Latest Insights & Industry Trends

Last month, the SEC announced it is reopening the comment period for its proposed clawback policy regarding erroneously awarded incentive compensation. The comment period is expected to close in mid-November and the SEC will then review comments before publishing a final rule....

Dear All, We hope you and your loved ones continue to stay safe and in good spirits as we get through this challenging time. It’s hard to believe 2020 is halfway over, and what a year it has been. Hopefully the second half of the year gets better and we can finally put...

In a previous article written by NFPCC in 2018, the growing concern of gender pay gaps and how they impact attraction and retention issues in corporate America was addressed. Through this process, it was discovered that the issue of the pay equity gap really was not as...

SailingStone Capital Partners recently shared a memo» outlining key changes to their proxy voting guidelines relating to governance and incentive compensation practices. Below we share our thoughts on each of the changes they will implement in the 2020 proxy...

Recently, some of the team at NFPCC was afforded a great opportunity to participate in TPH’s Energy Roundtable discussion with multiple constituents involved in the corporate governance landscape within the industry. TPH (Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.) is an...

If you do an internet search for “CEO pay”, you get 807 million hits, and most of those are “hits” on CEO pay. Some are warranted, and many are not.   Nowhere is this truer than CEO pay in the energy business in 2019.  Many investors rotated out of...

Dear All, This year is flying by and summer is already around the corner! We are still in the peak of proxy season and we think you will find this month’s articles especially helpful. In our original article we share the top executive compensation best practices as they...

Companies often ask us, “What are we not doing that we should think about as it relates to executive compensation?” We recognize the executive compensation environment is continually heating up with pressure from just about every angle, and as a result, the answers to...

"Gender Pay Equity Analysis Is Here to Stay. Is Your Company Doing It Right?"» We would like to share this article » from our partners at NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) with our readers. Gender equity continues to be an important topic for most...

Dear All,  It’s hard to believe the first quarter of the year is gone and Spring is here! We are at the peak of proxy season and we have some great articles to share with you this month. We hope these will shed some new light on executive compensation trends and the effects...

Employers have long struggled with the ability to attract, retain and reward key talent. Government limits and restrictions on the amount that employees and employers may contribute toward qualified retirement plans, such as IRAs and 401(k) and 403(b) plans, leave many highly...

Dear All, Spring is around the corner and proxy season is in full swing! Here at NFPCC we are off to a great start this year, staying busy helping our public clients with proxy and CD&A disclosures. Our survey specialists have also been hard at work preparing for our...

While many businesses have a solid business plan in place, they often neglect implementing a compensation strategy. Without proper planning, it’s easy to offer too much or too little money to compete for talent and with the labor market at 3.9% unemployment (December...

Dear All, It’s hard to believe 2018 is quickly coming to an end. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2019! We at NFPCC are very grateful for another great year and for all of you. We look forward to the new challenges and opportunities the new...

ISS ANNOUNCES POLICY UPDATES FOR 2019 PROXY SEASON For those unaware, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) announced updates to its 2019 benchmark proxy voting guidelines on November 19, 2018. This is the last step of their annual process wherein they review policies,...

Dear All, We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of family and friends. We have been extremely busy here at NFPCC but there is nothing like the Holidays to bring everyone closer together, not only in our personal lives but in business as well. A time of...

In this article written for WorldatWork's Workspan publication, we outline the important aspects that should be taken into consideration to ensure an IPO is positioned for...

Dear All,  It’s hard to believe the holidays are around the corner and soon we will be gathering with family and friends to celebrate and wrap up 2018! Here at NFPCC are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving, one of our favorite holidays, and are grateful for all of you and the...

In July 2010 Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; primarily, as a response to the financial crisis of 2007-2009. A key provision under Dodd-Frank requires public company directors to determine if the company’s compensation and...

Introduction We are now in the 8th year of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). Among other things, the implementation of Dodd-Frank meant the majority of public issuers had to learn to navigate the waters of shareholder advisory...

Dear All, Just like that, summer break has come and gone and school is back in session! As we gear up for the busy fall season we took a moment to evaluate our goals as well as our team members. We are excited to announce another round of promotions within our NFPCC staff! Read...

Is gender pay equity gap as big of an issue in 2018 as it has been in previous years? We are all told that gender pay equity is measured on the same scale, but in reality the gap virtually disappears when analyzing the same level, company, and function. Most articles cite “The...

Dear All, We hope you are staying cool and enjoying vacations with your families. The start of school is around the corner and just like the kids, we too are gearing up for the busy fall season.   In this edition of the L-Blast we have some great articles to share with you...

Over the past eighteen months, discussions on incentive compensation structures have been taking on a different element at a rapid clip in boardrooms across the country – as a result of investor pressures in the energy industry, annual incentive and long-term incentive...

Dear All, Summer is officially here and so is the Texas heat! It’s hard to believe we are halfway through 2018 and soon we will be planning for budgets for the next fiscal year. We have some interesting pieces to share with you in this L-Blast, we hope you find them helpful....

NFP Compensation Consulting provides the salary data for the Dallas Business Journal’s annual analysis on the highest-paid public company CEOs in North Texas. Click here to read the full...

