Where Expertise Meets Community

Tavola da Siena Restaurant  |  400 Putnam Pike, Smithfield, RI 02917

How do your company’s equity practices compare with those of your peers? Drawing on the latest results from the NASPP/Deloitte Equity Administration Survey, this session offers a data-driven look at how companies are managing their equity programs today, with a particular focus on the differences between technology and non-technology organizations and between the east vs. west coast. Join us for an inside look at the trends shaping equity administration and take away practical insights to help evaluate and strengthen your own program.

In this dynamic and sometimes chaotic environment, compensation professionals have been tasked with construction of new disclosures like pay vs. performance and are now forced to prepare for disaggregation of the income statement, which will dramatically impact the way compensation is presented in the company’s financials in years to come. In this rapidly changing landscape, staying informed about court cases, SEC comment letters, rulemaking and enforcement actions is even more crucial than before.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover current trends in tax withholding, such as funding methods, use of prior day close for valuation, and excess withholding

• Learn how companies structure their equity plan administration teams, including reporting structure and prevalence of remote work arrangements

• Compare grant practices such as award approval, sizing, and acceptance requirements

• Leave with a clear understanding of how practices differ for tech and non-tech companies and understand how your own practices can be enhanced

Speaker:

• Barbara Baksa, NASPP

• Amy Reina, Deloitte

Global share plans are entering a period of rapid change; marked by regulatory shifts, evolving enforcement priorities, and a few unexpected twists along the way. In this timely session, we’ll help multinational employers navigate the changing tides shaping equity compensation programs worldwide.

Our panel will highlight key legal, tax, and regulatory developments across major jurisdictions, including Argentina, China, Israel, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. Drawing on real world perspectives from issuer representatives and a global share plan advisor, the discussion will explore how companies with different equity program designs are responding to these developments in practice.

We’ll compare compliance strategies, discuss what’s working (and what isn’t), and share practical approaches companies are using to stay on course amid ongoing global change. Attendees will leave with a clearer compass for managing risk, maintaining compliance, and steering global share plans forward with confidence.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key legal, tax, and regulatory trends impacting global share plans across major jurisdictions and understand why these developments matter for multinational employers now.
• Evaluate how different types of equity compensation programs are being affected in practice, drawing on real-world issuer experiences and advisor insights.
• Apply practical compliance and governance strategies to help their organizations anticipate change, manage risk, and stay aligned with evolving global requirements.

Speaker:

• Lindsay Minnis, Baker McKenzie

As proxy disclosures grow more complex, the pressure to deliver accuracy, consistency, and clarity continues to increase - yet many organizations still rely on fragmented, manual processes that introduce risk at a highly visible moment.

This session takes a strategic approach to modernizing proxy table preparation, focusing on stronger data alignment, better use of stock administration platforms, and more intentional design. It explores how to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy and auditability, and bring greater consistency across compensation tables while strengthening the connection between quantitative outputs and narrative disclosure.

The result is a more efficient, controlled, and scalable approach to proxy preparation - one that reduces risk and elevates overall disclosure quality.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify opportunities to streamline proxy table preparation by leveraging stock administration systems and improving data alignment
• Evaluate approaches to reducing manual processes while enhancing accuracy, consistency, and audit readiness
• Apply best practices to strengthen the connection between quantitative disclosures and narrative clarity in proxy reporting

Speakers:

• Jackson Swindells, Infinite Equity
• Tom Yarnall, Infinite Equity
  

Stock plan administration rarely breaks down because of a single issue. More often, it’s the cumulative impact of volume, pace, and variability that creates pressure across even well-run programs. As organizations grow, expand globally, or move through events like mergers, acquisitions, and workforce change, equity administration can quickly shift from structured to reactive.

This session focuses on achieving operational flow, identifying friction points in stock plan administration and redesigning workflows so they can absorb complexity without becoming overwhelmed. We’ll examine how experienced administrators streamline day to day operations while managing the real-world challenges that define equity administration in practice.

Using common scenarios and industry insights, we’ll explore how to introduce tools, automation, and efficiency solutions thoughtfully without creating downstream issues. Topics include reducing manual steps in grant acceptance, participant onboarding, data setup, and engagement; building processes that scale through rapid growth, global expansion, and transaction activity; and managing lifecycle complexity such as leaves of absence, termination coding, and retirement eligibility. We’ll also address strategies for minimizing rework caused by late data, inaccurate inputs, and year-end adjustments, and consider how AI and emerging technologies can support administration responsibly while maintaining strong control frameworks.

