The new firm, which launched last August and also employs two former bigwigs from the human resources firm Buck Consultants, aims to capitalize on the environment of increased scrutiny and shareholders’ growing demands for reform. Unlike the larger firms, Exequity has no intention of angling for other human resources work. Independence, Hyman argues, “is a big issue, and it’s going to get bigger.”

“If you talk to the big firms, they’ll say, ‘We have policies and procedures in place to ensure independence in the consulting process,’ ” Hyman says. “But if you’re skeptical of what goes on in boardrooms, that explanation isn’t going to cut it.” Even if a compensation consultant is not involved in or is unpaid for procuring contracts for other parts of the company, it “doesn’t mean he’s unaware that if he gives advice that is favorable to a C.E.O. that isn’t going to help get more business,” Hyman argues.

John England

The Establishment Man
As the head of the executive-compensation-consulting division at human resources powerhouse Towers Perrin, John England is perhaps one of the best-known members of the establishment. England estimates that he and his team at Towers Perrin control about a quarter of the expanding compensation-consulting market. “It’s a busy time for everybody,” England says.

Yet England’s fiefdom is just one small department in a mammoth human resources firm. That puts him squarely in the middle of the controversy over the alleged conflicts of interest. Here, too, his consultants are finding ways to beat back the onslaught of complaints and gain credibility with the reformist crowd.

In recent months, Towers Perrin has introduced a practice of encouraging its clients to analyze, as part of a tally sheet, the wealth their executives have amassed. “The idea is that the boards will often have a ‘holy cow’ moment because they don’t realize how much their executives have already accumulated,” says Jesse Brill, publisher and editor of the Corporate Counsel, who has followed executive-compensation issues for about 30 years. “The hope is that this will temper the committee’s desire to keep up with the survey data—the Joneses—because it will have an appreciation of just how much it has already paid out.”

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