Mr. William Parsons is the Founder and Principal of CompWiser Consulting. As the Founder and Principal, Mr. Parsons advises clients on a broad range of compensation and benefits issues. He is personally involved in all aspects of the client engagement including the identification of project scope, development of compensation strategy, and compensation program design. He provides guidance and expertise on short-term and long-term incentive plans, employment agreements, change-in-control arrangements and the required executive and board compensation proxy disclosure for U.S. publicly-held companies.

Mr. Parsons brings a long history of working with human-capital intensive industries, serving as a Senior Consultant with Amalfi/Clark Consulting and a Senior Vice-President with compensation survey firm, Culpepper and Associates, Inc. His work with Amalfi/Clark consulting focused primarily on executive and board compensation in community banks throughout the United States. As the Senior Vice-President of Research at Culpepper, he was responsible for all aspects of the company's employee compensation and benefits surveys. Mr. Parsons expanded the Culpepper Survey from a U.S. and software industry focused product, to one covering all technology and life-sciences companies and their employees throughout the globe.

William's experience over the past twenty years covers all employee groups, from directors, executives, and other senior management, to financial, technical, sales and life-sciences professionals. He holds internationally recognized certifications in employee compensation, benefits and global remuneration from World at Work. He is a technical reviewer for World at Work and is published nationally in WorkSpan Magazine and various websites such as the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP), and the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). William is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where he earned a bachelor's of science degree in Psychology. He completed his post-graduate PhD coursework in Neuroscience and Animal Behavior as a Psychology graduate student at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Professional Biography -
Ms. Kathy Blackwell, MBA,CEP

Ms. Kathy Blackwell is a Senior Compensation Consultant with CompWiser Consulting. Her compensation experience is extensive with over 15 years of corporate work in the design and administration of equity and other long-term incentive compensation plans. Since 2007 she has provided equity compensation consulting services to both public and private companies, including FAS 123(R) analysis and compliance, SEC financial reporting support, and equity plan administration assistance. In addition, she has helped develop specifications for functionality in stock administration software.

Prior to her equity consulting responsibilities, she managed the internal equity compensation function at Charles Schwab. Ms. Blackwell’s role was multi-functional, allowing her to develop expertise in executive compensation, corporate and securities law, tax, accounting, and human resources. Her input in the annual proxy process, as well as annual and quarterly financial reporting, was highly valued.

She was an important member of the Charles Schwab executive compensation team, working on the design of various long-term incentive programs – cash and equity-based – for different levels of management. Her responsibilities included the communication and ongoing management of these programs for all levels of employees and Board members. In addition, her responsibilities included the management of a complex quarterly incentive plan payment system. Prior to her experience in executive and equity compensation, Ms. Blackwell worked as a product manager of a cash management system in financial services.

Ms. Blackwell is a graduate of Oberlin College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in biology. She received her MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She earned her Certified Equity Professional designation in June 2000.

Professional Biography -
Ms. Susan Coss

Ms. Susan Coss is a Senior Editor with CompWiser Consulting. Susan Coss brings more than 15 years of investor relations, marketing and communications experience to the table. As an independent public relations consultant, Susan provides strategic council on marketing and communications plans to companies and organizations focused on sustainable business practices.

Prior to her consulting practice, she worked with Breakaway Communications, developing and implementing media and communications strategy for start-up technology clients and with Market Street Partners, a boutique investor relations firm, handling clients such as Google and EFI. Previous to her work in investor and public relations, she was managing editor for an online financial news organization. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics.