Laura Thatcher leads the firm's executive compensation practice, having developed this area of legal specialty in 1995 from her many years of experience in securities and acquisitions. Today, she is recognized as one of the nation's experts on executive compensation and is extensively quoted by major business news publications throughout the world.
Ms. Thatcher leads the executive compensation practice with a distinct focus on tax, securities and corporate governance regulations that have a direct effect on executive compensation. She and her team have daily experience in compensation matters that are part of every type of corporate environment: advising boards and management on equity-based and other incentive arrangements; nonqualified deferred compensation; executive employment agreements; SEC disclosures; golden parachute arrangements; corporate governance; and director and officer indemnification and fiduciary concerns. Her team stays up to the minute on fast-breaking issues and makes sure clients are among the first to know of and understand how new developments affect them.
Ms. Thatcher serves as special executive compensation counsel to many U.S. and international publicly traded companies, including:
- an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology and technical services;
- the largest specialty retailer of toys in the United States;
- a global forest products, paper and packaging company;
- an industry leading, global manufacturer and marketer of semiconductor devices;
- the largest manufacturer of magnet wire in the world;
- a leader in mass communications media operations, including print publications, broadcasting, telecommunications and printing services; and
- a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust.
Ms. Thatcher serves on the Board of Review for a multidisciplinary initiative spearheaded by the Certified Equity Professional Institute of Santa Clara University to create and seek public comment on a series of “white-papers” that together will provide universally accepted industry guidance as to areas of risk and appropriate controls in equity compensation.
Ms. Thatcher served for 14 years as a director and chair of the Compensation Committee of Batson-Cook Company, a Southeast regional commercial construction and real estate development company.