrictions, plan compliance "audits" and design and implementation of recharge programs. In addition, June Anne advises clients as to the tax and legal implications for equity plans in spin-offs, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions and option exchange programs.

June Anne has spoken and written extensively on global equity topics and is currently serving her second term on the GEO Board of Directors.

Ed Burmeister, Baker & McKenzie (US)

Edward Burmeister is a Partner in the San Francisco office of Baker & McKenzie LLP and a member of the Firm's Global Equity Services Group.  He has assisted over 300 multinational companies in extending their stock plans to employees outside the United States.  Recent projects include tax recharge programs, implementation of a global stock purchase plan in over 50 countries, implementation of a restricted stock unit plan in over 80 countries, social security minimization projects and a tax "audit" of global equity plan compliance.  He is a frequent lecturer on international equity issues, including recent presentations to NASPP, TEI and NCEO.

Stephen Cahill is the Human Capital Leader for the UK & Ireland (West Zone) of Mercer Human Resource Consulting.  He is also the European Leader for Executive Remuneration and a Worldwide Partner.  Stephen has consulted on executive remuneration and benefit issues for almost 20 years.

Experience
Stephen transferred back to the UK in 2004 after successfully leading our US Midwest practice. He specialises in the area of reward strategy and design of reward programmes for executives and employees of multinational organisations.

Stephen’s focus is on linking executive compensation to business strategy and enhanced performance for shareholders, working with company management and remuneration committees.  

His clients include many major publicly-traded companies located across the globe. These clients include many leading multinational companies and their subsidiaries across a variety of industries.   

He is a frequent speaker on executive compensation, often quoted in publications and has written many published articles about executive compensation and global performance measurement.  He has also authored chapters in books about Private Equity and global executive remuneration.

Employment
Previously in his consulting career, Stephen worked at Hay Management Consultants in London, where he was a Senior Consultant specialising in executive compensation and benefits issues.  He has also worked at PwC, as an actuarial and benefits consultant.

Education
Stephen is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland.

Over 10 years of experience in Compensation & Benefits within the financial sector.

Since 1996, Head of Compensation & Benefits at Paribas and BNP Paribas. Bruno Carlier is responsible for the design and implementation of the compensation and benefits policies and products of the BNP Paribas Group worldwide, and for advising all group entities on top executive compensation.

Between 1994 and 1996, Head of HR for the Private Banking and Asset Management Division of Paribas. Between 1989 and 1993 he was senior manager in the International Department of Paribas, supervising the development of the banking activities in Europe. Between 1983 and 1989, as a Director of Paribas in London, he headed up successively the Risk Management Unit and the Acquisition Finance Team. Between 1974 and 1988, he managed various branches in the Paribas network in France.

Mary Carter is a Partner within the Executive Compensation practice at KPMG LLP in the UK and heads up the Global Share Plan practice. Mary is a lawyer by background  and, after spending a number of years specializing in trust law and capital taxation, saw the light in 1987 and moved into the area of remuneration generally and  share plans in particular. She has been specialising in those issues ever since. Since about 1996 she, along with KPMG teams in and out of the UK, have focused increasing amounts of time on global share plan projects and related issues for a mix of UK and non UK multinationals.

Mary is a member of the UK Inland Revenue Ex Pat Forum - Share schemes sub group and on the Board of GEO. She also lectures and writes on remuneration issues and global share plans.

Mike has spent over 12 years working in the share plans team. During this time, he has been responsible for the successful migration of BP’s global Share Plan business to Computershare, encompassing 15 share plan types with over 40,000 participants in 80 countries. Most recently, he has spearheaded the project to launch BHP Billiton’s first global share plan, helping BHP to deliver a GEO Award winning product to 38,000 employees - speaking 5 languages -  buying stock on four exchanges using synchronised media to maximise take-up.  He is located in Bristol. In his role as Head of Plan Solutions, he is responsible for shaping Computershare’s share plan vision and strategy in order to accurately deliver to customer needs.

Linda manages Boston Scientific’s Long Term Incentive Plans for approximately 17,000 participants globally.  She has taken a lead role for various innovative equity projects spanning 48 international jurisdictions aimed at conversion and integration related to corporate acquisition(s).

