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GEO Board of Directors
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 Carine Schneider is the Chief Executive Officer of EASi, a leading provider of global stock plan tracking and reporting software. Ms. Schneider is an industry pioneer with 25+ years of experience in equity and executive compensation. Prior to joining EASi, Carine was a co-founder and CEO of Global Shares, an independent provider of global stock plan administration services, held a senior level management position with Citigroup Stock Plan Services, was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and was the Leader of the Global Stock Plan Services group at Watson Wyatt Worldwide. In 1992, Carine was the co-founder and founding Executive Director of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP). Carine was also the Director of Customer Services for Corporate Management Solutions (now Solium/Transcentive) and was the Manager of Shareholder Relations at Oracle Corporation where she assisted the CFO with the IPO (1986) and managed all aspects of the company's various stock and benefit plans. In 1999, Ms. Schneider co-founded the Global Equity Organization (GEO), a non-profit global networking and education organization with 4000 members worldwide. She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. She has also been the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Santa Clara University Certified Equity Professionals Program (twice) and is a member of GEO, NASPP and the NCEO. In addition, she is an invited member of the Advanced Share Studies Group in the United Kingdom. In 2005, Carine was the business community representative on the National College of Ireland Accreditation Committee for the Masters Degree in Employee Ownership. In 2011, Carine was selected by the Foundation of Enterprise Development to be a judge for the “Creating Wealth By Sharing WealthTM National Essay Contest” which captured the views of college students across U.S. campuses about using broad-based ownership and profit sharing (sharing the wealth principles). Ms. Schneider was born in The Netherlands and speaks Dutch as well as English. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She speaks frequently at conferences around the world, including US, Europe, China, India and Australia and has contributed chapters and articles to various industry publications and books.
 Janet Cooper is a Partner in Tapestry which brings together leading experts in global employment and incentives law. Janet has been involved with GEO since its inception and was on its first board. Janet has been a pioneer in global incentives and being awarded the GEO Pioneer Award in 2011. Janet has been involved with the Global Equity Plans since 1986, working with a client airline to extend its plans in over 60 countries. Since then, Janet has worked with over 200 of the world's leading companies' in developing their executive and employee plans to operate globally. Janet has worked on a whole variety of employee and executive stock plans, related financial products, corporate governance issues around executive pay and advising on the implications of corporate transactions. Janet is the legal adviser to the global banks representative body, AFME, on remuneration and works with them on the new regulations which impact banks' remuneration. Janet is a director of the European Centre for Employee Ownership, a director of ifsProShare, a committee member of the UK Share Schemes Lawyer Group, a co-founder member of the Share Schemes Advanced Studies Group, a member of the Institute of Directors, the Institute of Business Ethics and the Recruitment Society.
 Phil leads the Employee Share Plans (ESP) business for Equiniti with end to end responsibility for delivering a quality service to clients. He also represents the Equiniti ESP business to the external market alongside the interests of our Clients. He joined the Lloyds TSB group in 1979, which later become Equiniti, and has worked in the branch network, electronic banking, personnel & training and finance departments before moving across to the employee share plans world in 1990. Phil is on the Ifs ProShare Steering Group, a member of the Share Schemes Advanced Studies Group and President of the WECC.
 John Bagdonas is a global share plans advisor who works with issuers and service providers in helping advance their plan offerings and support of equity compensation. As an accomplished financial professional with more than 20 years of securities services experience and 10+ years in equity share plans, John’s client services include strategic business review, implementation support, business development consulting, cross-border plan design, and compliance review services. He also assists clients with project management support and resource requirement definition for new plan activities and product technologies. Previously, John was the North American lead responsible for the development of cross-border employee plan opportunities at Computershare, where he worked with global prospects and clients to develop integrated, cost-effective plan solutions for their multi-regional participants. Prior to its acquisition, John was Product Manager for Employee Stock Plan Services at EquiServe, where he was responsible for defining the strategic product offerings for share plan clients and their employees in more than 150 countries. John is a frequent speaker on industry topics, and has participated on many share plan related panels and conferences, both internationally and in the US. John is a member of The Global Equity Organization (GEO) Board of Directors, and currently serves as Treasurer. He is a member of the Board’s Executive Committee as well as Chair of the Finance Committee. John is a past member of the Advisory Board of Santa Clara University’s Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI). He earned his CEP credential in 1999. He is also a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), the Global Equity Organization (GEO), the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and has participated in ifs ProShare sponsored events in the UK. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and received an M.B.A. in Finance from Adelphi University.
