Published in The Wall Street Journal October 24, 2009 by Erin White, Joann S. Lublin, and Cari Tuna

Companies as diverse as Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and Sysco Corp. are adopting executive-pay plans that echo principles laid out by government regulators, potentially signaling a broad shift in compensation practices.
The changes at these non-financial firms aren’t a direct response to moves by Treasury pay czar Kenneth Feinberg and the Federal Reserve, which apply to banks and big recipients of government bailout funds. The recession, more than government regulation, is driving some of the moves.

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Published in SHRM October 12, 2009 by Stephen Miller

Most U.S. companies are not planning to restore executive pay cuts or freezes made during the economic crisis anytime soon, according to a survey by consultancy Watson Wyatt. As they prepare for continuing increased public scrutiny of executive pay, many are avoiding further short-term changes and focusing instead on long-term shifts toward better pay-for-performance and assessing their compensation programs within the context of risk management.

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Published in The Wall Street Journal October 10, 2009 by David Yermack

Having Uncle Sam set executive compensation is unnecessary and unworkable. David Yermack on how companies could strengthen their own checks and balances.
As politicians struggle to repair damage from the 2008 financial crisis, they are fixating on a dubious target: executive pay. Behind every bankruptcy, bubble or bailout, somebody has spun out a theory about incentives gone awry. The obsession was on display just yesterday, when Citigroup agreed to sell its lucrative Phibro oil-and-gas trading business, where its chief had negotiated a contract that required the giant bank to pay him nearly $100 million in compensation for 2008. Federal regulators told Citigroup, which had received a large infusion of government aid, to either renegotiate the contract or sell the unit.

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