GEO AWARD WINNERS

This year’s recipient, Leann Balbona, FGE, exemplifies everything the Pioneer Award represents. Over the past 11 years, Leann has been an influential member of GEO’s Board, offering strategic insight and steady leadership through times of growth, transformation, and challenge. A true trailblazer, she has worked tirelessly to build a strong, sustainable future for GEO.

Leann has been instrumental in expanding GEO’s global chapter network, creating opportunities for local communities to connect, share best practices, and amplify new voices. As the longstanding Chair of GEO’s Chapter Development Committee, her commitment to building bridges across regions and industries has helped GEO thrive at every level.

More recently, Leann played a pivotal role in shaping and elevating the Global Share Plan Rankings Study—one of GEO’s most ambitious initiatives—bringing critical, data-driven insights to light and helping advance the global conversation on share plan engagement.

Leann’s contributions run deep. Her wisdom, generosity, and dedication have not only strengthened GEO but also made a lasting impact across the broader global equity community. We are honored to recognize her outstanding achievements and proud to name her the winner of the 2025 GEO Pioneer Award.

June is a deserving recipient of the GEO Pioneer Award for her many exceptional contributions to GEO’s success.

As a pivotal member of the Board, June's strategic guidance has been instrumental in navigating GEO through numerous milestones and challenges. Her leadership as Chair of the Governance and Selections Committee has been particularly noteworthy, shaping the Board's composition to ensure diversity and effectiveness. Her role in selecting and onboarding new members has been invaluable in sustaining the organization's momentum and relevance.

As June prepares to step down from the Board, she leaves behind a profound legacy characterized by her extensive industry knowledge and unwavering influence on GEO's trajectory. Her departure will undoubtedly create a significant gap, highlighting the indelible mark of her leadership and commitment to GEO's mission.

The winner of the prestigious 2023 GEO Pioneer award is Sandra Sussman. Recognized for her prolonged contributions to the employee share ownership industry and for being an ambassador for GEO in their daily activities.

Sandra is a former board member and an active contributor to GEO's Bootcamp learning program for a number of years. Sandra is also a Fellow of Global Equity and a member of the Issuer Council, a key link for GEO to corporate issuer member needs and priorities. Additionally, she serves as a sponsor spokesperson for the Global Equity Insights Survey, demonstrating her commitment to the industry and the wider community.

Sussman's dedication to educating and promoting employee share ownership has had a ripple effect throughout the industry and has helped to raise awareness and drive change.

Sandra’s contributions to the industry will undoubtedly continue to make a lasting impact for years to come.

Sean Trotman is one of GEO's longest standing members, creating a legacy of consistent, strong support of GEO for than 20 years. His contributions during this time include serving on the GEO Board of Directors for 12 years.

During his Board service, Sean led the Speaker Selection Committee for several terms and was an active member of the Marketing and Finance Committees. While on the Board, Sean was an active proponent of GEO going to market with thought leadership pieces under its own brand as a way to differentiate the organization further from other industry organizations.

Sean Trotman is a Partner in the Global Rewards practice of Deloitte Tax LLP, with more than 25 years of global tax, mobility and equity compensation experience.

Sean was born and raised in England and earned his Bachelor's degree in International Business and French from Aston University. Post graduation, he qualified with the Association of Taxation Technicians in the United Kingdom. Sean has also studied at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Rouen, France and is fluent in French.

Sean has lived in the United States for the last 20 years.

GEO's 2020 Pioneer Award Winner, Jay Foley, is truly a pioneer supporter of GEO, having been actively engaged with GEO since its inception and an attendee to all 22 of GEO's Annual Conferences, as well as an active supporter through the local New York and London GEO Chapters.

Jay served as a member of GEO's Board of Directors for more than 11 years and, during this period, he held multiple Chair roles, including serving as GEO's Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee and Chair of the Strategic Expansion Committee, helping ensure GEO's long-term financial viability and driving GEO's expansion to new markets where support for equity compensation expertise is needed.

During his tenure on the GEO Board, Jay served the organization with spirited dedication, focused on what he personally could do to support the GEO community with additional forms of training and education for share plan professionals and ensuring that GEO remained positioned to build upon its successful conferences around the world.

Through his involvement with GEO, Jay is directly credited with identifying alternative revenue opportunities which have been critical to GEO's ongoing, long-term success.

Jay Foley is Managing Director and Head of Plan Managers for UK and Europe with Computershare, based in London. Jay has been involved with Equity Plan Administration services for more than 20 years.