NEW YORK, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Spector today appealed to financial sector leaders in a speech at the SIFMA Annual Meeting in New York City to endorse The Conference Board Task Force Report on Executive Compensation's Guiding Principles. On September 21, The Conference Board Task Force on Executive Compensation issued a report outlining recommendations for corporate institutions to restore credibility and laying out a roadmap for companies to increase trust in pay practices and oversight.

The Task Force and its report continue the long history of principled leadership by The Conference Board - the global, independent business-membership and research association working in the public interest, and its Governance Center.

Key excerpts from Mr. Spector's remarks include:

Excerpt:

"We meet here this morning at a critical time. A new era in corporate America is beginning, and all of us have important responsibilities.

"In the past 18 months our economy and our financial system have gone through historic levels of stress and turbulence. During this period, many Americans have simply lost trust in their corporate institutions.

"Some business leaders argue that this loss of trust is limited to big financial institutions. I disagree. This trust 'gap' affects all of us, no matter our industry, and no matter our location.

Perhaps no issue has helped contribute more to this loss of trust than the issue of executive compensation."

Excerpt:

"The most important regulatory reform debate in generations has begun, and we all know that new regulation from Congress is coming. Yet, while the government has an important role to play in modernizing our regulatory frameworks, trust in our corporate institutions can only be fully restored if private sector institutions themselves take meaningful action."

Excerpt:

"Each company that adds the weight of their voice - whether by endorsing our principals or similar ones - helps all of us rebuild the trust that has been lost. And each company that sits on the sidelines adds to the trust gap that we all face."

Excerpt:

"The American people need to see that we all understand and acknowledge that there were very real abuses in executive compensation -- and they need to see that we are taking tangible action to help prevent abuses from happening again."

The full report of The Conference Board Task Force on Executive Compensation can be found here: http://www.conference-board.org/ectf.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD TASK FORCE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

The Conference Board Governance Center convened the Task Force on Executive Compensation in March 2009 to address the loss of public trust in the processes for oversight of executive compensation. The Task Force is co-chaired by: Raj L. Gupta, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rohm and Haas and a Trustee of The Conference Board; and Robert E. Denham, Partner in the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Salomon Inc. Bill Ide, Chairman of the Advisory Board of The Conference Board Governance Center, former General Counsel of Monsanto Company and President of the American Bar Association, is serving as Director of the Task Force. Barbara Blackford of Superior Essex Inc. served as counsel for the Task Force. The report of the Task Force on Executive Compensation is the view of the Task Force and does not necessarily represent the views of the companies or organizations with which members of the Task Force are affiliated.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD

The Conference Board is a global, independent business-membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance AND better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. For additional information about The Conference Board, visit our website at www.conference-board.org.

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The Conference Board publishes research reports each fall on Top Executive Compensation, Directors' Compensation and Board Practices, and Salary Increase Budgets in publicly traded U.S. companies. It also produces a wide range of additional research in the areas of compensation and governance, and convenes five compensation-focused Councils around the world.

SOURCE The Conference Board