ISP Advisors supports Protect Our Winters
We love the outdoors, which is why we have supported nonprofit organizations local to our Bethel (Maine) office that strive to make outdoor sports more accessible for everyone, such as Inclusive Ski Touring, Inland Woods + Trails, and Granite Backcountry Alliance.
We also love our planet.
Having witnessed the adverse impact of global warming first hand, we decided to support a global organization that we believe will make a difference.
We are pleased to announce that we have become a corporate supporter of Protect Our Winters (POW). POW helps passionate outdoor people protect the places they live and love from climate change. They are a community of athletes, scientists, creatives, and business leaders advancing non-partisan policies protecting our world today and future generations.
The majority of current corporate supporters of POW are outdoor retail companies, but the fact is that climate change affects people who work in any industry. We hope many of our corporate clients and partners will join us as Brand Alliance partners of POW.
Congrats to Jewon Wee on receiving the GEO Star award!
At the recent 2016 Global Equity Organization Annual Conference in Boston, ISP Advisors founder, Jewon Wee, was awarded the GEO star for his numerous and distinguished contributions to GEO over the years – not the least of which was Jewon’s coordination and sponsorship of the organization’s first charity networking event in support of Stop Hunger Now.
http://globalequity.org/geo/geoawardrecipients
Introducing the ISP Advisors ESPP Design Repository
How did you spend your summer? We’ll bet it wasn’t combing through 100+ proxy statements to get a better a read on employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) design trends. And it’s probably even safer to say, you didn’t then take this information — including the exact plan language used to adopt each design feature — and populate it into an easy-to-use repository.
At the risk of unleashing torrents of envy against us, we’d like you to know that’s exactly what occurred here at ISP Advisors. We set our summer associates loose on EDGAR and in the process reviewed ESPP plan documents from 114 companies across a cross-section of industries. To focus on emerging trends, we limited our search to “new” plans (i.e., those that were subject to shareholder approval within the past five years). We read the plan documents cover-to-cover and in the process catalogued over 20 distinct design features ranging from the ordinary (offering period length) to the less ordinary (currency conversion handling).
Learn more about our ESPP repository here
White Paper: Building a Road Map to a Global ESPP
It is easy to be overwhelmed when faced with the task of establishing a global employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). However, identifying and understanding the key issues at the outset of the project is the first step toward achieving your goal. To this end, ISP Advisors has prepared the following document, which should be viewed as a road map taking you through some of the more significant considerations associated with implementing a global ESPP.
Download the whitepaper here
ISP Advisors Reaches 100 Client Milestone
Duxbury, MA (April 6, 2014) – Independent Stock Plan Advisors LLC (“ISP Advisors”) announced today that its has welcomed its 100th client since the formation of the company in 2009. “We are beyond excited about this milestone,” said Jewon Wee, Managing Director and founder of ISP Advisors, an executive compensation consulting and administration firm, that specializes in global stock plans. “Given the challenging environment for consulting services over the past five years, we are honored that so many new clients have sought out our stock plan expertise.” Wee went on to explain that ISP’s holistic approach to executive compensation planning is unique in the industry. “Clients value working with one firm that provides both strategic advice and operational support. We expect our model to continue to resonate well in the market – and as a result, position us for continued growth and client satisfaction.”
Issues for US Corporations Arising Out of Changes to UK Tax-Approved Stock Plan Legislation
Our friends at Pinsent Masons offer some thoughts on the recent changes to the UK’s tax-approved stock plan legislation.
Brave New World (US Stock Plans) Update (April 2014)
UK Tax Approved Stock Plans Update (March 2014)
Geoff Hammel profiled in latest edition of NASPP’s “Meet the Speaker”
Our popular “Meet the Speaker” series, featuring interviews with speakers at the 22nd Annual NASPP Conference, is a great way to get to know our many distinguished speakers and find out a little more about their sessions in advance of the Conference.
For today’s “Meet the Speaker” interview, we feature Geoff Hammel of ISP Advisors, who will lead the session “Share Ownership Guidelines: How to Handle this Governance Golden Child.” Here is what Geoff had to say:
NASPP: Why is your topic particularly timely right now?
Geoff: In our post-Sarbanes-Oxley, post Dodd-Frank world, getting governance right is no longer a “nice to have.” Rather, it’s a necessary element of corporate survival. By ensuring alignment of executive interests with those of shareholders, share ownership policies (share ownership guidelines + share retention requirements) represent a critical tool in a company’s corporate governance arsenal. And while the prevalence of share ownership guidelines has remain fairly steady over the past five years, the use of share retention requirements as an enforcement mechanism has more than doubled during this same period. This added wrinkle of share retention can add layers of complexity to the issuer/vendor relationship and is one of many administrative challenges we’ll be covering in our session.
NASPP: What are some best practices companies should implement?
Geoff: Many executives and Board members are starved for information about their share ownership guideline compliance status. Frequent questions include: What are my requirements? Have I met them? What happens if I sell after an upcoming vesting? While measuring compliance with share ownership guidelines is most commonly a once-a-year process, we find that leading companies take a more holistic, ongoing approach to bridging potential knowledge gaps among its executive and Board populations. Some companies have created modeling tools demonstrating the compliance impact of anticipated sale transactions. Others have incorporated ownership guideline “chats” as part of the pre-clearance process. But one theme that runs central through these best practices is that of more frequent, more expansive communications efforts.
NASPP: What is a common misperception about your topic?
Geoff: With many companies trading at or near all time highs, share ownership guideline (SOG) compliance is a complete non-issue. To which JFK may have responded—”the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” As we’ll highlight during our session, even the most basic SOG design can present formidable tracking and communication challenges. Add in the fact that markets often fall faster than they rise and you have a compelling case to ensure your SOG compliance house is in order.
NASPP: If you had a store on Etsy, what would you sell in it?
Geoff: Rainbow loom bracelets. I’ve been classically trained by three of the best U10 loomers around.
Don’t miss Geoff’s session “Share Ownership Guidelines: How to Handle this Governance Golden Child” at the NASPP Conference!
About the NASPP Conference
The 22nd Annual NASPP Conference will be held from September 29-October 2 in Las Vegas. This year’s program features 60+ sessions on today’s most timely topics in stock compensation; check out the full agenda and register today!
