Expert Witness Services
Compensation Venture Group, Inc.
Fred Whittlesey
Fred Whittlesey, Principal Consultant of Compensation
Venture Group, Inc., has been providing expert witness and litigation support
services for over 25 years. His
globally-recognized expertise in executive compensation, incentive
compensation, equity compensation, and employment agreements has provided
valuable support in a variety of legal cases.
The highly technical and complex nature of executive and equity
compensation has created the need for coaching and educating legal counsel on
technical points and helping identify key issues in cases.
He has issued opinions on the reasonableness of
compensation, loss of earnings, federal and state tax challenges, change-in-control
provisions (golden parachutes), interpretation of employment and compensation
agreements, and opposing experts’ methodologies. He has supported defendants and plaintiffs,
and clients have included corporate entities, classes, individual executives,
and law firms.
· Fred's thought leadership in the field
of compensation is evidenced by his delivery of more than 250 conference
presentations, seminars, certification courses, webinars and audiocasts.
· He has authored more than 50
journal and magazine articles, book chapters, white papers, and sponsored
papers.
· Fred has been interviewed and quoted
more than 75 times by more than 25 different media sources including Business
Week, Across the Board, Fortune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Orange
County Register, Seattle Times, San Jose Mercury News, and San Francisco
Chronicle.
· Compensation Venture Group maintains databases on executive and director
compensation trends, say-on-pay voting outcomes, compensation litigation, and court
rulings.
About Compensation Venture
Group
Compensation Venture Group is a consulting firm specializing in
compensation strategy, executive and director compensation, equity-based
compensation, and incentive design with a focus on entrepreneurial growth
companies in technology, telecommunication, life sciences, and other sectors
driven by innovation. We provide expert witness and litigation support for
civil litigation and regulatory matters.
We have proprietary models, tools and methodologies for peer group
development, total compensation analysis, pay-for-performance analysis, equity
plan design, equity grant allocation, wealth accumulation modeling, and compensation
governance scoring.
Our global network of alliances and partnerships contributes to our
information, analysis, advice, and implementation support to optimize the
return on investment in compensation programs.
Our past and current venture relationships include Global Shares plc,
PayScale.com, Salary.com, and Fledge LLC.
Our clients include Boards and executive teams of public and private
companies, S corporations, LLCs, and foreign subsidiaries. The firm’s ongoing
consulting work with Boards of Directors and executive teams ensures in-depth
knowledge of current market practices and trends which is critical for
litigation support and expert witness credibility.
Professional
Biography of Fred Whittlesey
Fred Whittlesey is the Principal Consultant of Compensation
Venture Group, Inc. (CVG), a Seattle-area consulting firm specializing in
compensation strategy, executive compensation, incentive compensation, and
equity-based compensation. Mr.
Whittlesey is recognized by many corporations, major professional organizations,
universities, media, and colleagues around the world as a leading compensation
expert. His ideas have been presented in
numerous book chapters, journal articles, media interviews, conference and
seminar presentations, and blog postings.
In addition, Mr. Whittlesey has authored dozens of articles
published by professional associations and journals and by firms including
KPMG, Buck Consultants, Salary.com, Aon Consulting/Radford Surveys, and Hay
Group. He has authored blogs for the
companies PayScale.com, HR.com, Compensation Standards.com, and hosts the blogs
Pay and Performance: The Compensation
Blog and Compensation Integrity.
Mr. Whittlesey previously was the founder and Principal
Consultant of Compensation and Performance Management, Inc. (CPM). His
compensation consulting experience also includes positions with Towers Perrin,
Mercer, KPMG, Radford (Senior Vice President), Buck Consultants (Principal),
and Hay Group (Senior Principal). His
corporate experience includes roles as the Director of Global Compensation for
Amazon.com and Broadcom Corporation, Chief Compensation Officer for
PayScale.com, and Fellow at Salary.com.
