Creating the Future!
Join us for the 2010 STA Annual Conference and Be Prepared!
And back by popular demand... we are holding the Small Agents' Training Session and the Small Agents' Forum! See below.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
President’s Remarks: Charlie Rossi, STA President, will discuss recent and ongoing STA initiatives, with emphasis on the continuing significant progress the STA, in conjunction with the Shareholder Communications Coalition, has made in focusing the attention of regulators and Congressional staff on the need for a complete analysis and overhaul of the current annual meeting and proxy distribution system. He will discuss our initiative to get the SEC to examine the current fees charged to issuers by brokers for distribution of proxy materials. He will address STA discussions with DTC and the SEC concerning FAST admittance and discussions about what should be in the Rules for transfer agents. He will also discuss the work the STA has been doing to educate members on compliance with the cost basis regulations. The STA continues to be an active advocate for its members with regulators and government officials. This session will bring you up to date.
Keynote Address: The STA is very excited to present our Keynote Speaker, Scott Friedman.
In these turbulent, globally competitive times, innovation and resourcefulness are essential to survival. Scott’s Program, “The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create it!” is fast-paced, humorous, and full of useable ideas on becoming a victor of change instead of a victim. Customer expectations have dramatically changed over the years. Today, satisfying and efficient are no longer enough. Every employee and business owner must live service and take pride in a culture that honors and rewards both employees and customers.
Entertaining and insightful, this program is full of tools and techniques that will provide the tools to create an environment that fosters creativity and team spirit. "The Best Way" leaves participants feeling better about themselves, their responsibilities, and their roles for the future. We have searched long and hard to find a speaker of this caliber and are sure that you will not want to miss this upbeat and enlivening presentation!
Proxy and Annual Meeting Issues: The STA continues to aggressively work to bring about long overdue change to the status quo in regard to the distribution of annual meeting materials and other processes around annual meetings or the “proxy plumbing”. These efforts are beginning to focus needed attention from regulators in this area. Hear from regulators, and from forward thinking corporate executives about the changes that are under consideration.
NYSE Euronext Update: Scott Cutler, Executive Vice President, will discuss the activities of the NYSE’s recently formed Commission on Corporate Governance, a group that is bringing together leading experts to create dialogue on governance issues, with the intent of strengthening best practices for U.S. corporate governance and the proxy process.
SEC Update: Susan Petersen, Special Counsel for the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC, will give a regulatory update on the subjects of proxy reform, transfer agent regulation and other matters of concern to transfer agents. We have allotted more time to this session than in the past, based on attendee feedback. You will not want to miss this important presentation.
Legal Developments Panel: Back by popular request, this panel will feature three talented attorneys from our membership who will address legal issues of concern. The STA is proud to present Mark Harmon, (Hodgson Russ LLP), Merrill Stone, (Kelley Drye & Warren LLP), and Andrea Manning, (Computershare), who will discuss the most concerning legal issues of the day. This session has also been expanded in time, based on attendee feedback.
DTC Update: The STA is proud to present Cheryl Lambert, a Managing Director of DTCC, who will provide this year’s DTC presentation. She will provide updates on the following topics: Dematerialization, DWAC Centralized Billing, DTC Issue Eligibility for New and Older Issues, FAST Requirements for CUSIPs and Agents, and Non-Certificated CDs. It is important to keep up to date on initiatives at DTC, as they are central to the processing of securities transactions. This session is a must to keep you informed and in the know.
Cost Basis Reporting: It is time to stop pretending this new regulation will go away! The clock is ticking and you need to be informed. Mary Rose Cascaes, Executive Vice President and COO of Registrar & Transfer will lead a panel of experts to talk about the issues that this regulation brings to transfer agents. Panelists include Stevie Conlin, (Gainskeeper, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services), Kevin Burns, (Computershare), Kevin McCosker (Pershing) and Joseph Clemente (DTCC). Don’t be unprepared and consequently subject to fines and penalties! This is your opportunity to become informed.
Open Forums: The STA will continue our tradition of holding Open Forums (one general and one for smaller agents), where attendees can discuss the issues of the day with one another. Why reinvent the wheel? Share your concerns and hear what others are doing to solve similar problems. The agenda is created by you, the attendees, and covers a wide range of topics. These sessions have been consistently popular and have engendered some provocative discussion in the past. Cynthia Jones, Executive Director of the STA, Salli Marinov, First American Stock Transfer, and Kevin Irwin, STA Training Coordinator will host.
Committee Updates: This year, we will feature updates from the very active STA Operations Committee, and the newly formed STA Risk and Compliance Committee, given by Katie Sevcik, (Wells Fargo Shareowner Services) and Angela Ponte (Wells Fargo Shareowner Services) respectively. This is your chance to hear first hand from Committee Co-Chairs about their successes and ongoing initiatives, in a way that makes it more concrete than just reading the Committee notes.
