“Our CEO is a member of the Nomination Committee and we are embarking on the recruitment of a future Chairman. In accordance with the Code our current Chairman is not involved in the selection process. Does anyone have experience on what the involvement of the CEO should be?”
I have experienced FIT, New Bridge Street and Towers Watson – all of whom have been good. I would talk to a few and see which individual (rather than firm) you like best and make sure that is the person you will be dealing with.
We have used New Bridge Street for several years. The partner we use is well respected by the committee and not afraid to challenge. He is also user friendly and responsive to me. However, they are hard to pin down on costs and could manage this better.
We use Deloittes- Stephen Cahill provides straightforward advice and is not afraid to give a view with excellent technical knowledge. Would recommend
We use McLagan International for information on market conditions and Aon Hewitt for other advice. Both very good.
Have experience of both New Bridge Street and PwC.
New Bridge Street have quality in depth and some really excellent technical people,but we did not feel they were always prepared to be accountable for their advice.
PwC are very flexible and provide excellent client facing services – I agree with the comment about watching their fees, though, and we occasionally involve our lawyers on legal detail to balance PwC’s “commerciality”.
We use Deloittes. Very good. Bill Cohen, well known with shareholders etc.
We use Kepler having previously been with Towers Watson. We also have Deloitte as our auditors so can’t use them, but rate them. As others note, you do have to define what you want to ensure the fees remain reasonable.
we use New Bridge St and have found them to be excellent. good understanding of the likely shareholder reaction and practical as well.
We have used New Bridge Street for seven years. They have a good relationship with the Remuneration Committee and provide sound and pragmatic advice to the Company.
We recently changed from PwC to New Bridge Street and so far have found them to be excellent – very responsive service, technically accurate, clear and consice communications with the RemCom and with shareholders, and reasonable on fees
We use New Bridge Street and are very pleased with the advice and level of service. They are never afraid to challenge when required!
We switched to PWC a couple of years and find them good, but they have to be watched on fees. I believe our HR Director considers Deloitte to be the best but we cannot use them as they are also our auditors. We also have a long standing relationship with New Bridge Street (now part of AON). They are no longer the main advisor as they were shown not to have as good a feel as others for market reaction, but they are technically very good, having their origins in Clifford Chance, the law firm
We are using Towers Watson (Gary Luck in Holborn Office) and found his knowledge and experience very good. He is quick to respond to queries and got a good team around him.
Would recommend Towers. Check the Statement of Work if they quote for you and there are a couple of cost items you can strip out.
I have used various companies and they generally provide good service – my current organisation did a beauty parade and is now using Towers Watson.
I have used them before and would recommend them.
We use New Bridge Street which is part of the Aon Hewitt empire. The Remuneration Committee carried out a review of advisers earlier in the year and decided to continue to retain them. In our experience the individual/team who are going to support you day to day are the key to the selection. In our case we whittled down to a shortlist of two (Deloitte were the other) and the Committee would have been happy with either, but did not feel there was sufficient added value from Deloitte to dislodge the incumbent.
They are a smaller outfit but right for us: we have been pleased with FIT Remuneration LLP (Rory Cray).
We use Kepler having changed in 2012 from Deloitte. So far experience is positive.
I am new to my current company but in previous companies (FTSE100 and FTSE250) have used Kepler, who always delivered a great service, in my opinion, and were highly regarded by the respective remuneration committees.
We use Kepler and I have found my dealings with them and their input to the Remuneration Committee very professional