VIVIENT

Based in Los Angeles, CA, Vivient Consulting is an independent consulting firm that advises some of the leading U.S. companies in compensation strategy, compensation planning, incentive plan design, and implementation.  With more than 50 years of combined executive compensation experience, our leadership team at Vivient brings extensive knowledge, skills, and techniques to compensation challenges. Our partners have successfully resolved complex and sensitive issues for public, private, and non-profit clients.

Our high standard for excellence is evident in our strong client relationships, some of which have spanned more than a decade. We are proud that our business comes entirely from referrals and that 80% of our clients retain us for multiple engagements.

Trusted, Independent Compensation Expertise

Because our sole focus is compensation, we can provide high quality, specialized, independent and responsive expertise in this area. We qualify as independent consultants under SEC and various stock exchange rules.

Our partners are highly experienced and credentialed:

  • Senior professional roles at Mercer Human Resource Consulting and SCA Consulting
  • MBAs from top business schools (Wharton, Booth/University of Chicago, UCLA Anderson)
  • Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP) by WorldatWork, the leading association for compensation and benefits professionals.

Vivient partners conduct original compensation research to identify the latest compensation trends and insights. Our partners author articles for publications such as “Board Member” and WorldatWork’s “workspan,” and speak at national conferences.  We are also noted for our survey on incentive pay practices for private companies and non-profit organizations conducted jointly with WorldatWork.

Senior Partner & Client Relationships

With Vivient Consulting, you work directly with our partners, not with junior analysts.  Our partners are fully engaged in every project and take the time to understand the ways your company and situation are unique.  At the same time, we are adept at taking complex, sensitive and sometimes emotionally- charged compensation issues and making them understandable to internal company teams.  This joint understanding, combined with our multi-disciplinary approach, which blends strategy, finance, compensation, tax, and accounting capabilities, enables us to develop customized compensation solutions that fit your specific needs.

Performance Driven

Vivient’s compensation consulting practice is entirely focused on creating significant, positive results in your company’s performance. In all of our assignments, we employ both left- and right-brain talents – quantitative analysis, and creative, strategic thinking and communication. We conduct thorough research and perform rigorous quantitative client due diligence. We stay current with developing regulatory, corporate governance and compensation trends.  Balancing detailed quantitative analysis with deep insights about evolving compensation trends allows us to deliver practical, well-designed and supported compensation strategies and incentive plans.

Delivering Extraordinary Results and Value

Vivient Consulting provides the experience and depth of knowledge that rival those of large compensation consulting firms, but at a better value. With our senior-level attention, we can adjust the project approach to respond best to your needs and produce study deliverables in an efficient and effective manner. Vivient Consulting also works in partnership with leading accounting, tax, legal and deferred compensation experts to offer you considerable resources to meet all of your executive compensation needs.

At Vivient, we have helped clients solve a variety of compensation problems including:

  • Restructuring compensation to meet changes in strategy or organizational structures (e.g., new CEO or management team, turnaround situation, strategic shift, preparing for a value-creating event (sale or IPO)) 
  • Desire to instill a more line-of-sight and pay-for-performance culture (e.g., overcome an entitlement mentality)
  • High-growth startups and companies with understaffed or decentralized HR functions where talent decisions have been made ad hoc
  • Specialized industries where clients have had difficulty attracting and retaining key talent
  • Private company or subsidiary executives who lack incentives that reward them for long-term value creation

Learn more…

BERTHA MASUDA

OWNER

Bertha Masuda, the owner of Vivient Consulting, advises Boards and top management about strategy, performance, incentive-design and pay issues. Bertha has worked with companies in a broad range of industries, including financial services, real estate, professional services, and manufacturing, and with companies in various stages of development. She works with both public and privately held businesses to develop performance measurement systems, executive compensation strategies and incentive programs that are aligned with business strategy and financial goals.

Bertha has been invited to speak at compensation seminars on the West Coast and has co-authored several articles regarding the use of equity incentives in merger situations.

Bertha has more than 20 years of consulting experience and is a Certified Public Accountant. She was a Principal with SCA Consulting, which was acquired by Mercer Human Resource Consulting in 2001. Also, she worked at Gemini Consulting and Ernst & Young.

She holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with honors.  She is a Certified Executive Compensation Professional.  She is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).  

SUSAN SCHROEDER

CO-FOUNDER

Susan Schroeder, co-founder of Vivient Consulting, assists Boards and senior management teams on strategy evaluation, performance measurement customization, compensation strategies and incentive plan design, and the support of new business ventures and initial public offerings. Her experience includes work for Fortune 500 companies as well as the smaller public, private, and non-profit organizations across many industries.  Over the years, Susan has developed particular expertise in developing incentive plans that reward for value creation in privately-held companies.

Susan has over 20 years of broad-based experience in finance, human resources, and strategy execution in both management consulting and corporate environments. Before co-founding Vivient, she was a Principal level consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting and SCA Consulting in Los Angeles. Before joining SCA, Susan spent twelve years in the financial services industry specializing in finance and real estate lending at First Interstate Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

Susan has been a speaker for the WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference and the Los Angeles Compensation and Benefits Association.

Susan is a Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP).  She received an M.B.A. from The UCLA Anderson School of Management and an A.B. in Economics from Occidental College, where she graduated with honors. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National MS Society, Southern California and Nevada Chapter, and the Board of Directors of The UCLA Anderson Alumni Association. She is a past member of the Board of Trustees of Occidental College.

BONNIE SCHINDLER

PARTNER

Bonnie Schindler, a Vivient Consulting partner, based in the Chicago area, helps clients design and communicate compensation programs for executives, boards of directors and employees. She has worked with several clients to develop automated tools that help executives understand complex long-term incentive plans and their potential payouts under different business scenarios. Bonnie has worked in a variety of industries, including financial services, high technology, manufacturing, transportation, real estate and non-profit. She has worked with both public and privately held companies to develop customized incentive compensation plans that support business strategy and the achievement of financial goals.

Bonnie has partnered with WorldatWork to survey private companies to better understand short- and long-term incentive plans at these firms. She has been a speaker for WorldatWork and the Los Angeles Compensation and Benefits Association and has written several articles for workspan, a WorldatWork magazine. Bonnie authored, “The Devil Is in the Details: Analytical Pitfalls in Executive Compensation Benchmarking,” which appeared originally in workspan and has since been reprinted in several books about compensation.

Bonnie has more than 20 years of combined experience in consulting, human resources and communications. Before co-founding Vivient, Bonnie was a Principal with Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which she joined through its acquisition of SCA Consulting. Before joining SCA, she held human resource and communications positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Bonnie is a Certified Executive Compensation Professional.  She received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she concentrated in finance, accounting, and strategy. She received both an M.S. and a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University.  

MAKE INQUIRY