Prior to joining BSC, Linda was employed by Cytyc Corporation where she managed compensatory and non-compensatory stock plan programs.  As Stock Options Manager for CMGI, Inc., from 1999 through 2001, Linda’s equity compensation responsibilities focused on mergers and acquisitions.

Janet Cooper, Global Head of Employee Incentives, Linklaters (UK)

Janet has been a lawyer with international law firm, Linklaters, for 21 years and leads the global employee incentives team, which extends over 25 countries with over 70 lawyers.

Janet has been involved with the Global Equity Plans since 1986, working with a client airline to extend its plans in over 60 countries. Since then, Janet, and her team at Linklaters have been involved with over 200 companies’ international share plans, the largest plan operating in over 150 countries.

Janet has worked on a whole variety of employee and executive stock plans, related financial products and corporate governance issues around executive pay.

Janet led her team’s development of the first online database offered by a law firm, Blue Flag Employee Share Plans, to support companies operating their plans globally and developed the only professionally recognised qualification available in the UK with the ICSA, the Certificate in Employee Share Plans.

Janet is a director of the European Centre for Employee Ownership, a director of ifsProShare, a committee member of the UK Share Schemes Lawyer Group, a co-founder member of the Share Schemes Advanced Studies Group, a member of the Institute of Directors, the Institute of Business Ethics and the Recruitment Society.

Janet and her team have been involved in many activities to promote the awareness of employee share ownership, both with companies and regulators. Linklaters has been involved with, and is a founding member of, GEO.

Prior to join BNP Paribas, he has worked for an International firm in the textile industry as a chief accountant and for Il Messaggero, the 4th Italian newspaper as a journalist.

He has a degree in Economics from the University of Perugia (Italy) and a Euro MBA from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Economiques et Commerciales in Paris.

John has worked at Equiniti for 17 years and for the past 10 has been involved in all types of employee share plans.  John’s responsibilities are for business development covering all style of UK and Global share plans, client acquisition and project management.  John also manages the Equiniti Executive Dealing service.

Jim has over 10 years experience, across numerous industries, developing and implementing systems used to manage employees with cross border tax compliance requirements. His expertise is on using and augment existing systems and their data sources to co-ordinate the management of expatriates.

Over the past five years Jim's has worked on systems that allow companies to streamline the administration equity awards. Specifically, developing applications that allow awards delivered to employees with complex tax positions to be processed in real time and with minimal human input.

Practice Areas
Global Equity Services

Practice Focus
Global Equity Compensation and Employee Benefits

Representative Clients, Cases or Matters
Ms. Diamond assists companies in the design and implementation of international employee stock plans.  She provides advice to clients on the tax, securities law and exchange control compliance issues that arise when options, restricted stock or purchase rights are granted to employees working abroad.  Recent projects include all employee option grants to employees in 35 countries, a tax audit of equity programs in 15 countries and implementation of a employee stock purchase plan in 65 countries.  Ms. Diamond has also assisted clients in meeting international compliance obligations relating to the repricing of options and option exchange programs, the creation of data privacy waivers, the grant of stock options to expatriates and the issuance of restricted stock.

Publications, Presentations & Articles
Ms. Diamond is a frequent speaker on international equity issues.  Recent publications on equity topics include an article for Workspan magazine entitled, “Navigating Stock Options in Europe:  Steering Clear of Tax and Legal Pitfalls.”

Professional Affiliations
She is a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, Global Equity Organization, the WorldatWork Organization and the Western Pension and Benefits Conference.

Education & Bar Admittance
Ms. Diamond received her J.D. in 1993 from the University of San Francisco School of Law where she received the Dean’s Award for highest grade point average in her class and was a Comment’s Editor for USF Law Review.  She has an M.A. and B.A. in history from California State University, Sacramento.  Ms. Diamond is admitted to practice in California.

Jessica Dolan is the Technology Strategy Manager at Global Shares.  In this role, she works closely with a variety of software providers and other partners to maximize the service offerings available to Global Shares clients.  Jessica is also responsible for coordinating the SAS 70 audits of the administration team in West Cork Ireland.

