Laura G. Thatcher J.D. — Partner at Alston & Bird

Ms. Laura G. Thatcher, J.D., was a Partner and Head of Executive Compensation Practice at Alston & Bird, LLP until December 2013. Ms. Thatcher led the Executive Compensation Practice and was based in Atlanta office. She has 33 years of legal practice at Alston & Bird LLP, where she developed and headed its executive compensation practice for 18 years. Her practice areas are tax and employee benefits and executive compensation. Ms. Thatcher is recognized as one of the nation's experts on executive compensation and is extensively quoted by major business news publications throughout the world. She leads the executive compensation practice with a distinct and individualized focus on the tax, securities, accounting, corporate governance and labor laws and regulations that have a direct effect on executive compensation, having developed this area of legal specialty for Alston & Bird from her 20 years' experience in securities and acquisitions. Ms. Thatcher and her team have daily experience in the compensation matters that are a part of every corporate environment: advising boards and management with regard to equity-based and other incentive compensation arrangements; nonqualified deferred compensation; executive employment, separation and change-in-control agreements; proxy and 8-K reporting of executive compensation arrangements; Section 16 reporting and insider trading regulation; corporate governance issues; and director and officer indemnification and fiduciary concerns. Ms. Thatcher team also serves an essential role in virtually all major mergers and acquisition transactions in the firm, providing analysis of equity incentives and guidance as to the most efficient treatment of executive transitions under golden parachute rules. She serves as a special executive Compensation Counsel to more than a dozen public companies listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ Global Market, including an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology and technical services; the largest specialty retailer of toys in the United States; a global forest products, paper and packaging company; an industry leading, global manufacturer and marketer of semiconductor devices; a world leader in travel commerce; the largest manufacturer of magnet wire in the world; a leader in mass communications media operations, including print publications, broadcasting, telecommunications and printing services; a fully integrated homebuilding and real estate services company specializing in leisure-oriented communities; an industry leading, global manufacturer and marketer of semiconductor devices; a global chemical company and manufacturer of chemicals, plastics and fibers; and a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. She has been Independent Director of Roper Technologies, Inc. since May 2015. Ms. Thatcher served as a Director of Batson-Cook Company from 1994 to 2007. From 2008 to 2014, she served on the Board of Directors of The Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., a non-profit organization addressing the civil legal needs of Atlanta's lower income, elderly and disabled residents. She is admitted to practice in Georgia. Ms. Thatcher serves as the Chair of the Board of Review for a multidisciplinary initiative spearheaded by the Certified Equity Professional Institute of Santa Clara University to create and seek public comment on a series of white-papers that together will provide universally accepted industry guidance as to areas of risk and appropriate controls in equity compensation. She is also a member of the Lawyers Task Force of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals. Ms. Thatcher was Chair of the Advisory Board of the Certified Equity Professional Institute (CEPI) of Santa Clara University. Ms. Thatcher has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Deferred Compensation (Aspen Publishers) since 1998 and is a Member the Advisory Board of the Certified Equity Professional Institute of Santa Clara University. She is one of 43 lawyers nationwide who make up the Executive Compensation Task Force of both the CompensationStandards.com and The Corporate Counsel. Ms. Thatcher recently co-authored the Compensation Committee Handbook, 2nd edition, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2005 and has previously authored EC Releases Final Rules on Executive and Director Compensation, published in the Employee Benefit Plan Review by Aspen Publishers in October 2006 and the Executive and Director Compensation: Understanding the New Disclosure Requirements, published on 31st August, 2006. A frequent speaker and author on topics relating to executive compensation, Ms. Thatcher's articles and interviews appear in numerous national publications, including Financial Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Directors and Boards and various publications of the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), including the BNA Corporate Accountability Report, BNA Daily Tax Report and BNA Executive Compensation Library. She has addressed national and local conferences of the National Association of Stock Plan Processionals, Institute for International Research National Forum on Financing and Managing Executive Compensation Plans and the ICLE Business Law Institute. Ms. Thatcher has also participated as a speaker in the first nationwide Practising Law Institute teleseminar on Sarbanes-Oxley issues affecting executive compensation. She has also given presentations on various topics, including Section 409A Revisited: Ensuring Compliance in 2008 on 9th July, 2008 and Tax Conference on Hedge Fund Structuring & Compensation on 28th May, 2008 and attended events including The John Marshall Law School Symposium on 22nd April, 2008; the Forum on Drafting the CD&A 2008 on 29th and 30th January, 2008; and the 33rd Annual Notre Dame Tax & Estate Planning Institute on 12th October, 2007. Ms. Thatcher is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers magazine. She has also been quoted in various newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Agenda, Bloomberg.com article and BNA Corporate Accountability Special Report. Ms. Thatcher has received a J.D. in 1980 from Emory University and a B.A. in 1975 from Hollins University.