NFPCC's President, Chris Crawford, was recently quoted in a Bloomberg article by Liam Denning entitled, "A Tiny Gas Firm's Big Lesson on Bosses' Pay." Denning explains how Comstock Resources exemplifies the skewed incentives in the E&P...

Dear All, Summer is around the corner as another school year comes to an end and with it the first proxy season requiring CEO pay ratios. As I mentioned in a recent HBJ article, the really interesting use for the pay ratio will come in three to five years, when a given company...

NFPCC was recently invited to participate in Tudor Pickering’s 2018 Hotter N’ Hell Conference. Dan Pickering quizzed NFPCC’s Chris Crawford on recent executive compensation trends in the energy sector. Here are just a few highlights from that “fireside chat”. Q: It...

Dear All, It’s hard to believe May is just around the corner and proxy season will soon be coming to an end. It has been interesting, to say the least, to see the CEO pay ratio disclosures and the attention they’ve gotten from the media. This may be a potentially...

Non Performance-Based Compensation Factors & Why they Matter Too Add together the volatile ingredients of egregious CEO pay articles, gender pay gaps, say-on-pay votes, CEO pay ratio legislation, media bias, market volatility, compensation lawsuits, collegiate athlete pay...

NFPCC's President, Chris Crawford, shared his thoughts on Tesla's newly-approved pay package: "It appears that Shareholders are okay with huge pay, as long as there is huge performance attached. This approval vote seems to swim counter to the current flow of compensation tides...

Dear All, Spring is finally here and with it the first CEO Pay Ratio disclosures of 2018! Although we are still in the early stages of proxy season, we are already seeing eye-catching data for the newly required pay ratio disclosure. It will be interesting to see how this...

The divisiveness of politics is reaching extremes in today’s climate. It’s incredible how the same story can be told by two different reporters and both will express the exact opposite information as fact. Walter Cronkite famously stated: “We all have our likes and our...

Two debates are currently underway: 1. Should college coaches be paid with lots of zeros and student athletes be paid zero? See the March 1 USA Today article attached. 2. The new 2017 Tax Act will provide a 21% excise tax on any not for profit (University) for paying over $1...

Dear All, It has been a long, cold winter and we are ready for Spring and some much needed sunshine! Proxy season is in full swing and we at NFPCC have been busy helping our public clients with proxy and CD&A disclosures. Compensation decisions don’t end with the numbers...

DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER Updated August 2020 With the passage of the 2017 Tax Act, more scrutiny continues to be applied to not-for-profit organization compensation. This follows recent actions from various state and federal agencies upping the ante on not-for-profit...

This article by Claudia Assis on Honeywell provides a perfect, real-time example for any of our energy clients worried about CEO Pay Ratio disclosure. With figures averaging in the 70s – 80s, the energy industry as a whole will pale in comparison to other sectors. Honeywell is...

Many of you are in the “proxy push” to get the proxy statement filed in the coming months. The amount of detail required, and requested, can make the exercise a challenge for all involved. The question is: Are you spending your time effectively on the right parts? A recent...

We would like to share this article by the Washington Post with our readers, along with insight on the subject of salary shaming from one of NFPCC's founders. Here are 4 “predictions” from our company's President, Chris Crawford, related to CEO Pay and this article: CEO...

Dear All, We are well into the start of the new year and although 2018 has greeted us with some extremely cold temperatures that paralyzed our city for a couple of days, we at NFPCC have hit the ground running and are gearing up for proxy season. In this first L-Blast of 2018...

We would like to share this article written by Dina Gerdeman featured on Harvard Business School's website entitled, "If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer." Researcher Ethan Rouen discovers that rank-and-file employees understand...

As we all know, both the House of Representatives and Senate voted to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act legislation and sent it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the President’s signature. While it will take more time for the country’s citizens and corporate world alike to truly...

December – a time for reflection on the year that was, review of company performance…and a first look at the latest policy updates from proxy advisory firms like Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”). While it...

The deadline to disclose the CEO Pay Ratio in proxy statements is quickly approaching, contact NFPCC today for assistance in the development of the ratios of how to disclose within the proxy. In the event you have not initiated the CEO Pay Ratio discussion internally, or would...

Dear All, This holiday season we at Longecker & Associates are reminded of how truly blessed we are to watch those we advise make a difference in their companies, community and many more areas. In the spirit of advising, we have some great articles to share with you all...

“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity”. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Executive compensation practice and application is continually developing based on proxy advisory firm...

Dear All, It’s hard to believe the holidays are upon us, but what an exciting time it is for our great city of Houston as the Astros compete for their first World Series title! We may be champions by the time this hits your inbox, but whether we win or not, we are proud of...

There was an article titled “Decoding CEO Pay” recently published in Harvard Business Review, and in our opinion here at NFP Compensation Consulting, Messrs. Pozen and Kothari have some valid points, and many that are not so valid. It appears they found a few unique, obscure...

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) launched a two-week consultation on potential updates to its benchmark voting policy for 2018. The comment period will allow all interested parties – including companies, investors, advisors, and others – to provide their perspective...