Thursday, January 3, 2013

Welcome to Effective Equity: The Equity Compensation Blog


Welcome to Effective Equity

Fred Whittlesey
Compensation Venture Group, Inc.

This blog is dedicated to improving the processes by which equity compensation programs and awards – stock options, restricted stock, performance awards, stock purchase plans, employee stock ownership plans and simulated equity programs – are considered, designed, implemented, and operated.

The Effective Equity approach to compensation design has been developed by Compensation Venture Group, Inc. and used successfully for many years with our clients to resolve challenging equity compensation issues in the face of volatile equity markets, ongoing regulatory change, and global changes in the business environment.

What is Effective Equity?

Effective Equity is the delivery of ownership to employees in a manner that optimizes the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders or political activists.  We believe that Effective Equity is central to the success of capitalism and the free market system.


The equity compensation design process has been dominated for several years by competing interests of accountants and self-appointed corporate governance advisers. For many years, we have known that the measures and standards being imposed on equity design are inappropriate and destructive to both shareholder value and employee ownership culture.

As this blog and the accompanying website are launched, there is timely new evidence of the shareholder value destruction issue and this directly supports the employee ownership premise.


The first series of blogs, over the next week, will address:

The Five Elements of Effective Equity: Strategy

The Five Elements of Effective Equity: Finance

The Five Elements of Effective Equity: Behavior

The Five Elements of Effective Equity: Governance

The Five Elements of Effective Equity: Impact


This blog will cover new academic research findings, opinions of competing viewpoints on equity compensation, and the broader issues of employee ownership, shared capitalism, and Conscious Compensation©.