Prior to Global Shares, Jessica was the Manager of Customer Service at Equity Administration Solutions.

Jessica has a B.A. in Economics from Mills College in Oakland California, and maintains a special interest in the accounting side of equity compensation.

Lindsey Doud, Director & Head of cees London, RBC Abacus (UK)

Lindsey is a GEO board member and, together with Janet Cooper and Nicholas Greenacre, she runs the GEO UK & Channel Islands Chapter.

Lindsey joined  RBC Corporate Employee & Executive Services (‘RBC cees’), formerly Abacus, as a Director in April 2005 and is head of the London team.    Her role includes relationship and portfolio management in the share plan, deferred compensation and international pension plan areas.   Abacus was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") in November 2005 and RBC cees sits within RBC Wealth Management.

Previously, Lindsey spent just over two years in the corporate world, with BP p.l.c., prior to  which, she was a Partner in Watson Wyatt LLP's Human Capital Group, specializing in  executive compensation consulting, but in particular in the design, communication and implementation of UK and international cash and share plans.  Before moving into remuneration consultancy in 1996, Lindsey was a share plan and pensions solicitor with Linklaters.  She graduated in law from Oxford University.

Jon Doyle, Partner, DLA Piper US LLP (US)

Jon F. Doyle is a Partner in the Corporate and Securities group of DLA Piper US LLP. Mr. Doyle’s practice focuses on international corporate, tax and securities matters. He advises multinational companies and financial institutions on legal issues related to doing business overseas – including outsourcing and offshoring arrangements, joint ventures and other means of international expansion. Mr. Doyle works with clients in designing, offering, and implementing international equity-based compensation programs.  He has particular experience advising businesses regarding the tax, securities, foreign exchange, labor, data privacy and ecommerce issues encountered globally with offers of equity awards to employees, directors and consultants.

Mr. Dunn also works extensively with the domestic compensation practice as he assists  clients in dealing with the tax and design aspects of compensation plan structure, including incentive compensation, deferred compensation and other fringe benefit arrangements.  Mr. Dunn serves as a client advocate acting as the liaison between the firm's clients, the IRS National Office, the Treasury Department and Congress and other global regulatory authorities in matters relating to rulings, tax legislation and regulatory guidance.

Professional Affiliations:  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Mr. Dunn has published articles in numerous technical publications. He is often quoted in tax matters, appearing in both print and broadcast tax forums.  He has been quoted in a variety of tax publications, as well as general interest publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Time and Newsweek, among many others.  Finally, Mr. Dunn has instructed at Georgetown and American Universities and has appeared in a variety of technical and industry video programs.

Education: Mr. Dunn is a Certified Public Accountant with a master’s degree in taxation from American University in Washington, DC and a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland.

Stacy Fox has worked in the equity compensation field since 1996 when she joined ShareData in the application support department (ShareData was later acquired by E*TRADE).  Over the past 11 years, Stacy has worked on both the vendor and issuer side at various companies in Silicon Valley.  Her job experiences have ranged from managing in-house equity compensation programs to handling complex on-site consulting assignments for various customers.

Stacy currently works for eBay Inc. which offers broad based option, RSU and ESPP programs to over 14,000 employees. Since receiving her CEP in 1998, Stacy has volunteered for CEP item writing, question standard setting and curriculum evaluation.  Stacy also chaired the Northern California Global Equity Organization (2004 & 2005) and has volunteered for the SVC NASPP executive committee (2005 & 2007).  Stacy has a BA in psychology from San Jose State University.

Kelley Garrett is the Stock Plan Manager at Microsoft Corporation.  Kelley manages international and acquired company stock option and restricted stock unit programs, systems and projects for Microsoft Global Stock Services.  Global Stock Services is a part of Microsoft’s human resources department and is responsible for administration of stock programs for 84,000 participants in over 100 countries.  Kelley has 10 years of experience working with global employee equity programs in the technology industry.  Prior to joining Microsoft in 2000, she was a Stock Plan Specialist at Getty Images and Stock and Retirement Administrator at Visio Corporation (now a division of Microsoft).

Kelley received her B.A. in History from the University of Washington and M.B.A. from Seattle University.  She earned her Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation in 2001. Kelley is a member of the CEPI Advisory Board and has served on the NASPP Seattle Chapter Board since 1999.

Practice Focus
Ms. George’s practice emphasizes the areas of international stock plans, executive compensation and employee benefits offered on a global basis.

Practice Description
Since January 2001, Ms. George has been assisting companies implement employee equity incentive plans and other benefit programs on a global basis.  The vast majority of Ms. George’s clients are U.S. based multinational companies.  The clients she works with are varied from small private companies to top Fortune 500 companies.  Her work on the implementation of employee incentive plans has involved tax, securities laws, exchange control regulations, labor laws and related issues.  Ms. George assists companies with not only complying with current foreign rules and regulations, but also strategizing for upcoming changes in the legal and benefits environment and efficiently managing global programs. 

Professional Affiliations
Ms. George is a member of the San Francisco Bar Association and the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.

Education & Bar Admittance
Ms. George received her J.D., magna cum laude, in 1999 from the University of San Francisco, where she was a member of the University of San Francisco Law Review, the McAuliffe Honor Society and received the CALI award for excellence for Corporations, Community Property and Constitutional Law.  Ms. George received her B.B.A. (concentration in accounting) from Emory University and practiced as a Certified Public Accountant before attending law school.  Ms. George is admitted to practice law in California.

Publications
Ms. George has published two articles in the Daily Journal as follows:  “Foreigners May Owe Estate Tax on Some Employee Stock Options” and “Disharmony on EU Directive Hinders Compliance Efforts.”

Joyce began her career at Corning in 1999 and has held a myriad number of positions within the Compensation and Benefits Center of Excellence.  In her current position she is responsible for the planning, design, implementation and administration of salaried compensation and relocation services.  She also has global responsibility for administration of stock options and restricted share programs.  Prior to joining Corning Joyce worked for Delaware North Companies where she held several positions in Corporate Accounting and Human Resources.  Joyce has over 20 years of Corporate Compensation experience and holds a BS in Economics with a concentration in Management from the University of New York at Buffalo.

Prior to starting Gofective Chris worked as the senior project manager as Computershare PLC in the UK. Chris was responsible for almost all FTSE100/FTSE250 and international implementations and corporate actions with regards to equity and stock plans. His methodic approach to implementations and migrations resulted in decreasing the risk to the company and a smoother transition to operations resulting in a higher satisfaction rate amongst clients and their participants. Through careful planning and plan design he has been able to reduce manual work arounds and costly developments. Furthermore Chris' knowledge of industry wide process standards like CMM2/CMMi helps both providers and clients in establishing workable and efficient procedures.

Chris graduated as an engineer from the Hogeschool van Utrecht in the Netherlands with a BSe in Industrial Automation.

Judith is a Partner and National Head of Tax for Pinsent Masons, one of the leading UK law firms for employee equity incentives.

Judith has been involved in this area of practice for the past 19 years and is recognised by leading directories as an expert in this field.  She contributed to the main UK loose leaf reference book "Employee Share Schemes" which is written by the Pinsent Masons team and edited by fellow partner David Pett.  She is also a member of the Share Plans Lawyers Group, which meets on a regular basis to discuss developments and practical issues with representatives of the UK tax authorities, institutional investors and other organisations with an interest in this area.

Her team covers the full range of practice, from advising large listed companies (UK, US and elsewhere) on extending their share plans internationally to advising smaller privately owned companies and employee owned companies on structuring their equity incentives.  They also advise on Prospectus Directive exemptions and on UK Prospectus filings where required.

Pinsent Masons is a founding corporate sponsor of GEO and a regular contributor to the GEO website.

