Highberg helps you design and implement executive compensation that is clear, defensible and built to perform. We balance market practice with the few, high‑leverage choices that truly differentiate. From design drivers and structural guardrails to execution requirements, we translate your ambition into a reward architecture leaders understand and stakeholder’s trust.
Whether you are moving from earning to holding, preparing for growth or reshaping ownership, we co-create the incentive plan roadmap. We guide the trade-offs between equity and cash-based participation plans, sharpen incentive plan design, and support the drafting of shareholder agreements. Together we define the KPIs and targets that reflect your performance culture and strategic priorities. Then we embed them in long‑ and short‑term incentives in a way that motivates the right decisions, at the right time.
We support leaders across consumer goods, retail, industrial and financial services—working with family businesses, shareholder groups, scale-ups and private equity portfolio companies. Typical engagements include executive compensation, and equity plans for PE portfolio companies, redesigning executive incentives during transitions to high‑performance cultures, and building incentive systems that accelerate sustainable value creation.
- How is our CEO’s total compensation benchmarked against peers? How do we ensure the pay package is competitive yet justifiable to shareholders?
- As AI reshapes roles, decisions, and value creation, how do we redefine what executive performance looks like — and what we should be paying for?
- How do we design a long-term incentive (LTI) plan that drives the right behavior? Should we use stock options, restricted shares, performance shares, or a mix?
- How do we align executive pay with our company’s strategy and goals? Can non-financial KPIs be meaningfully integrated into incentive plans?
- How do we keep executive incentives meaningful when the world — and our business — is unpredictable?
- How do we use executive compensation to actively reinforce the culture and behaviors we want to see at the top of our organization?
Levelling
Know your position. Own your argument. We benchmark executive pay against the right peers — not just any market data, but a carefully selected reference group that reflects your industry, scale, and ambition. From comprehensive reports to concise one-pagers and full pay package proposals, we give you the evidence and clarity to make defensible, confident compensation decisions.
Benchmarking
Peer Group Selection
Design
Build incentives that actually drive what matters. We design the architecture of executive pay (long-term incentives, KPI selection, target setting, and equity structures) so that every euro paid is connected to real value creation. Whether you’re preparing for a transaction, embedding sustainability, or rethinking what performance means, we help you build plans that are smart, future-proof, and aligned with your strategy.
Long-Term Incentives
Governance
Stay compliant. Stay credible. Stay in control. We help organizations build the frameworks that sit behind good pay decisions — compensation strategy, philosophy, policies, and regulatory compliance. From supporting your Supervisory Board to communicating transparently with participants, we ensure your executive pay governance is robust, defensible, and trusted by all stakeholders.
- Compensation Strategy
- Compensation Philosophy
- Compensation Policies
- Regulatory Compliance, Reporting Disclosure
- Supervisory Board Support
- Participation Communication
