Vestar Portfolio Company Institutional Shareholder Services to Acquire Incentive Lab
Rockville, MD (October 16, 2014) – Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), a leading provider of corporate governance solutions to the global financial community, today announced the acquisition of the business of Incentive Lab, a data and analytics firm developing innovative solutions for addressing the increased complexity and unpredictability of executive compensation.
Established in 2009 and based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Incentive Lab is unique among providers of executive compensation data and analytics, offering detailed and comparable data on incentive awards, full details on performance metrics, goals, and structures, and a host of other data such as vesting schedules and performance periods. Based on this detailed data, Incentive Lab has developed innovative approaches to value and benchmark performance-based compensation, assess the rigor of performance targets, and understand how changes in plan design impact likely award outcomes.
"This acquisition is in keeping with our commitment to clients to expand product offerings and provide innovative solutions that will improve investment decision-making while mitigating portfolio governance risk,” said ISS President & CEO Gary Retelny. "The breadth and depth of Incentive Lab’s compensation data, coupled with its proprietary approach to measuring the efficacy of the link between pay and performance, will be a powerful tool for ISS' institutional investor clients as well as for the corporate clients of ISS’ ICS subsidiary."
ISS will continue to maintain Incentive Lab operations in Scottsdale and will integrate the firm’s solutions into its industry leading research, data, and analytical tools used by investors and corporations. "We look forward to welcoming the highly talented staff of Incentive Lab into the ISS family,” said Retelny.
"This transaction underscores the importance for both corporations and their shareholders in getting compensation right," said Dr. Carr Bettis, founder, chairman and chief scientist of Incentive Lab. "As the market leader in providing corporate governance solutions, ISS is an ideal home to continue Incentive Lab’s innovative work.”
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About ISS
ISS, founded in 1985 as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., is the world's leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants. ISS' services include objective proxy research and analysis, end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions, turnkey securities class-action claims management, and reliable governance data and modeling tools. Clients rely on ISS' expertise to help them make informed corporate governance decisions. For more information, please visit www.issgovernance.com.
About Incentive Lab
Incentive Lab is a data and analytics firm created to address the increasing complexity of executive compensation plans. Incentive Lab superior data and essential science provide market-leading expertise in valuing performance-based incentive awards, evaluating the effectiveness of design choices and communicating results. With performance-based compensation now the largest portion of executive pay, Incentive Lab services are helping companies, compensation consultants and others add insight and clarity to executive compensation. For more information, please visit www.incentivelab.com.
Media Contacts (ISS):
Nancy Adler, Head of Marketing & Communications, ISS
212-804-5270
[email protected]
Subodh Mishra, Vice President for Communications, ISS
301-556-0304
[email protected]