 I have over 20 years experience working with global organizations dealing with compensation related issues including equity and ESPP programs. Currently I work at Discovery Communications, a media company in over 170 countries with the leading brands: Discovery, TLC, OWN, ID, Science, and Animal Planet. We administer equity programs in over 20 countries. Prior to joining Discovery, I served in HR leadership roles in the technology industry (Tellabs), retail (Eddie Bauer and Spiegel), manufacturing (Zenith Electronics), and financial services (AON). This broad background from several industries enables me to understand the challenges that different organizations face. I am interested in further developing the direction of GEO so it can continue to be the premier organization dealing with the complex issues in managing and promoting global equity programs. I earned a Master of Science in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from Loyola University in Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University. I hold accreditation as a Certified Compensation Professional and Global Remuneration Professional and have had several articles published on innovative team-based pay.
 Keith is the GEO Advisory Chair
 Joan Bloom is a senior vice president, Marketing and Business Planning for Fidelity Stock Plan Services, a division of Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment management, benefits outsourcing, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions and financial intermediaries. Ms. Bloom is responsible for the strategic marketing, business planning and communications for the Stock Plan business. In addition, she was a founding developer of the stock plan administration product for Fidelity in 2000. Ms. Bloom joined Fidelity in 1990 as a vice president in the brokerage marketing group. She was responsible for the marketing and product management of brokerage accounts and services, such as Fidelity Plus, USA, Spartan Brokerage Active Trader Services, and debit cards. In 1994, Ms Bloom became vice president of retail marketing, responsible for the marketing and product management of Fidelity domestic growth, growth and income and Select funds. She became an senior vice president in 1997. Ms Bloom left Fidelity in September 1997 to work as head of marketing for Scudder Funds, and then returned to Fidelity in March 1999 as senior vice president responsible for Fidelity's advertising and acquisition strategies. She has also held marketing positions in Fidelity's institutional wealth management and insurance businesses. Prior to joining Fidelity, Ms. Bloom was vice president of corporate marketing at Shawmut National Corporation from 1983 to 1990. From 1979 to 1983, she was product manager/assistant vice president for BayBanks, Inc., responsible for the development and management of retail products including discount brokerage services, Money Market Deposit Accounts, IRAs and CDs. Ms Bloom received a bachelor of arts degree in government and economics from Clark University.
 I have been involved in GEO and have been a member from 2003. I am one of the two coordinators of the GEO Spanish Chapter Meeting since its beginning, Chapter which has held regular meetings for the last two years in both Barcelona and Madrid. GEO Spanish Chapter Meetings have been well attended, with a majority of representatives from issuer companies in both locations. I received a GEO Star Award -2007- for Outstanding New Chapter Development, and I have been a regular speaker at the GEO Annual Conferences and local events. My professional background is that I am a Partner of the international employment and benefits practice in the Barcelona office of the law firm of Cuatrecasas. I have a Magister Juris Degree by the University of Oxford and in the past I also worked for a leading law firm in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Coming from Spain, I think I can greatly contribute to increase the global presence of GEO throughout the world. My view is that having members of the Board that come from different countries and cultures may help in giving GEO a more global perspective. As a lawyer in one of the leading firms in the Spanish speaking world, I have worked with equity issuers in both Europe and Latin America, a part of the world still to be covered by GEO Regional or Chapter Meetings. Therefore, I believe I can contribute to the future development of GEO not only on these two regions but also around the world. My idea is also to add a different perspective to the GEO Board of Directors, bearing in mind that sharing the views of employee ownership in different parts of the world, for instance, in terms of cultural and legal perspectives, may certainly help in developing and broadening this global organization.
