Our Team
Partners
Ken Hugessen
Ken is a well known advisor to boards on executive compensation and related performance and governance matters. Based in Toronto, he has over 30 years experience consulting in Canada, the US and the UK to both public and private corporations, and to large pension/sovereign funds. Ken and his partners founded Hugessen Consulting in 2006 to meet the growing needs of boards and compensation committees for independent advice. He works with clients to align executive pay outcomes with corporate and individual performance, and to strengthen board governance of executive compensation. He writes and speaks extensively on the role of the Board, and the Compensation Committee and its Chair in executive compensation, and is a faculty member in the Institute of Corporate Directors' Directors Education Program.
full bio >Experience
Prior to founding Hugessen Consulting Inc. in June 2006, Ken was a worldwide partner with Mercer. He joined Mercer in 1974. In 1981, he was appointed leader of the firm’s Executive Compensation Practice in Canada and became a Managing Director of Mercer Inc. (New York) in October 1985. In the mid 1990s, Ken established Mercer's Executive Compensation practice in Chicago.
Education
Ken holds an Honours BSc from Sir George Williams University, a MA from Dalhousie University, and an MSc from the University of Chicago. He is a Killam and National Research Council Scholar, and is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.
Georges Soaré
Georges is an accomplished executive and corporate director with 20 years of experience working with public and private companies in Canada and the US. He has extensive experience as a board member, including as a member and/or chairman of Compensation and Audit Committees. He is well versed in corporate strategy, governance, valuation, business performance measurement, and executive compensation. Georges is the lead partner for a range of Hugessen clients, both public and private, across a spectrum of industries.
full bio >Experience
Georges has over 10 years of private equity investing experience, complemented by previous experience in corporate development, investment banking (M&A) and corporate/securities law. He joined Hugessen Consulting in 2006 as a founding partner. Georges was previously a Managing Director with BMO Capital Markets' Merchant Banking Group (part of Bank of Montreal), based in Toronto. He was involved with all aspects of the group's diversified private equity investments for over 10 years, which included close involvement with portfolio company leadership teams and Boards/Committees. Georges' prior corporate experience includes Vice-President, Corporate Development for Cott Corporation (1994-1995), and as an investment banker specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions for Burns Fry Limited, a predecessor firm to BMO Capital Markets (1988-1993). Georges is a lawyer by training and articled at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg.
Education
Georges holds a BA from University of Toronto, an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He remains active with several not-for-profit organizations.
Scott Munn
Scott is a senior advisor to Compensation Committees and top management of publicly-traded, privately held and public sector organizations on compensation strategy, design, and governance issues. Based in Calgary, he has experience consulting in a wide range of industries - notably energy - as well as income trusts, financial services and technology. Scott is a frequent speaker and contributor of intellectual capital on a broad range of topics around governance, compensation program design, pay and performance linkage and performance measurement.
Experience
Significant experience consulting to Compensation Committees and top management of large and mid-cap issuers. Prior to joining Hugessen Consulting as a Partner in October 2008, Scott was a National Partner and Principal with Mercer. From 2001 to 2008, Scott lead Mercer's Human Capital business in Calgary. Scott acted as Mercer's lead advisor to the Canadian energy sector and was a leader in the energy sector for Mercer's global Human Capital business. Scott was involved in all aspects of the Canadian business including intellectual capital development, training, mentoring, marketing, and client management. Prior to completing his MBA, Scott managed commercial sales territories for a high tech firm in Toronto for four years.
Education
Scott is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Calgary CFA Society. Scott graduated with distinction from the Schulich School at York University with an MBA. He also holds a BA in economics from the University of Western Ontario.
Principals
Steve Chan
Steve has significant experience in advising Boards on a wide range of executive compensation, performance, and related governance issues. He has specific expertise advising on incentive plan design, executive employment contracts, directors’ compensation plans, and compensation issues related to special situations (e.g., CEO succession, IPOs, and M&As).
full bio >Experience
Steve’s recent experience includes working with the Compensation Committees of large and mid-cap public issuers across a cross-section of industries, with a focus on asset management, investment banking, telecommunication, retail and mining.
Prior to joining Hugessen, Steve was an economist at the TD Securities, where he provided Canadian and U.S. economic analysis and advised on fixed income, currency, and money market strategy. Steve was regularly featured by the media, including the Business News Network Television (BNN), CBC News, the Globe and Mail, and the Financial Post.
Education
Steve holds a BA from McMaster University and a Master of Business Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Christopher Hillyer
Chris Hillyer has over 20 years of investment banking and strategic consulting experience in both Europe and North America. He has significant experience working with Boards of Directors, Chief Executives and senior management on issues of critical strategic importance. He is highly experienced in finance, corporate strategy, capital markets, valuation and corporate governance. Chris has worked with many public and private organizations predominately focussing on the telecom, media and technology industries
full bio >Experience
Chris spent 12 years at Merrill Lynch in London where he ran their telecom and media mergers and acquisition practice for Europe. He then joined ABN AMRO to lead their Corporate and Investment banking practice for telecom and media clients. In 2006 Chris returned to Canada where he joined BMO Capital Markets as a Managing Director. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Chris spent a number of years as a management consultant with Bain & Company.
