Robin Ferracone's "Fair Pay, Fair Play" delves into the complexities of executive compensation, emphasizing the crucial link between pay and performance. The book examines various compensation models, exploring their effectiveness and potential pitfalls. It advocates for a more equitable and transparent approach to executive pay, aligning incentives with overall company success. Ferracone provides practical strategies for designing and implementing effective compensation plans that promote both fairness and performance. The book serves as a valuable resource for executives, board members, and compensation professionals seeking to navigate the challenges of executive compensation in a responsible and effective manner.
Aesop's Fables are a collection of stories that have been passed down through oral tradition and later written down. These fables feature animals and other elements that take on human characteristics to convey important moral lessons. The stories cover a wide range of themes, including social, religious, and political issues, and have been used as ethical guides and educational tools for both children and adults. The fables are known for their simplicity and the profound truths they convey, making them timeless and universally relevant.
- Intro.
- (1:08) - Start of interview.
- (1:42) - Robin's "origin story": she grew up in Indiana, "sought warmer weather" so she headed to Duke for college. She later got an MBA at Harvard and started her consulting career at Booz Allen in SF. Five years later she started her own firm, SCA Consulting, focusing on executive compensation and strategy, based out of L.A. She sold that firm to Mercer in 2001, stayed on with the firm until 2007 when she left to start her current firm Farient Advisors.
- (5:50) - "In the SCA days, executive compensation was commissioned by management, very rarely by boards of directors."
- (7:20) - Her take on the evolution of executive compensation since the '80s.
- (10:28) - Her description of her firm Farient Advisors.
- (12:07) - Her discussion of her firm's research study: "2021 and Beyond: Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives" authored jointly with the Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group (GECN Group).
- (15:16) - Her experience on how to link stakeholder goals in executive compensation, particularly in connection to climate change, social matters and DEI.
- (24:37) - Her take on "moon shot equity grants" ("I am not in favor of them") and founder top-up grants.
- (28:43) - Her take on SPACs.
- (32:40) - Her take on the Exxon Mobil proxy fight with Engine No.1. "It's a watershed moment for corporate boards."
- (36:37) - Her take on human capital "it's time has come." "It's much more about people than it's ever been before." There are four areas of disclosure: 1) number of employees, 2) diversity, 3) profile of the workforce, and 4) retention of workforce.
- (39:34) - The book that has greatly influenced his life:
- Fair Pay, Fair Play: Aligning Executive Performance and Pay (2010), her own book! "It consumed my life for a year and a half."
- Aesop Fables. Collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece.
- (42:03) - Her mentors: "I have a view that you can literally learn for anybody."
- (44:29) - Her favorite quotes: "my favorite sayings have to do luck." Her father-in-law: "Luck is where you look for it."
- (45:04) - An unusual or absurd habit that she loves: fro-yo!
- (45:29) - The living person she most admires: Misty Copeland.
Robin Ferracone is the Founder and CEO of Farient Advisors. She is the author of the book “Fair Pay, Fair Play: Aligning Executive Performance and Pay” and is a frequent presenter for well-known organizations including Council of Institutional Investors, Society for Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and The Conference Board, among others. Robin has written extensively on the topics of performance management, incentive plan design, goal setting, and corporate governance.
If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media.
__
You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter @evanepstein
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack https://evanepstein.substack.com/
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
You can follow Evan on social media at:
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein 
