President-elect Obama has nominated Karen Mills to head up the Small Business Association. Many media reports have described Mills as a venture captialist, but me greater interest is in the fact that she has served on corporate boards, including time on the compensation committee of Arrow Electronics since 1994.
Why is this important? Arrow has been a strong supporter of equity compensation for more than a decade. The offered equity in various forms to a broad range of their staff since this mid-1990s. Whie this may seem common for companies today and it may seem common for companies in the Silicon Valley fifteen years ago, it should be noted that Arrow is in Long Island. They were a leader in their geographic region.
Hopefully Mills experience with equity compensation and her new focus on small businesses will help future developments in our industry. Only time will tell.