Reward Strategy
PARC Conference: Managing Reward in Our Uncertain World
We look forward to welcoming PARC members and invited guests to PARC’s 2022 Annual Conference, which will be held at Haberdashers’ Hall in Central London.
Two years into the 2020s and already the last decade is looking straightforward and uncomplicated by comparison. Accelerating focus on climate change, geopolitical volatility, ‘pandemophobia’, shifting expectations of companies and the inexorable march of technological and demographic change are set to dominate the economic and business environment of the coming decade. Add to that the shock of military conflict in Europe giving rise to a broader economic war involving most of the world’s major economies, and the 2020s is likely to be a more challenging decade for international business than most of us have seen in our working lives.
What should businesses do to prepare – and what is the role of reward in creating focus on the critical ‘must win battles’ that will sustain companies through this challenging period? We will hear critical insights from financial commentators, business academics and reward professionals, giving their perspectives on how companies might respond to this constantly evolving rapidly business environment.
Agenda
View the Conference Flyer here.
Celia Baxter and Peter Blausten will co-Chair the conference.
The World We Now Live In – International Business Perspective
Philip Stephens of The Financial Times, will give his assessment of the evolving geopolitical and economic environment in which global business now needs to operate, taking account both of recent events and of the longer-term trends which will shape the 2020s.
From Surviving to Thriving: Leading Growth in Uncertain Times
Rebecca Homkes from the London Business School will look at what this radical uncertainty means for businesses. Developing strategy in the current environment requires the ability to navigate ‘perfect storms’ in the short term, whilst keeping a clear eye on the horizon and the opportunities for growth.
How Does Reward Make a Difference?
We will hear from three experts in the field of reward on the role of reward in driving organisational performance:
- Getting the Balance Right with Tom Gosling, examining the tensions between increased scrutiny and reporting requirements on the one hand and the flexibility to make rapid shifts in strategy and direction on the other.
- The Global Pivot to Asia with Jason Shaw will give us an insight into the specific challenges and opportunities in the shifting balance in commercial power and individual wealth.
- Europe – Retrenchment or Resurgence? from Peter Boreham. A complementary insight into the most significant developments in the pursuit of business in the EU.
The conference will close with a drinks reception and networking. This will be an invaluable opportunity for PARC members to explore themes and discuss strategies and responses with expert speakers and fellow Reward professionals.
The Conference Drinks Reception is sponsored by: Wagestream
Speakers
Celia Baxter
Non Executive Director and Chair of Remuneration Committees
Celia has over 30 years of commercial, international business and HR experience. Currently, Celia has a portfolio of non-executive director roles. She joined the Senior plc Board as a non-executive director in September 2013 and is the Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee, she is also a member of the Audit Committee and Nominations Committee. Celia became a non-executive director, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and member of the Nomination Committee for RHI Magnesita NV in October 2017. Celia joined the Board of D S Smith in early October 2019 as a non-executive director, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and member of the Nominations and Audit Committees and stepped down in May 2020 from the Board of Bekaert SA where she had served for four years as an independent director and member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Celia was Director of Group HR, Bunzl plc for 13 years until 2016. Previously, she held similar positions for Hays plc, Enterprise Oil Plc and Tate & Lyle Plc. Her early HR career was with Ford Motor Company and KPMG. Celia has a BSc (Hons) Botany, is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and a Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.
Peter Blausten
Independent Senior Advisor
Peter Blausten is an independent Senior Advisor, supporting public and private sector organisations. He is a former consulting partner of Alvarez & Marsal LLP working with corporate and private equity clients. He was Group HR Director of BAA plc, the FTSE 30 international airports group, and Morgan Crucible, the FTSE 250 international advanced materials company. He has also worked as a consultant to private equity firms on major M&A and performance improvement assignments. His earlier HR career was in senior HR roles with Charles Schwab & Co, British Airways and Ford Motor Company. In the public sector, he was a member of the Civil Service Commission Board, and Commissioner for the Cabinet Office, and has a non-Executive board role with the House of Commons Independent Standards Authority. Other non-Executive roles have included Oakburn Properties plc, English Heritage, City University, and the IES. He is an Associate Director of the Corporate Research Forum.
Peter Boreham
UK and European Practice Leader for Executive Reward, Mercer
Peter is Mercer’s UK and European Practice Leader for executive reward, based in London. He has over twenty years’ experience advising the remuneration committees and management teams of major Peter is Mercer’s UK and European Practice Leader for executive reward, based in London. He has twenty five years’ experience advising the remuneration committees and management teams of leading companies in the UK, the rest of Europe and North America on reward, corporate governance and transactions. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
Tom Gosling
Executive Fellow, London Business School
Tom Gosling is an Executive Fellow in the Department of Finance and the Leadership Institute at LBS where he contributes to the evidence-based practice of responsible business by connecting academic research, public policy, and corporate action. He is also an Executive Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute, a member of the Advisory Panel at the Financial Reporting Council, and an adviser to the Steering Committee of The Purposeful Company thinktank.
