Starwood 2008 Annual Report Download - page 40

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employment agreement shortly following the date of Board approval of the employment package; the later of the
date on which the Executive Officer signs his employment agreement or the date that the Executive Officer begins
employment becomes the grant date of these equity compensation awards.
The Company’s policy is that the grant date of equity compensation awards is always on or shortly after the
date the Compensation Committee approves the grants.
Although, as discussed above, annual grants are generally made in February, under unusual circumstances
grants may be made at other times during the year. For example, the economic downturn at the beginning of the
current decade as well as the September 11 terrorist attacks and aftermath had a significant negative impact on the
Company (and the hospitality industry generally) and its stock price. This severely weakened the retention aspect of
the Company’s equity awards outstanding at the time, particularly in the case of outstanding option awards,
virtually all of which had exercise prices above the then-current trading price of the Company’s common stock. To
respond to this concern, the Company made the 2003 option grants in December 2002 with the intention of keeping
executives focused on business results (including the Company’s stock price), restoring financial motivation to
succeed and retaining the Company’s top performers.
II. COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REPORT
The Compensation and Option Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (the “Company”) has reviewed and discussed the Compensation Discussion and Analysis
required by Item 402(b) of Regulation S-K with management and, based on such review and discussions,
recommended to the Board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in the Company’s Proxy
Statement for the 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
COMPENSATION AND OPTION COMMITTEE
Adam M. Aron, Chairman
Clayton C. Daley, Jr.
Bruce W. Duncan
Lizanne Galbreath
Kneeland C. Youngblood
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