Joe Yonadi is a partner in the Tax Strategy & Benefits Practice, where he advises clients on executive compensation, employee stock ownership plans, ERISA fiduciary governance and litigation prevention, and employee benefit and compensation issues in merger and acquisitions.
Joe’s ESOP practice includes advising sellers, lenders and trustees with respect to their ongoing ESOP compliance and fiduciary governance matters. In addition, he assists business owners with assessing the benefits of utilizing an ESOP as a succession planning tool.
Joe maintains a sophisticated executive compensation practice that includes assisting companies of all sizes with the design and implementation of nonqualified deferred compensation plans, long-term incentive plans, stock option plans, employee stock purchase plans, phantom equity plans, and alternative equity structures for S-Corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships. Clients find that his practical guidance and financial acumen greatly assist them to not only navigate around the legal landmines found in Internal Revenue Code Sections 409A, 280G and 162(m), but also provides them with invaluable insight into setting performance metrics that strategically align with a company’s financial goals.
As part of Joe’s executive compensation practice, he devotes a portion of his time on international equity compensation matters. He advises US and non-US multinational corporations on both the legal and tax implications of granting equity in foreign jurisdictions around the globe.
Joe has a sub-specialty in privacy and data security due to his in-house experience, where he worked as Senior Employment Counsel and Human Resources Legal Team Leader at a Fortune 300 global retail and manufacturing company. Joe developed significant experience in data privacy and cybersecurity as he was tasked with leading the domestic and global legal support for the company’s newly created global privacy and data security department.
Building on that experience, Joe assists clients with their employee, consumer and HIPAA privacy policies and procedures, and provides counsel on creating standard privacy and data security contract terms for third-party vendor management programs, negotiating commercial contracts containing sensitive personally identifiable information, and training on data security, privacy and incident response. Joe also provides proactive legal counseling by assisting clients with understanding their true risks through performing data security and privacy risk assessments.
Joe is the current Co-chair of the HR Committee for Shoes and Clothes for Kids, a Cleveland nonprofit that provides thousands of school-aged children with new clothes and new shoes.