Nicholas Greenacre is a partner in the London Employment & Benefits group of the global law firm White & Case and co-leader of the firm's Global Equity Based Compensation practice.  Nicholas has had experience in a broad range of employee benefits and pensions matters for clients of all sizes, from technology start-ups to global investment banks. Nicholas advises clients from various jurisdictions on the establishment and international implementation of equity and cash-based incentive plans.  This work involves investigation and analysis of the tax, securities, foreign exchange, employment, data privacy and e-commerce issues clients may encounter in each country where they operate their plans.  Nicholas is a director of GEO and co-leads the UK and Channel Islands Chapter.

A Company Secretary by qualification, Tarun heads the Consulting & Advisory practice at ESOP Direct.  After being with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in areas related to Corporate Law and the Indian pet food venture (Brand Pedigree) of the Mars, Inc. group, Tarun moved to ESOP Direct in February 2004 where he discovered that connecting with people comes to him naturally.  He specializes in designing customized stock-based compensation schemes for Indian corporates and is instrumental in evolving new trends and strategies for stock options.  Tarun has been a guest faculty for MBA students and has authored articles on macroeconomics, international finance and stock markets in newspapers and journals in India.

Kim has 7 years experience in stock administration and prior to this has held positions at Expedia, Inc., Alaska Airlines and Getty Images, Inc.  Kim earned her CEP certification in 2007, and has been President of the Seattle Chapter of NASPP for the past 3 years.

Before Joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Haller was counsel for a major international law firm.

Dan Hickey is the Director of Executive Compensation and Global Equity Programs for Nokia.  He is responsible for overall plan design, communication and implementation of Nokia’s Executive Compensation programs and policies.  In addition, he oversees Nokia’s equity programs which cover more than 40,000 eligible employees in over 60 countries.  Dan has over 25 years of broad compensation and benefits experience in both corporate and consulting environments. Prior to his current role, Dan held senior compensation and benefits positions at Phillip Morris, Revlon, and Arrow Electronics and spent over 6 years as an Executive Compensation consultant with Ernst and Young.

Dan received his BBA in Marketing from Bernard M. Baruch College and his MBA in Finance from New York University.

He is also a member of World at Work, Society of Human Resources and National Association of Stock Plan Professionals

James Hirsch is an Assistant General Counsel at Citigroup Inc. Based in New York, he specializes in the legal and tax issues affecting employee share plans and other compensation and investment programs in the U.S. and globally. Prior to joining Citigroup, he was a lawyer at ASARCO Incorporated and in the securities practice group at Hughes Hubbard & Reed. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and the Fordham University School of Law.

Wendy Jennings is currently Director, Employee Shareholder Services for Riverbed Technology, Inc.  Wendy has over 20 years of equity compensation plan experience with publicly-held corporations.  From 2005 to 2007 she was a Relationship Manager with Charles Schwab Stock Plan Services.  Prior to Schwab Wendy was Director, Stock Administration for Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc. which merged with Tellabs, Inc. in 2004.  Wendy’s experience includes responsibility for all equity plans, including analysis, design and implementation, Section 16 reporting, insider trading compliance, proxy preparation, stockholders meetings, FAS 123 valuation, stock plan acquisitions, restricted stock programs and corporate governance issues.

Alan read Commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand , Johannesburg.

Jane Klewin is a Senior Attorney in the Corporate Group of BP America’s  Legal Department.  In this capacity Jane provides legal support with respect to the securities and corporate law aspects of BP's equity based employee benefit plans.  Jane also handles financings, other transactions and general corporate matters for BP.  She has been speaker for the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.  Prior to joining BP in 1988, Jane was an associate at Winston & Strawn in Chicago. Ms. Klewin received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and her J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law.

Carrie holds a Bachelor of Science in Commerce in Accounting from Santa Clara University and is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Equity Professional.

Richard Lamptey joined Mercer’s UK Executive Remuneration Consulting Practice in November 1998 and has 19 years’ experience of consulting on executive remuneration and stock plans. He transferred to Mercer’s Dubai office in April 2007 to set up and lead the Executive Remuneration Consulting team for the Middle East and North Africa.

Prior to his transfer to Dubai, Richard had led a number of UK client teams consulting to compensation committees and management of FTSE 100 and Mid-250 companies on all aspects of executive remuneration.  His experience also included consulting to European multinationals.