Rather than focusing on plan design, this session emphasizes how administrative workflows across systems, teams, and time -- and how small shifts in structure, timing, and ownership can significantly reduce friction. Participants will leave with practical, actionable ideas to improve efficiency, resilience, and scalability without increasing risk.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify operational inefficiencies within stock plan workflows and apply practical strategies to redesign processes that can scale with organizational growth, global expansion, and complex lifecycle events.
• Evaluate and implement tools, automation, and AI supported solutions to reduce manual effort in key administrative tasks -- such as grant acceptance, participant onboarding, data management, and lifecycle tracking while maintaining strong controls and minimizing downstream risk.
• Strengthen end to end administrative flow across systems and teams by improving data quality, timing, ownership, and cross functional coordination, reducing rework, improving year end readiness, and increasing overall efficiency.

Speakers:

• Paul Kolano, Bank of America
• Rob Miceli, Bank of America

Financial reporting in equity compensation often hides surprises, unexpected expense changes, missing modifiers, EPS quirks, or system behavior you only discover too late. No matter which system you use, this session breaks down the accounting and configuration pitfalls that veteran stock admins wish they had known earlier. We’ll decode the ASC 718 rules, show how system settings impact expense, modifications, and disclosures, and give you practical checklists you can apply immediately.

Learning Objectives:

• Configure plan and grant-level settings that prevent rework and misstatements
• Control vesting changes and identify modifications before they hit the ledger
• Navigate ISO/NQ splits, ESPP changes, performance vs. market conditions, and diluted EPS
• Use custom fields and period locking to create airtight audit trails
• Prevent accounting errors through smart system configuration
• Manage vest changes & modifications correctly
• Strengthening controls: access, roles, separation of duties
• Demystify high impact system settings before data loads
• Avoid expense surprises from vest changes & modifications
• Navigate ISO/NQ splits, RSU dilutive math, and performance awards
• Build clean audit trails with smart UDFs and period controls

Speakers:

• Conor Buckley, Aon Equity Services
• Ruth Doyle, Equity Plans Solutions
• Ron Silver, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Buckle up! This is your power hour for everything happening in equity compensation right now. We know you’re juggling grants, tax questions, plan design, and about a hundred emails; so we’re packing this session with rapid-fire insights you can actually use.

In just 60 minutes, we’ll sprint through today’s shifting equity landscape, tackle how soaring stock prices complicate delivering equity awards, and break down what you can (and absolutely cannot) do to help employees cover their taxes. We’ll demystify why retirement eligibility continues to be both mission-critical and maddening, share what’s next on the ESPP frontier, and explore whether choice plans might just be your secret weapon in the talent market. Come ready for quick hits, smart takeaways, and more than a few “wow, I didn’t know that” moments.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the current equity compensation landscape to understand how rising stock prices influence grant practices, award delivery, and employee tax obligations.
• Evaluate key operational and design challenges in equity programs, including retirement eligibility rules, tax withholding constraints, and compliance limits on assisting employees with tax payments.
• Identify emerging strategies and plan innovations such as enhancements to ESPPs and the use of choice-based equity programs to improve talent attraction, retention, and engagement."

Speaker:

• Jeremy Boraks, Fidelity Investments
  

This session will walk you through the ABCs of designing and launching an effective employee stock purchase plan: Assess, Build, and Communicate. We’ll start with how to assess your employee population and organizational objectives, so your ESPP design aligns with real needs and behaviors of your employees and your company- touching on some of the latest trends. Then we’ll cover how to build the plan’s key design levers and practical considerations that drive participation and cost. Finally, we’ll focus on how to communicate the plan clearly helping employees understand its value and feel confident enrolling

Learning Objectives:

• How to design an effective ESPP for both participants and your company
• What design elements impact the value, both real and perceived to employees, and optimize the impact for the company
• Help empower employees to understand their plan, and possible value and feel confident in enrolling.

Speakers:

• Elizabeth Dodge, Equity Plan Solutions
• Julia Franke, Aon Equity Services
• Scot Martel, Novocure

Join us for Equity Compensation Jeopardy! A fast-paced game show style session that tests your knowledge of common plan design concepts and real-world equity scenarios. Participants will compete across categories covering everything from award structures to vesting and payout mechanics. Expect lively interaction, friendly competition, and plenty of a-ha moments along the way. It’s the most fun you’ll have brushing up on equity comp essentials. "Strengthen participants' understanding of core equity compensation concepts by applying knowledge to real-world scenarios involving award structures, vesting, and payout mechanics.

Learning Objectives:

• Improve participants' ability to identify and solve common plan design challenges through interactive gameplay that reinforces practical decision-making.
• Enhance engagement and knowledge retention by using a competitive, game-based format that encourages active participation and highlights key equity compensation essentials

Speakers:

• Barbara Baksa, NASPP
• Emily Cervino, Fidelity Stock Plan Services