 I began my career in 1979 in the private practice of law, specializing in U.S. individual and corporate tax matters, ERISA matters and private placements. I joined Hewitt Associates in 1986, where as a member of the firm's Legal Group, I focused primarily on US retirement and welfare plans, and eventually, global equity plans. I joined Mercer Human Resource Consulting as a Principal in the firm's International Practice in 1999 and lead the firm's global equity group. In October 2006, I joined Baker & McKenzie as a Partner in the firm's New York Office, along with other global equity attorneys from Mercer. We are closely integrated with the firm's San Francisco and Chicago Global Equity Services Teams. It is exciting to be part of the Baker & McKenzie team! My experience as a practicing attorney and consultant have given me the ability to approach client issues from a wide range of perspectives. I have had the opportunity to work with a range of individuals within client organizations, from senior management, to legal, tax, finance, and HR. In addition, I have been fortunate to be part of global organizations for the last 20 years. I received my undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and my J.D. from The University of Connecticut School of Law. While practicing law, I completed a substantial portion of the New York University School of Law LL.M. Program in Taxation. I have spoken on global equity topics at numerous conferences, including GEO Annual Conferences and Chapter and Regional Events. I also have written many articles on global equity. With its growing membership and expanding global reach, GEO's importance as a forum for global equity plan sponsors and professionals is greater than ever. I am excited about the organization's future and am honored to be a member of the Board.
 I have been an active member of GEO since its inception in 2000 and have sat on the GEO Board since 2003. Together with Nicholas Greenacre and Janet Cooper, I run the UK & Channel Islands GEO Chapter. For my day job, I head up RBC cees' cross- jurisdictional Development & Strategy Team, which encompasses business development, marketing and the internal technical function. RBC cees is a leading provider of corporate trustee and administration services for employee benefit plans, including global and domestic stock plans, deferred compensation arrangements and executive and international pensions. We also provide administration services in relation to private equity and property funds. My own role focuses primarily on corporate business development, but also includes providing senior technical support, across the RBC cees employee benefits disciplines, for the continuing strong growth of our diverse, multinational client base. I joined RBC cees in 2005, from the corporate world (BP), prior to which I was a Partner with Watson Wyatt, specialising in the design, communication and implementation of UK and global share and cash incentive plans and executive pensions. An English solicitor, I graduated in law from Oxford University and practised with Linklaters in their share plan and pensions team until 1996, during which I also completed a secondment with a leading US employee benefits practice in New York.
 Based in our London office, Jay Foley is the Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's Global Stock Plan Services for the UK and Europe. As the Managing Director of the European business, Jay over sees all aspects of share plan services including plan administration, employee communications, trade execution and settlement and customer service for a variety of share plan types on more than 10 global markets. Jay has worked very closely with clients in implementing and administering some of the largest equity compensation plans worldwide, including Share Option, Performance and Restricted Share Plans, Global Share Purchase Plans as well as Transferable Option programs.</ Jay is currently enrolled in the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) program, as well as being member to a number of leading industry organisations such as the Global Equity Organization, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (US) and ifs Proshare in the UK. Jay was actively involved in the founding of the Global Equity Organization and sponsoring the first New York GEO Chapter conferences and has attended all of the GEO Annual Conferences. Jay was also actively involved with the New York Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), serving as Chapter Secretary for several years. Jay has spoken at both NASPP and GEO conferences. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in April 2000, Jay worked at First Chicago Trust Company of New York where he worked in both Product Management and New Business Development for Employee Share Plans. Jay worked with some of the earliest and largest, broad-based share plans in the US and Europe. Jay graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. in International Relations and Spanish.
 I have worked in compensation and reward in one way or another for the whole of my professional career. My particular areas of expertise are executive remuneration, annual and long-term incentives, and discretionary and all-employee equity programs. At Pearson, I have been personally involved with most types of equity-based compensation plans and for all types of people. Our plans extend to 60 countries. I have lived through the corporate stock plan cycle more than a few times and know what the issues are. My approach is strategic. I like to be clear about what we are trying to achieve, how a particular stock plan will help us do that, and what the costs and benefits are to the organisation. My approach is also pragmatic and participant focussed and my goal is to minimise bureaucracy and to improve communication. At Pearson, I believe we live our values through our stock plans. We recognise that everybody's contribution counts wherever they are in the organisation. We want people to feel engaged and have a voice. And ultimately we believe the best way for people to share in the fortunes of their company is to own part of it. I know many GEO members whether advisers, other corporate issuers, or members of similar networks. Pearson is a twice GEO award winner and I have had the privilege of serving as a GEO award judge. Over the last year or so, Pearson hosted a successful London meeting of the UK/Channel Islands chapter, I joined Janet Cooper and others on a lively discussion panel at the GEO UK Regional Meeting talking about the future of share plan design, and I was co-opted to serve as ad hoc issue representative on the speaker selection committee for the 2010 GEO Conference. I was very grateful to receive recognition for these activities at the conference. I look forward to my continuing association with GEO and serving as a member of the board.
