The Strength of Chapter Meetings

We are less than four months out from the Forum, and preparations are well underway. There’s a fair amount of work to be done, debuting an entirely new conference, but after attending a few chapter meetings, it’s clear why Global Equity Organization is holding a domestic event. It’s because the Forum is a great fit for GEO’s North American members.

Case in point: Last week, more than 100 members came to Domenico Wines in San Carlos, California for a half-day regional event to reconnect with peers, make new contacts, and learn the latest news in equity compensation. This annual event grew from last year’s, largely due to the efforts of our Northern California Regional Planning Committee, led by Director Debbie Tsoi-A-Sue.

California GEO members attend their regional event, May 12, 2011.

Presenters included Christian Kimball of Fidelity Investments, Randy Murphy of Salesforce.com, and Christine McCarthy and Jennifer George of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. The event also featured a practitioners’ panel comprised of Veena Bhatia of Gilead Sciences, Rita Dickson of Oracle Corporation, and Jacobin Zorin and Tracy deSwiet of ISP Advisors.

Overall, the event provided robust information on global equity markets, as well as hot trends in worldwide employee share plans with topics including administrator one-off scenarios, SAFE registration, compensation/total rewards design, employee education, mergers & acquisitions, global regulatory changes and tax/mobility issues.

As a not-for-profit organization focused on equity compensation, GEO’s strength lies within its chapters, and the chapters show their strength with their ability to attract members with breadth and depth in experience across many industries. Here’s where you can help: To ensure the success of the Forum, we need to leverage the strength of our chapters. At chapter meetings in the coming weeks and months, make sure new and old GEO members alike are invited to this exclusive event where they can share the key challenges they face as equity practitioners in the United States. 

As always, GEO depends on its members and chapters to be the premier equity compensation organization and we sincerely appreciate your efforts. We hope to see you at an upcoming chapter event, or better yet, the Forum.