Don Delves

Managing Director, Executive Compensation Practice Leader, N.A.

Don Delves is a Managing Director and Practice Leader for Executive Compensation, North America for Willis Towers Watson’s Rewards Line of Business. Based in Chicago, Don is a leading expert and highly sought-after consultant and speaker on corporate governance and executive pay and performance, with over 30 years’ experience consulting with major corporate boards and executive teams across the country. Don is a recognized expert on principles-based corporate governance, incentive design, performance measurement and value creation.

Dr. Delves is frequently interviewed and cited as an expert in major media including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, The Today Show, CNBC and National Public Radio. He has testified before the U.S. Senate and the FASB on the hotly debated issue of stock option expensing. Delves’ published two books: Stock Options and the New Rules of Corporate Accountability: Measuring, Managing, and Rewarding Performance (McGraw-Hill, 2003; World at Work, 2006), and Accounting for Compensation Arrangements, (CCH, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) the definitive guide for accounting for stock options, equity incentives, and other forms of compensation.

In 2001, he founded The Delves Group, a Chicago-based consultancy dedicated to working with corporate boards and compensation committees to improve their effectiveness and the way they are organized and directed. Prior to founding The Delves Group, Dr. Delves was the Managing Director of the Chicago office of iQuantic, a Partner at Sibson and Company, and an executive compensation consultant with Towers Perrin. He had previously worked with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Delves holds a doctorate in education in principles-based corporate governance from Fielding Graduate University, an M.B.A. degree in finance from the University of Chicago and a B.A., summa cum laude, in economics from DePauw University. He is highly-trained in process- and principles-based leadership with certifications from the Wright Graduate University, and is on the faculty of World at Work. Dr. Delves writes and speaks regularly on management, executive pay and governance at a variety of organizations including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, and the Brookings Institute. He also teaches principles-based leadership at the Wright Graduate University. Don serves on the boards of The Metropolitan Club of Chicago, the Private Directors Association, and the Wright Graduate University.

Zach Georgeson

Senior Consulting Director

Zach is a Senior Consulting Director in Willis Towers Watson’s Chicago office, and has over sixteen years of executive compensation consulting experience, with particular emphasis on integrating market data, stakeholder perspectives and consulting experience to address issues of incentive design, governance, executive transitions, contracts, etc. in a wide variety of organizations. In particular, he has significant public company Compensation Committee experience.

Zach serves in a variety of market-facing leadership roles at Willis Towers Watson as he leads the North American Executive Compensation Design team, sits on the North American Executive Compensation Practice Council, co-leads local technical roundtables with mid and large cap clients, and has helped manage the development of a number of intellectual capital tools over the years, including the firm’s U.S. Executive Compensation Guiding Principles. He has also been a featured panelist on executive compensation trends and issues.

Zach is also one of the firm’s leading experts with respect to pay arrangements from a Chapter 11 compensation perspective, and works regularly with Debtor’s counsel, financial restructuring professionals and other interested parties to help get plans approved. He has also successfully testified in court as to the reasonableness of various compensation programs.

From an M&A perspective, Zach has led executive compensation due-diligence assignments in many complex deals. He also has advised on post-acquisition retention and incentive design matters and has been retained by several acquired companies as the lead executive compensation consultant.

Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, he was an executive compensation manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP and worked as a consultant for Capital H Group.

Zach holds a B.S. degree in finance from Indiana University in Bloomington.

David Shaw

Publishing Director, Directors & Boards Magazine

David Shaw is the publishing director of Directors & Boards and its sister publication, Family Business. With more than 30 years of experience in business-to-business and consumer media markets, he has served as an editor, publisher, publishing director, group publisher and group vice president of a variety of publications, trade shows, conferences and websites. Prior to founding GRID Media, David served as senior vice president for Phillips Business Information Inc., where he oversaw nearly 100 discrete media properties, and helped build the business from $35 million to more than $100 million in annual revenues. He is a frequent author and speaker on issues related to business-to-business media, multi-generational family businesses and private and public company governance. He is married, with two grown children, one serving in the Navy and the other in law school.