Cathy is a Partner in EY’s People Advisory Services practice and focuses on HR strategy, risk management, compliance and operational efficiency and change management with financial services, fintech, technology and media companies.  She primarily concentrates on elevating the employee value proposition via flexibility programs, global rewards, risk and internal controls, HR and payroll efficiency and mobility issues. Cathy also co-leads EY’s Equal Pay offering.  More specifically, Cathy’s experience includes:

• Reimaging how work is performed with embedded workforce planning and inclusive and adaptive rewards;
• Identifying opportunities to mitigate HR risk and further improve business processes and systems, including worker classification considerations;
• Developing communications and change management programs to support transformational efforts;
• Reviewing the compensation programs, levels, and underlying policies and processes to address Equal Pay globally;
• Designing tax-efficient and competitive long-term and short-term incentive programs for senior management and broad-based groups;
• Analyzing compensation and benefit programs for cost and process efficiencies;
• Assisting companies in the assessment of service delivery models related to the delivery of payroll, equity and other benefits, including the modeling of future state processes to support the new administrative arrangements;
• Identifying control gaps and opportunities to further the efficiency and effectiveness of current payroll and HR processes based on established knowledge of best practices; and
• Outlining and auditing the payroll implications for delivering compensation, benefits and perquisites to employees and non-employees in over 100 countries.

Cathy is a graduate from the University of Iowa having received a BBA in Accounting.  Cathy is an Advisory Board member of the Certified Equity Professional Institute and a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.  She is a Certified Public Accountant in California.

Ciara Gaines is the Manager of Stock Plan Administration at Verano Holdings. In her role, she is responsible for the research, analysis, and creation of comprehensive equity packages and oversees the general end-to-end equity administration processes and collaborates closely with various teams including People, Legal, Finance, Payroll, and Talent Acquisition. Ciara has prior experience administering global equity programs as well as working through complex equity processes and conversions due to company transactions such as divestitures and spin-off events.

Ciara is an active member of the Global Equity Organization (GEO) and National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP). She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and is currently located in Chicago.

Jennifer Thomas is currently Director, Global Equity Management at ServiceNow. There she is responsible for all things equity, including growing the team and undertaking some upcoming strategic projects to improve the employee equity experience! Before joining ServiceNow, she held positions as Head of Equity at Stripe and Director of Stock Services at Oracle. Prior to that, she held various roles on the Alphabet / Google Global Equity Management team, including nearly three years based in London! Jennifer spent the earlier part of her career in financial services, having worked in many different roles at both Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab. Jennifer has an Executive MBA from California State University, Northridge, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. She serves in various capacities at several non-profits as well.

Jason has more than 15 years of experience providing compensation services to Board of Directors, senior management, and owners of public and private companies. Jason works with companies on all aspects of compensation programs, including short- & long-term incentive programs, Director compensation, compensation and performance peer groups, understanding competitive pay levels, IPO/SPAC readiness, salary structures, and M&A/transaction/retention planning.

Prior to joining BDO, Jason worked at a Big Four firm and Semler Brossy Consulting Group.

Jason works across industries, with experience including aerospace & defense, consumer products, distribution and logistics, entertainment, financial services, industrial & manufacturing, insurance, oil & gas, professional services, real estate/REIT, travel & leisure, technology, and utilities.

Ryan Shreero is an Executive Director with the JP Morgan Restricted Stock Group which includes a dedicated 10b5-1 team based in New York. Ryan provides regulatory knowledge and marketing support for control and restricted securities transactions.  Ryan, with over 18 years of control and restricted securities experience, works closely with clients, their advisors, and issuer counsel to help facilitate transactions and develop tailored strategies for corporate executives, board members, founders, and restricted stockholders.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Ryan was the Head of Sales and Marketing for Oppenheimer’s Corporate & Executives Services Group (CES), leading the development of a comprehensive platform for Corporate Investment Banking and Equity Research clients and their employee participants. Offerings covered coordination of Investment Banking, Corporate Cash Management, Retirement Fiduciary Services and Employee Benefits with Advisor teams to acquire and deepen corporate and private client relationships. Before Oppenheimer, he worked for Bear Stearns, where he was focused on partnering with advisor teams to convert assets onto the Bear Stearns Wealth Management platform. Ryan and his wife have two children and live in New York.

Erica Schohn is head of Skadden’s executive compensation and benefits practice. Her practice focuses on compensation and benefits arrangements in U.S. and cross-border corporate transactions (including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, bankruptcy reorganizations and carve-out transactions), the negotiation of executive employment and severance arrangements, and the drafting and implementation of equity and other compensation programs.

Ms. Schohn frequently advises clients on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules governing executive compensation disclosure and corporate governance matters relating to compensation practices. As part of this practice, Ms. Schohn is a member of panels and committees comprised of leading government and private- and public-company governance professionals, and she speaks regularly with representatives from the SEC, stock exchanges, institutional investor groups and proxy advisory firms on the latest issues in corporate governance.

Ms. Schohn also regularly advises clients regarding tax planning with respect to compliance with Internal Revenue Code Section 409A and the tax rules relating to deferred compensation, the excise tax on excess parachute payments and limits on the deductibility of executive compensation. She also counsels clients on a range of ESG-related matters.

Her experience includes representing companies, private equity funds and individuals in, among others, the pharmaceutical, medical supply, financial, energy, entertainment and travel industries.

Ms. Schohn is the author and editor of the Section 409A Handbook, published by Bloomberg BNA, and speaks at seminars on issues relating to cross-border employee matters, data privacy, executive compensation, tax planning and corporate governance. In recognition of her work, Ms. Schohn has been named an Employment Law Trailblazer by The National Law Journal. Ms. Schohn also has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Legal 500 U.S., in addition to being named a Law360 Benefits MVP and a BTI Client Service All-Star for providing outstanding client service. Additionally, she has been repeatedly selected as one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers. She also is a member of the Skadden team that has been selected multiple times as a Law360 Benefits Group of the Year.

Ms. Schohn is the founder of Connections, a group of employment and benefits lawyers from more than 30 countries on six continents who meet regularly to educate each other on global employment issues and speak at seminars on changes in laws relevant to multinational companies.

Khary Doane is the lead specialist of Global Equity Communications & Learning Experience at DoorDash. His background in UX/UI design and marketing—coupled with his experience in corporate communications and equity administration—has helped him usher in a fresh, analytical, and empathy-first approach to informing and educating employees on complex topics. While relatively new to the equity space, Khary's innovative work and creative eye have already made him a highly sought-after partner across stakeholders, leaders, and external vendors alike. When he isn't designing communications or managing projects, Khary enjoys interior decorating and hosting gatherings with friends in his New York City apartment.

Sara Anderson serves as Director, HR M&A and Executive Compensation at Thermo Fisher Scientific.  The Company has a very acquisitive track record spending over $7B in acquisitions per year on average, completing nearly 60 transactions in the last 10 years, including Patheon, PPD, and most recently, in 2023, acquisitions of The Binding Site and CorEvitas.  In her role, Sara is responsible for Total Rewards Due Diligence across all acquisitions.  This includes risk identification and analysis, 280G assessment, financial impact modeling for the deal and future Total Rewards impacts, and she is accountable for all deal negotiations in the Total Rewards space.  Additionally, she develops and champions deal retention strategies, securing buy-in from C-Suite executives and strategically positioning retention proposals with target company leadership.  She is passionate about HR M&A best practice sharing, internally and externally, and improving Thermo Fisher’s HR M&A capabilities aligned with evolving market trends. Sara also enjoys navigating the unique challenges that come with each deal regardless of size, engaging in people strategy development, assessing and addressing change management challenges, and leveraging her experience to minimize financial, deal, and people-related risks and maximize deal value.

Sara has developed her HR M&A expertise over the last six years with prior experience at Eli Lilly & Company working in the same capacity.  Over her almost 20-year career, Sara has had a variety of experiences spanning the Finance and HR functions allowing her to effectively bridge these cross-functional needs in the M&A deal context.  She has previously served as Director – Global Benefits, Advisor – Retirement Operations & Investments, Finance Leader for Connected Care division within Diabetes Business Unit, and Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Leader.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Indiana University and obtained her MBA from Butler University.  She is a licensed CPA in Indiana and Six Sigma Certified Black Belt. 

Sara’s skills and learnings in M&A work translate well in her personal life (and vice versa).  She is a proud wife, mother of five children and three fur-babies and appreciates that there is never a dull moment in her blended family household or in the world of M&A!

Lindsay Lentz (she/her) joined Airbus in December 2021 as the Head of Rewards, Global Mobility, Payroll and People Operations with over 15 years of experience spanning aerospace and defense, outdoor sporting goods and financial organizations. Lindsay prides herself in educating and supporting employees through creative reinvention of employer offerings, including standing up HR functions. Carrying a passion for education into her personal life, Lindsay serves as a reading tutor for children with learning challenges.