Mr. Whittlesey has held positions with a variety of
organizations dedicated to the support of professionals dealing with the design
and operation of executive and employee compensation programs. He is co-founder and past Board of Directors
member of the not-for-profit Global Equity Organization (GEO), a Founding
Member and past Advisory Board member of the National Association of Stock Plan
Professionals (NASPP), past Chair and member of the Advisory Board for the
Certified Equity Professional (CEP) Institute at Santa Clara University, and a
current member of the Executive Compensation Task Force of
CompensationStandards.com and the Technical Advisory Board of Equity Administration
Solutions, Inc. (EASi), an equity plan administration software company.
Mr. Whittlesey was a highly-rated faculty member and
certification course developer for WorldatWork’s “Accounting and Finance for HR
Professionals” and both basic and advanced “Executive Compensation” courses,
and delivered instruction in classroom and online for 13 years. He has presented his ideas at compensation
conferences around the world, has presented scores of webcasts for professional
associations and corporations, and is the host of “Keeping Up with Fred Whittlesey,” a podcast sponsored by Global
Equity Organization. He also has been a
guest lecturer at The Anderson School at UCLA, Seattle University, Seattle
Pacific University, Antioch University, and University of Southern California.
Mr. Whittlesey received his MBA with distinction from The
Anderson School at UCLA and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from
San Diego State University with a BA in industrial/ organizational
psychology.
He earned the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation
from Santa Clara University, and the Certified Executive Compensation
Professional (CECP) and Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designations
from WorldatWork (formerly the American Compensation Association).
Litigation
Experience
Mr. Whittlesey has served as an expert witness/consultant in
numerous legal cases involving reasonableness, and interpretations and/or
calculations relating to executive and equity compensation plans. Over the past seven years, he has been
designated as an expert and/or provided a deposition in the following cases:
Kern v. Income research & Management, et al (2013)
Superior Court of Commmonwealth of Massachusetts
Retained by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
(in progress)
Pomilia et al v. Chapman, et al (2012)
Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo
Retained by Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp for Defendants
No report issued
Maese v. Paulk, et al (2012)
Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, Nevada
Retained by Jolley Urga Wirth Woodbury & Standish for
Plaintiff
Report issued, Rebuttal issued, courtroom testimony given
McGraw v. McGraw, et al (2011)
Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo
Retained by Morrison & Foerster for Defendant
No report issued
Marriage of Piccinini (2011)
Superior Court of California, County of Monterey
Retained by Goss & Goss for Respondent
Report issued, courtroom testimony given
Broadcom Corporation Derivative Litigation (2010)
United States District Court, Central District of California
Fact witness
Video testimony given
U.S. v. Nicholas, 08-139 (2010)
United States District Court, Central District of California
Federal government fact witness
Not called to testify
Johnson, et al v. Couturier, Jr., et al (2009)
Stanton v. Couturier, Jr.
United States District Court – Eastern District of California
Retained by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for Defendant
No report issued
Gonzalez v. Mayhall, Custom Control Concepts (2009)
Superior Court for the State of Washington in and for the County
of King
Retained by Dorsey & Whitney for Defendant
Expert report submitted, no deposition or testimony
Westmoreland Coal Company v. Christopher K. Seglem (2008)
District Court, El Paso County, State of Colorado
Retained by Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP for Plaintiff
Expert report and rebuttals submitted, no deposition or
testimony
Wallace R. Barr v. Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (2007)
United States District Court - District of New Jersey
Retained by Blank Rome LLP for Plaintiff
Expert report submitted, no deposition or testimony
PJC Technologies, Inc. vs. Peter J. Casson
(2006)
United States District Court – Central District of California
Retained by Waldron & Olson for Defendant
No report issued
Miguel Jara Sr. v. Suprema Meats, Inc., et
al (2006)
Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda
Retained by Law Offices of Steven J. Hassing for Defendant
Expert report submitted, no deposition or testimony
Robert Cockrell vs. Ambry Genetics, Inc. (2005)
Orange County Superior Court
Retained by Waldron & Olson for Defendant
Deposition given