Education
Chris holds his Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.
Catherine McCall
Catherine is an experienced executive compensation and governance consultant. A lawyer by background, she has almost 20 years of advising issuers and shareholders on a wide range of governance topics from executive compensation to shareholder rights plans.
full bio >Experience
Catherine joined Hugessen Consulting Inc. in July 2007 as a principal. Prior to that she was a Vice-President and director of ISS Canada Corp, Canada's leading corporate governance and proxy advisory firm, where she worked for 15 years, and a partner with Fairvest Corporation, its predecessor firm. At Hugessen she advises boards on executive compensation matters with a particular emphasis on related governance aspects. Over the years she has written and spoken on many topics, including executive compensation governance and disclosure, the role of compensation committees, advising the public board, shareholder proposals, the fiduciary obligations of pension funds and shareholder rights plans and was the editor of the Corporate Governance Review, a bimonthly journal, for three years.
Education
Catherine has an Honours BA in Philosophy from the University of Toronto and a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She is a member of the board and chair of the governance committee of OCAD University and not-for profit organization ADDUS.
Guillaume Poulin
Guillaume has extensive experience in advising Boards and senior executives in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His executive compensation practice includes advising a wide range of Boards and committees including some of Canada’s largest public issuers and pension funds. He has specific experience in M&A, industry analysis and measuring corporate performance.
full bio >Experience
Prior to joining Hugessen, Guillaume worked for two years as an investment banker for Citigroup in the UK, where he provided M&A and IPO advice to banks, insurance companies and asset managers. Guillaume also practiced corporate law for four years in Montreal, specializing in M&A and financing.
Education
Guillaume holds a LLB from Sherbrooke University and an MBA from INSEAD.
Damian Yu
Damian is a seasoned executive compensation professional with over ten years of experience in the field. He has advised clients in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Asia on a wide range of executive compensation and governance issues. With a strong quantitative background, Damian is an expert in incentive plan design and performance benchmarking and specializes in helping companies understand the financial implications of their compensation strategy.
full bio >Experience
Damian joined Hugessen Consulting in 2007 as a Principal. Previously, Damian was a Consultant with the executive compensation practice of Mercer Human Resource Consulting as a member of the firm’s Toronto, London, and Hong Kong offices.
Damian also held the position of manager of compensation with TD Securities and was a principal at an independent compensation consulting firm.
Education
Damian is a CFA charterholder and graduated with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with a Master of Business Administration degree. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (First Class Honours) from Queen’s University.
Associates
Anita Kemp
Anita has experience consulting on executive compensation issues for publicly-traded companies in the financial services and airline industries. She is knowledgeable about incentive plan provisions, corporate performance measurement and evaluation, and pay benchmarking.
full bio >Experience
Anita joined Hugessen in 2010 as an Associate. Her prior experience includes almost seven years with a Calgary investment management firm as an Equity Analyst and Registered Portfolio Manager. In this role she was responsible for managing client investment portfolios as well as the fundamental equity analyses of the technology, telecom and consumer sectors, primarily in Canada.
Education
Anita is a CFA charterholder and a member of the Calgary CFA Society. Anita graduated with distinction from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce degree specializing in Finance.
Allison Lockett
Allison has worked with board committees and senior management at public, private and crown corporations. She is experienced in the interpretation of compensation data and its linkage to performance measurement across diverse industries, with particular expertise in incentive compensation in the asset management industry. Allison’s work spans a broad range of mandates including compensation positioning and plan design, director compensation and CEO employment terms and conditions. Allison is interested in the evolution of corporate governance and contributes regularly to Hugessen’s published Briefings on governance topics.
full bio >Experience
Allison joined Hugessen Consulting in 2008 as an analyst and took on her current role in June 2010. Allison’s previous experience includes positions in media, real estate and non-profit organizations.
Education
Allison graduated from the Richard Ivey School of Business with an Honours Business Administration degree. She also holds a BA in music from the University of Western Ontario where she was the gold medalist in her graduating class.
Caroline Sackman
Caroline has extensive consulting experience on a wide variety of compensation and governance issues including executive compensation terms and conditions, incentive plan design, performance measurement, and institutional shareholder perspectives. She has advised organizations across a range of industries including energy, utilities, financial services, entertainment, and retail.
full bio >Experience
Prior to joining Hugessen Consulting, Caroline was an Associate with Mercer’s Human Capital practice in Calgary with a primary focus on executive compensation. She assisted clients in the development of compensation programs that are competitively aligned with the marketplace and link compensation to business results.