In these roles Tom has researched and written extensively on executive pay, the psychology of pay and pay fairness, corporate governance, investor stewardship, corporate purpose, ESG, sustainable investing, diversity, and stakeholder capitalism. He engages extensively with corporates, investors, and policy makers including BEIS, the Financial Reporting Council and the Financial Conduct Authority. He has been asked to appear before the BEIS Select Committee on three occasions in relation to enquiries on banking standards, corporate governance, and executive pay.
Tom has 20+ years of experience as a board adviser. Most recently he was a senior Partner at PwC where he established and led the firm’s executive pay practice, advising FTSE-100 and equivalent private and European companies on corporate governance and executive pay.
Tom is a regular commentator in print, broadcast, and social media. He presents the Grow the Pie podcast with Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School and the Responsible Business podcast, looking at the evidence base in support of responsible business.
Prior to joining PwC, Tom was a Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University.
Dr. Rebecca Homkes
High-Growth Strategy Specialist, London Business School and Educator at Duke Corporate Education
Dr. Rebecca Homkes is a high-growth strategy specialist with the London Business School’s Dept of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, an Educator at Duke Corporate Education, and a previous Fellow at the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance. With her boutique consultancy, she advises CEOs and executive teams of top global companies and fast-growing enterprises on developing and executing growth strategies through extreme uncertainty. Homkes is the director of the global Active Learning Programme for the Young President’s Organization; a partner with GrowthX, a Silicon Valley investment ecosystem and innovation consultancy; and is the faculty lead of two large Fintech scaling and accelerators. A global keynote speaker, she is a member of several advisory boards, directed the joint McKinsey & Co and LSE Centre for Economic Performance Global Management Project since 2007 and has written for publications such as the Harvard Business Review, Businessweek, Fortune, and Forbes. A Marshall Scholar, she received her PhD and MSc from the LSE in International Economy. Prior to LSE, Homkes received two degrees at Indiana University: BS (Honors) in business administration alongside a BA (Honors) in Political Science where she was a Wells Scholar and graduated as the schools’ top graduate in 2005 and its sole Herman Wells Scholar. She previously served as a Fellow at the White House’s President’s Council of Economic Advisors and has worked in strategy consulting with Bain & Co.
Jason Shaw
Shaw Foundation Chair in Business at the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Jason D. Shaw is the Shaw Foundation Chair in Business at the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He was formerly (2017-2019) the Editor-in-Chief of the Academy of Management Journal, the leading empirical journal in the field of management. His research has appeared or been accepted for publication in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of Management, among other scientific outlets. He also publishes frequently in practitioner-oriented journals such as The Journal of Total Rewards, Compensation and Benefits Review, World@Work Journal, and the Harvard Business Review. He has been invited for visiting scholar positions and other speaking engagements in China, Vietnam, Nepal, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Norway, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, Israel, Macau, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Estonia, France, Thailand, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Chile, United Kingdom, India, and the USA. Prior to his academic career, he was an analyst for the Boeing Company. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1997.
Philip Stephens
Writer, Commentator and Historian
Philip Stephens is a writer, commentator and historian. His latest book Britain Alone: the Path from Suez to Brexit, was published by Faber in London and New York in 2021. Stephens is a Contributing Editor at the Financial Times where he was previously Director of the Editorial Board and Chief Political Commentator. He is an Honorary Governor of the Ditchley Foundation and a member of the steering group of the Anglo-French Colloque. He is a Richard von Weizsacker fellow at the Bosch Academy in Berlin. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at international conferences on European, transatlantic and global affairs, and offers analysis and advice to business leaders on geopolitical risk. He has spoken and moderated in recent years at events hosted by Chatham House, the Xiangshan Forum, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Aspen Italia, the German Marshall Fund, the Asan Forum, the Stockholm China Forum, the Franco-British Colloque and the Munich Security Conference. He has won the three main prizes in British political journalism, being named as winner of the David Watt prize for Outstanding Political Journalism, as Political Journalist of the Year by the UK Political Studies Association, and as Political Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. As well as Britain Alone, he is the author of Politics and the Pound, a study of British economic and European policy, and of Tony Blair, the Price of Leadership, a biography of the former prime minister.