 I have been an active member of GEO since 2007 when I took on the challenge of starting up the French Chapter. Together with Agnes Charpenet, Etienne Pujol, Colin Bernier and Alexy Armitage, I now run the France Local chapter. For this, both I and the Chapter Committee received a GEO Star Award -2008- for Outstanding Contribution. My involvement in share plans began in 2003 when I joined Computershare as a Relationship Manager in the UK. Most recently, I joined UBS as Director - Client development (UK/France). I was previously with BNP Paribas Securities Services in Paris. In my 8 years in share plans I have been particularly involved in helping French companies implementing and running plans in the UK and vice versa. I also found myself particularly interested and involved in challenges faced by companies in the areas of Employee Communication and Financial Education in the workplace. Prior to joining the share plans world I was a Journalist and contributed to various financial magazines and newsletters for Euromoney Plc.
 As the Vice President of Client Services for E*TRADE Corporate Services, I am responsible for the resources, tools and programs that make it easier for our more than 1,000 diverse, multi-national clients to deliver equity programs to their more than 1 million stock plan participants worldwide. We serve clients that range from large, multinational corporations with 10,000+ global employees who offer a range of products, to smaller public and private companies that may offer less complex plans. Through my experience, I have forged a deep understanding of the needs of different companies and have gained insight into what makes a strong equity compensation program at every type of company. I believe education plays a key role in providing industry and job specific knowledge and constantly look to help our clients discover new and innovative ways to approach their responsibilities. Our recent E*TRADE Directions 2011 conference attracted over 400 professionals excited to broaden their horizons within equity compensation. I look forward to sharing my experience and knowledge as a Global Equity Organization (GEO) Board member to help shape GEO's strategy for delivering value to its growing member base. My 25 years of financial services experience includes business development, product and human resources management, and client services. I have been an active contributor to GEO both at the chapter level and globally. Most recently, I was an integral part of the team that helped GEO expand their activities in the United States with the creation of the National Equity Compensation Forum taking place in September. I am also an active member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) and serve on the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) board. I am excited about the prospect of becoming a GEO Board member and look forward to bringing my experience to this talented group that provides a great service to the equity compensation community.
 As a share plan practitioner for 20 years - consultant, issuer and service provider - I have a deep understanding of the challenges that GEO members all over the world face now and into the future. If elected, I will strive to ensure that GEO is an effective learning resource, provides a global peer group with regular networking opportunities, and actively fosters a pro-share plan environment. I also think it's important that smaller countries like Ireland are represented on the Board. I've been actively involved with GEO since 2003: serving as a Board member for the first time from June 2006 to June 2008; as Development Director from October 2004 until June 2006 focused on growing membership outside the US particularly through local chapter activities; and as a member of the Dublin GEO Chapter committee. Since 2005, I've been a share plan entrepreneur as a Co-Founder and Owner of Global Shares, an independent share plan administrator that provides services to 88 clients in 18 countries on 4 continents. Prior to that, I was the eircom Employee Share Ownership Plan Manager for 6 years, having been a Compensation & Benefits Manager for over a year. In this role, I was heavily involved in the negotiations of a ground-breaking ESOP with the unions for 14,500 participants. Before that, I was a consultant in the Human Resource Consulting (HRC) practice of PwC (Coopers & Lybrand) in London for 7 years, where I advised clients on tax and HR issues relating to share plans. While there, I qualified as a lawyer (Barrister, non-practicing) and am a member of Lincoln's Inn, London. I've been on the Council of Irish ProShare since 1997 (and chair from 2000 to 2003) and also support ifsProshare and the ESOP Centre in the UK, regularly presenting at conferences and through sponsorships etc.
 Dennis Paalman, SVP Compensation & Benefits, Royal Ahold NV As Global Head of Compensation and Benefits, Dennis Paalman, Msc has additional global responsibility for HR Risk, HR Corporate Responsibility and the International Mobility Center at Royal Ahold NV. Royal Ahold NV is a global player in the food retail industry with over 220K employees worldwide and close to €30 billion in Net Sales. Dennis served as the leader of a team that won the 2009 GEO Award for Best Plan Effectiveness. Prior to joining Ahold, he was the Global Head of Performance and Reward and ING Group, was a senior consultant in the Executive Compensation Practice at Towers Perrin in the UK and The Netherlands. He started his career at IBM. He lectured at the University of Amsterdam, was co-author in the handbook on Reward and is quoted regularly in the Dutch media on compensation-related topics. He also was member of the panel in the Dutch Debating program "The House of Common', aired weekly on Dutch National Television.
 Sean is the North East Global Compensation and Benefits Practice Leader for Deloitte, based in New York. Sean has over eleven years of global compensation and tax experience. Sean specializes in the design and implementation of global equity and incentive compensation programs and has helped many of the world’s leading companies develop practical solutions to the tax, administration and human resource challenges that operation of a global share plan presents. Sean has developed a particular expertise in helping companies undergoing corporate reorganizations (in particular mergers and spin-offs) develop strategies to mitigate the effects that such reorganizations have on a company’s compensation and benefits programs. Sean is a member of a number of professional organizations (including Global Equity Organization, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals and National Foreign Trade Council). Sean is a frequent speaker and writer on global compensation issues.
 Debbie Tsoi-A-Sue has an in-depth background in the stock compensation industry. Her prior posts include Genentech, Sun Microsystems and various small to mid-sized Silicon Valley companies directly and through consulting engagements. Her experience base includes many aspects of global stock plan administration, employee education/communication programs and SEC reporting. Her current position as Director of Stock Plan Services for Yahoo! Inc. has also delved her deeper into financial reporting and global compliance. Debbie has a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco. She obtained her Certified Equity Professional designation from Santa Clara University's CEP Institute. During her equity compensation career, she has volunteered time with the Global Equity Organization, currently serving as the Northern California Regional Director, and with the CEP Institute for test development activities. She has also served with the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals for many years as Secretary, Program Committee Chairperson and SVC NASPP's Annual Conference Coordinator.
 Jewon Wee is Founder and Managing Director of ISP Advisors, LLC. He has 15 years of experience designing and delivering advisory and outsourcing solutions for multinational companies of varying sizes and industries. Leveraging his unique combination of advisory, outsourcing, and brokerage expertise, he collaborates with his clients to address the complex compliance and administrative challenges associated with global pay programs. Prior to founding the firm, Jewon was Vice President of Product Delivery, Training, and Strategic Items with Fidelity Investments. He joined Fidelity from Ernst & Young (E&Y) in 2003 as Director of Global Product Management and was the lead strategist for Fidelity's international stock plan administration offering. He began his career with E&Y's human capital consulting business in its New York City office. In 2001, he transferred to Boston to help grow the Global Equity Practice there. Jewon received his degree in Economics from Boston College. He has held FINRA Series 24, 7 and 63 designations, as well as an IRS Enrolled Agent designation.
 As a co-founder of GEO, it has been exciting to watch the organization's success from inception through multiple phases of growth. With the expansive membership, growing network of local chapters, and extensive educational, informational, and networking offerings, GEO has made great progress in fulfilling its mission. Since leaving the Board in 2001, I have continued serving GEO in many other roles including conference presenter, webinar presenter, author, Conference session evaluator, host of the GEO podcast series "Keeping Up" and more. I think GEO is on the verge of doing much more and seek to return to a more central role in supporting that effort, as a member of the Board. My daily consulting work is focused on organizations that view equity as a core element of employee remuneration. I continue to be a believer that equity compensation can change organizations as it changes lives, and work with my clients to balance the significant technical challenges with the philosophical and strategic issues. Employee ownership works, not only as a business solution but as a social and macroeconomic solution. GEO is an essential organization in the global conversation and I believe the next phase of GEO's growth should consider how to meet the needs of the members while coalescing members' collective knowledge and expertise to ensure that equity compensation continues to be viewed as an essential solution, not a costly and complex administrative burden. In addition to GEO I have served in many other leadership and educational roles with WorldatWork, NASPP (Advisory Board), and the Certified Equity Professional Institute (Chair of the Advisory Board). This experience, plus my consulting with boards of directors of global public companies, private companies, and not-for-profit organizations provides me with the knowledge and experience to make a significant contribution to the GEO Board. In addition to serving as the first CFO of GEO, I also have founded two consulting firms and been an executive of a venture-funded start-up so I understand the details of running a business strategically, operationally, and financially. I hold an MBA from UCLA and am a Certified Equity Professional (CEP), Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP), and Certified Compensation Professional (CCP). |
