Press Releases

Independent Executive Compensation Advisor Pearl Meyer & Partners Names Steven Van Putten as Managing Director

NEW YORK, January 26, 2010 — Steven Van Putten has joined independent executive compensation consultant Pearl Meyer & Partners as a Managing Director in the firm's Boston office. Mr. Van Putten most recently was North America East Region Practice Leader of Watson Wyatt's Executive Compensation Consulting Practice and North American practice director of Watson Wyatt's performance metrics and measurement group.

"Steven has served as a trusted advisor to Compensation Committees and senior management for nearly 20 years," said David N. Swinford, president and CEO of Pearl Meyer & Partners. "His depth and breadth of experience will foster our continued growth as more companies turn to independent compensation consultants in response to heightened scrutiny of pay practices."

Mr. Van Putten consults across a range of industries working extensively with Fortune 500 companies primarily at the Board level. He specializes in the design of annual and long-term incentive programs that support meaningful long-term value creation. He has developed innovative methodologies for analyzing relationships between pay and performance, the results of which are often disclosed in his clients' shareholder proxy statements, as well as tools for assessing performance goal difficulty and performance metric appropriateness.

Mr. Van Putten is a frequent speaker at industry forums and is often quoted in a range of media outlets on executive and incentive compensation issues. He is co-author of the 2007 book, Myths and Realities of Executive Pay (Cambridge University Press)

Prior to joining Watson Wyatt, Mr. Van Putten was a senior executive compensation consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Trinity College.

About Pearl Meyer & Partners

For over 20 years, Pearl Meyer & Partners (www.pearlmeyer.com) has served as a trusted independent advisor to Boards and their senior management in the areas of compensation governance, strategy and program design. The firm provides comprehensive solutions to complex compensation challenges for companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to not-for-profits as well as emerging high-growth companies. These organizations rely on Pearl Meyer & Partners to develop programs that align rewards with long-term business goals to create value for all stakeholders: shareholders, executives, and employees. The firm maintains offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Jose.