Education
Caroline holds an MBA from the University of Calgary where she received funding for her thesis on motivation. Prior to her MBA, she graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Commerce specializing in Human Resources. As an undergraduate, she received funding for her research in public policy and co-authored a textbook chapter.
Bo Wang
Bo has experience consulting on executive compensation issues for public and private companies in a range of industries, including financial services, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, retail, and resources. He is knowledgeable about risk management, compensation benchmarking, and performance measurement and analysis.
full bio >Experience
Bo joined Hugessen Consulting in January 2008 as an Analyst. Prior to joining HCI, Bo was an analyst at Merrill Lynch Canada, where he acquired and allocated funding capital, working closely with both leading financial institutions and Merrill Lynch's debt and equity trading desks. He also worked as a research analyst at the Advantage Group, one of North America's leading market research companies, in providing performance benchmarking programs to clients in the grocery and pharmaceutical industries.
Education
Bo graduated with distinction from the University of Toronto with a BBA (Hon.), specializing in Finance and with an additional major in Economics. He is a Level II candidate in the CFA program.
Analysts
Amy Childs
Amy has consulted on executive and director compensation issues for public and private corporations in a range of industries, including financial services, telecommunications and mining. She is knowledgeable about compensation benchmarking, corporate governance, performance measurement, implementation planning, and financial modeling. Amy also helps facilitate the executive compensation and governance module of the Directors Education Program with the Institute of Corporate Directors.
full bio >Experience
Amy joined Hugessen Consulting in 2009 as an analyst. Her prior experience includes financial, human resource, and business strategy consulting projects through the Richard Ivey School of Business, as well as conducting research and analysis on many Canadian companies for Interbrand Toronto (branding consultancy) as a summer intern.
Education
Amy graduated with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario with an Honours Business Administration degree. Amy also spent a semester abroad in Milan, Italy at Bocconi University.
Bridget da Silva
Bridget has consulted on executive and director compensation issues in a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications and retail. She is knowledgeable about performance measurement and analysis, pay benchmarking, and corporate governance issues.
full bio >Experience
Bridget joined Hugessen Consulting in 2010 as an analyst. Her previous experience includes operations research and financial modeling, in addition to research and analysis on executive compensation issues and trends as a summer analyst at Hugessen. She has also performed business development work in exploring emerging markets for the defense industry through summer internship work.
Education
Bridget graduated with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business with an Honours Business Administration degree. She also holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario.
Tim Gutwald
Tim has consulted on executive and director compensation issues for public and private corporations in a variety of industries including energy, mining and media. He is knowledgeable about compensation benchmarking, performance measurement, financial modeling and corporate governance issues.
full bio >Experience
Tim joined Hugessen Consulting as an analyst in 2011. His previous experience includes financial modeling, research and analysis on executive compensation issues and trends as a summer analyst at Hugessen. He has also conducted performance benchmarking and evaluation of compensation structures in the public health care industry through internship work.
Education
Tim graduated with distinction from the University of Calgary with a Bachelors of Commerce degree in Finance and is a CFA level 1 candidate.
Cuong Pham
Cuong has consulted on executive and director compensation issues in a number of industries including the financial and energy sector. He is knowledgeable about compensation benchmarking, performance measurement, and corporate governance issues.
full bio >Experience
Prior to joining Hugessen, Cuong worked in the treasury department for one of BC’s top 10 companies. He has experience performing a range of finance and policy tasks including industry research, peer benchmarking, financial analysis, and infrastructure acquisition.
Education
Cuong holds a Bachelors of Commerce (Dean’s List with distinction) from the University of Victoria and is a CFA Level 3 Candidate.
Christine Vinette
Christine has consulted on executive and director compensation issues in a variety of industries including financial services, commercial airlines, and real estate income trusts. She is knowledgeable about performance measurement and analysis, pay benchmarking, and corporate governance issues.
full bio >Experience
Christine joined Hugessen Consulting as an analyst in 2010. Her previous experience includes financial analysis in a corporate banking environment and research and analysis on executive compensation issues and trends as a summer analyst at Hugessen. In addition, Christine spent one year abroad, teaching English in South Korea.
Education
Christine graduated with distinction from the Queen’s School of Business at Queen’s University with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree. She also spent a semester abroad in Hong Kong at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Frank Wang
Frank has experience researching compensation structure and incentive designs of mid cap to large cap integrated oil and gas companies in Canada and the US. He is also knowledgeable about compensation benchmarking among pension funds and has performed performance analysis for various public issuers.
full bio >Experience
Prior to joining Hugessen Consulting in 2010 as an Analyst, Frank founded Sola Caritas, a tech start up which garnered numerous entrepreneurial awards in Singapore and Canada. His other previous experiences include working in the Controllers department at a major integrated oil company in Canada and researching corporate governance topics among TSX and TSXV listed companies at Queen’s University.
Education
Frank graduated on the Dean’s List from Queen’s University with a Bachelor’s of Commerce in 2010.