Key considerations for any company in development of their employee share programs include the perspectives of the various stakeholders in the process – a well-designed program is one that contemplates not only the needs of the employees but includes consideration of the needs of the company’s investors, partners and also the overall public opinion. Join GEO’s 14th Annual International Conference inaugural keynote to hear how the Munich-headquartered powerhouse Siemens AG, a company committed to employee share ownership, and Deutsche Bank have addressed the competing priorities of the various stakeholder groups in the development of their employee share plans. This panel, moderated by Michael Kramarsch, Managing Partner at Hostettler, Kramarsch & Partner (hkp/// group), will include panelists Joe Kaeser, member of the Managing Board and CFO (Siemens AG) and Dr. Stephan Leithner, member of the Management Board (Deutsche Bank), who will share their perspective on what has driven Siemens and Deutsche Bank to develop a strong equity ownership culture. Key discussion topics will include short-term versus long-term orientation, areas of conflict for employees versus shareholders, as well as economic growth and shared success. Join us for this very special look into top management’s view on the use of global equity.

Drawing from their research on Europe and the United States that is the basis for the upcoming release of their new book, The Citizen's Share, Dr. Joseph Blasi and Dr. Richard Freeman will trace the development of policies to support broad-based equity in corporations in the United States and Europe and expand these ideas to the global economy. Relating their specific experiences, Drs. Blasi and Freeman will address the following questions: What actions can corporations take to meaningfully advance government global equity policies worldwide and in their home countries and on which ideas should these actions be based? While it is a well-accepted premise that when employees' interests are aligned with that of the business, performance improves on all fronts. This session will present the audience with evidence to this fact based upon concepts catalogued by America's founders. While their book argues that in today's world the political and economic vision of America’s founders calls for increased profit-sharing and employee share ownership of business capital, this session will expand that thinking and provide attendees a vision of what the latest research on broad-based equity plans teaches us and provide insight into where we go from here by contrasting the modes of creating equity in Europe and the United States.

This exciting keynote panel will lead the audience through a discussion on recent developments in Say on Pay activity, focusing particularly on recent and potential litigation in both Europe and the U.S. The audience will be encouraged to participate as we look beyond the goal of a positive vote on executive pay and look at some of the unintended consequences that can lead to potential legal action.‬‬

Companies invest an enormous amount of resources in their global employee share plans – this session will address the watershed question of whether or not the time and money dedicated to global share plans are really worth it. Our team of experts representing advisors and representatives from companies committed to global employee share ownership will take on the task of discussing the key reasons employers adopt share ownership plans, how these plans fit into their overall compensation strategy and how the strategy is altered for country-specific considerations. Lastly, the team will describe how they evaluate and measure success. As a bonus, in addition to the perspective offered by companies on their share plans, attendees will hear directly from a representative of the European Commission who will discuss two important points related to the current developments in employee stock plans – the European Parliament’s Pilot Project for the promotion of employee ownership and participation and the European Commission's Action Plan on European Company Law and Corporate Governance. For anyone involved in employee share plans, this is a session you cannot afford to miss!