This session will focus on the legal and regulatory impact of offering equity compensation to a global workforce. You will learn about the securities, tax, labor, data privacy, and corporate governance requirements for global stock programs, including requirements for securities filings, segregated payroll deductions, collection and transfer of employee information across borders, financial intermediaries (broker/stock plan administrators), and works council codetermination rights. During this session, we will also discuss recent enforcement actions taken by various authorities worldwide against companies offering equity compensation to their employees and the factors that you should consider in assessing your company's exposure to these risks.

Jon F. Doyle, Partner, International Law Partners, LLP (US)

This panel discussion will provide a review of the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of a company's long-term incentive plan by allowing the employees to select their own long-term incentive vehicles. By increasing this flexibility, companies can enhance the effectiveness of their programs without granting additional shares. Representatives from company's employing equity choice programs, including Qualcomm, Aon and Home Depot, will share their experiences and examine the benefits and drawbacks of such a program.

Ted Buyniski, Senior Vice President, Radford (US)
Jeremy Farmer, Aon
David Reichel, Qualcomm

This case study will look into the process of implementing an option exchange program from an issuer's perspective. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, many companies will see the need to implement exchange programs. Learn from the experiences of multinational StepStone's option exchange program recently carried out. StepStone's exchange program was split in two; some employees were given the opportunity to exchange 2:1 options at a lower strike, and some employees were given the opportunity to exchange all outstanding options for a defined number of new options at a lower strike. The session will give insight into:
- Internal processes of StepStone
- Obtaining Board approval
- Determining parameters and impact of the exchange program
- Communication with eligible participants
- Accounting issues related to incremental expensing (modification) in accordance with IFRS-2
- How to work with your software provider to make the exchange run smoothly, both in regards to administration and accounting of the exchange programAn additional speaker may be added to cover the Accounting issues.

Finn Dahl, Chief Operating Offier, Norse Solutions AS (NO)
Martin Percival, Group HR Director, StepStone ASA (UK)
Juliet Roberts, Stock Plan Administrator, StepStone ASA (UK)
Renee Bomchill, Deloitte

Unique political, cultural and economic factors can impact the effectiveness of your plan communications. It is important to consider all of these factors when communicating the value of your equity plans to your global employee population. Whether you are communicating about taxation in France or an interest-bearing component of your ESPP in the Middle East or the decision to forgo equity awards in China, your communication plan must consider both the sensibilities of your audience and your plan goals. This session will examine challenges that specific countries and regions around the world may encounter and offer tips on overcoming these challenges. The audience will also hear first hand from a global issuer on their real-life experiences in managing plans around the globe.

Miriam Solomon, VP, Director of Marketing, BNY Mellon Shareowner and Employee Stock Plan Services (US)
Sheila Lyons, VP, Regional Manager, BNY Mellon (US)

With the current economic crisis and state budget deficits making headlines, states have a renewed focus on an important source of often missed revenue associated with mobile individuals who move between states at some point during the equity lifecycle. In conjunction with this effort, many states are implementing new higher income tax and withholding rates on supplemental income to cover these budget shortfalls. This session will provide an overview of how stock compensation is taxed at the state level, and will address various issues including cross border taxation, payroll, state tax credit, and a discussion on the practical issues associated with tracking this population and what companies can to do to ensure compliance with the increasingly changing state reporting and withholding rules.

Kate Forsyth, Tax Senior Manager, Deloitte (US)
Peter Simeonidis, Tax Senior Manager, Deloitte (US)