He has advised privately-held and quoted companies across a wide range of sectors and is engaged with companies in Financial Services, Telecommunications, Real Estate and Hotel Management.  He specialises in the design of short and long-term incentives, including identifying appropriate performance measures and setting targets.

Before joining Mercer, Richard had been a consultant at Watson Wyatt, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes and Bacon & Woodrow.  Before coming into consulting, Richard was an Employee Relations Manager in Electricity Supply, negotiating with Trade Unions on pay and other issues.

Richard has an MA from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cass Business School and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Joe leads the Program Management team within Prudential’s Corporate Compensation unit.  He and his team are responsible for implementation and management of compensation programs, including stock plans.  He recently led the global implementation of Prudential’s ESPP to approximately 40,000 employees in six countries.  He joined Corporate Compensation in 2000 and worked on implementing Prudential’s domestic market-based compensation plan affecting approximately 18,000 employees.  He also led the effort to implement Comp Track Web, a compensation recommendation and reporting system used by 2,500 managers for over 25,000 employees.  For the ten years prior to this, Joe worked in various finance areas both within Prudential and other leading companies.  Joe holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Marketing from Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Thomas Man, Partner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP - Beijing and New York offices.   A native of Shandong, China, Thomas holds advanced degrees (Ph. D, JD) from US and Chinese universities and has worked as academic and lawyer in both US and China for more than 20 years.  His current practice covers cross-border mergers & acquisitions, international trade and employment with a focus on corporate transactions involving China.  He has extensive experiences in representing foreign companies doing business in China as well as representing Chinese companies in overseas investment.  Thomas is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Center for WTO Studies at the University of Foreign Trade and Economics (Beijing) and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the China University of Politics and Law (Beijing) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the ZhongGuanCun-CUPL Hi-Tech Park Company located in China's "Silicon Valley".   He is currently serving as one of the two foreign advisors to the drafting committee commissioned by the Supreme People's Court of China to draft the rules of evidence for the Chinese courts.

Marcus is fluent in Spanish and holds a Masters Degree in Finance with the University of Barcelona.

Practice Areas
Tax; Corporate Finance

Practice Focus
Share schemes; Personal and corporate income tax; Private equity; Corporate finance

Practice Description
Luc Meeus specializes in share schemes. His practice also includes domestic and international personal and corporate income tax planning, tax issues related to mergers and acquisitions and
corporate finance transactions.

Publications, Presentations and Articles
He regularly writes on various domestic and international tax issues.

Professional Affiliations
Luc Meeus is a member of the Tax Practice Group and the Corporate Finance Practice Group of Baker & McKenzie in Belgium.

He is an active member of the Belgian branch of the International Fiscal Association of which he has been the Secretary General.

Awards, Honors & Skills
Fulbright Fellow. Winner of the “Best Young Tax Lawyer Award 2000” organized by the International Bar Association.

Education & Bar Admittance
Luc Meeus joined Baker & McKenzie in 1997 and was admitted to the Brussels’ bar in 1998. He is also member of the New York bar since 1999.

• Post-graduate tax degree from Fiskale Hogeschool (School of Advanced Tax Studies), Brussels, Belgium (1997-1999)
• LLM in International Taxation at New York University School of Law, New York, USA (1998), Honors: Fulbright Scholar, Baker & McKenzie award
• Law degree from the KULeuven (1996) (magna cum Laude)
• Law degree from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany, 4^th year of law school, (1995) (magna cum laude)
• Law degree from the Faculté Universitaire Notre-Dame de la paix, Namur, Candidate in law (1991 – 1993) (cum laude)

Language skills
Dutch, English and French

Sue set up the Financial Services function for Diageo in 2006 by merging Payroll, Pensions, Shares Registration and Employee and Executive Share Schemes.  The operation spans across UK and Ireland and acts in a dual capacity as Diageo’s Registrar.

The unique in-house share registration operation assures Diageo an exclusive position in the FTSE 100 and allows the company to co-ordinate all of its pay and benefit structures into one operation.

Diageo offers a range of executive and employee share plans to its 22,000 employees globally and is expanding its remit to cover Diageo’s emerging markets in countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico.