Morse code or carrier pigeon submission requirements may be next. I’ll disguise the name of the high-tech Silicon Valley company, but here is how their representative responded to our emailed shareholder proposal and subsequent broker letter. Thank you for your email. The broker letter was mailed to the proper address (and hardcopy mailing is the […]
Clorox 2021: Increase Employee Voice
Clorox 2021 annual meeting is Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 9:00 A.M. PST, virtually via https://meetnow.global/MNGZAZQ. You will also need your 15-digit control number. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance corporate governance and long-term value, vote AGAINST Auditor; FOR #5 Increase Diversity of Director Nominees – Include Non-Management Employees on Candidate List. (more…)
SLB 14L Will Reduce Costs and Encourage Dialogue
SLB 14L, issued November 3, 2021, will reduce the costs and uncertainties for both shareholders and boards associated with shareholder proposals. Shareholders will be able to get to the point on important environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues without so much careful word crafting by attorneys. Companies will not waste time on expensive analysis by […]
Employee Ownership 2022 Proposals
Employee ownership is my next focus. Support for proposals in 2020 and 2021 to encourage companies to add workers to the board has been weak. It is time to reassess. My conversations with CalPERS were especially interesting. Directors I interviewed who were elected by the members favored our proposals. Staff, those charged with voting shares […]
Procter & Gamble 2021: Worker Voice
Procter & Gamble 2021 annual meeting is October 12, 9AM Pacific Time. To attend the virtual meeting, you will need to visit www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/PG2021 and use your 16-digit control number provided in the Notice or proxy card to log into the meeting. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. This proxy should have special significance to participants in […]
Tesla 2021: Elect Each Director Annually
Tesla 2021 annual meeting is October 7, 2:30 PM Pacific Time. To watch the Annual Meeting visit here. To actually participate, such as voting and/or asking questions, you will need to obtain a legal proxy (instructions). Then you can attend here. At my broker, that means nullifying any vote already cast and trusting all the […]
2021 Morningstar Investment Conference
2021 Morningstar Investment Conference moved deeply into ESG impact investing but remained relatively light on voting advice and education. At least one panel and one speaker did focus somewhat on voting. Below are a few brief notes. Unusually, the 2021 Morningstar Investment Conference was held on the same days as the Fall CII Conference. (more…)
Investors to FASB – Prioritize Public Country-by-Country Tax Reporting
Investors to FASB: We Need Tax Transparency Investors with over $2.9T in assets under management called on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to prioritize public country-by-country tax reporting as part of FASB’s future standard-setting agenda. Signatories represented a broad coalition of asset managers, public pension funds, labor funds, international investors, foundations, and religious investors. […]
FedEx 2021 Require Independent Board Chair
FedEx 2021 annual meeting is September 27, 10AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. You will also need your control number. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. Enhance corporate governance and long-term value, vote AGAINST Griffith, Jackson, Martin, Ramo, Schwab, Steiner, Walshding, Pay and Auditor; FOR […]
Aerovironment 2021: Elect Directors by Majority Vote
Aerovironment 2021 annual meeting is September 24, 9AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. You will also need your 11-digit voter control number and password AVAV2021 (case sensitive). Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance corporate governance and long-term value, vote FOR all items, including Transition […]
Worker Voice and the New Corporate Boardroom
Worker Voice and the New Corporate Boardroom is a new paper from the Aspen Institute Business & Society, based on a series of roundtables Idea Lab on Worker Voice in Corporate Governance. Whether the focus is on wages, worker health & safety or diversity, equity & inclusion, the year 2020 opened up new conversations about […]
Corporate Governance Gaming
Corporate Governance Gaming: The Power of Retail Investors is delicious snacking, not just for Robinhood and Reddit GenZ’ers, but also for some Boomers who have tried to democratize corporate governance for decades. How many times have we rolled our eyes reading about GameStop and the frenzy of meme stocks? Crazy? Yes, but also exuding potential, explored […]
Sharing Profits is Not Enough Professor Reich
Sharing Profits is Not Enough Professor Reich but you are getting warmer. Your hook was that Sears workers owned 25%. Then you imagine what that magnitude of ownership could mean at Amazon. The spoiler was you then began touting cash bonuses, rather than stocks. True, having ALL retirement tied to one stock is risky. That […]
#FlushPGDirectors For ESG Failure
#FlushPGDirectors is the creative hashtag used by a coalition calling on Procter & Gamble (Ticker: PG) to vote against Angela Braly and James McNerney, key Directors. This is because they have failed to address ESG human rights and environmental violations in supply chains. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street have made bold commitments to use their […]
Spring 2021 CorpGov.net Proxy Proposal Results
Spring 2021 CorpGov.net Proxy Proposal results are in, as reported below. New SEC rules will delay needed ESG reforms, so we worked in cooperation with more groups and filed more proposals than ever. We still averaged more than a 50% vote in favor. (more…)
Corporate Accountability Fall 2021 Online Forum
Corporate Accountability Fall 2021: Restoring the Balance. This is your chance to discuss the issues with Nell Minow, Michae O’Leary, Andy Behar, Josh Zinner, Doug Chia, Bruce F. Freed, Heidi Welsh, Jon Lukomnik, Tim Smith, Christina Sautter, Rick Alexander, Karen E. Woody, Sanford Lewis. Spring will include Leo Strine Jr, Brandon Rees, Jackie Cook, David Webber, […]
Accountable: The Rise of Citizen Capitalism
Accountable may be an exception. Not many books on capitalism and corporate governance have the potential to spread like a meme. O’Leary and Valdamanis have a rare talent for using memorable terms like the Two-Buffett Paradox, Fiduciary Absolutism, and Milgram-Nixon Syndrome. Buy it on Amazon and I might get a few cents for the referral. I […]
Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: Reflections
Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: Timeliness In the spirit of Kuhn, this book eviscerates modern portfolio theory, arguing for a more systemic approach centered around human values and intentionality. I had similar nascent thoughts in 1967 when I concluded economics, based on “rational” actor assumptions of homo economicus, was not grounded in science. Lukomnik and Hawley aptly […]
Electronic Arts 2021: Gaming Investors
Electronic Arts 2021 proxy claims my proposal for written consent is “unnecessary and moot,” given their proposal on the same topic. But their proposal is a Trojan Horse, meant to deceive investors. They are gaming their investors. This ethical lapse is troublesome, as discussed below. Electronic Arts 2021 annual meeting is August 12, 2021 (Thursday), 2:00 pm (Pacific). To […]
Academy of Management 2021: #AOM2021
Academy of Management 2021, #AOM2021. I was a discussant at a symposium entitled, Synergizing Corporate Activism Research: Building a Shared Understanding of an Evolving Phenomenon (session 913) This post is mostly for my future reference but readers may also find parts interesting. I welcome contact from those attending #AOM2021 who are interested in collaborating with investors. […]
Procter & Gamble Employees: Do You Have a Say?
Procter & Gamble employees, do you have a reasonable degree of control over your work and the strategic direction of your Company? Management tells me Procter & Gamble employees have a “significant influence” on Company practices. They have ample opportunity to share perspectives with each other, managers, and the Board. Specifically, they cite the P&G […]
Veeva Systems 2021 Vote Special Meetings at 15%
Veeva Systems 2021 annual meeting is June 23, 9 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. To participate, you will need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. I recommend voting in advance. Enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Gordon Ritter, the […]
Pegasystems 2021: Proxy Access
Pegasystems 2021 annual meeting is June 22, 7 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. To participate, you will need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Gyenes, […]
Restore Shareholder Proposal Rights
Restore shareholder proposal rights to the pre-Trump era level. That is the objective of the complaint (pdf 2021 06 15 ICCR Complaint) filed this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC’s) recent amendments to the rule governing the filing of shareholder proposals. The revised […]
Impinj 2021 Vote Proxy Access
Impinj 2021 annual meeting is June 10, 9 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. You will need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. I recommend voting in advance. Enhance long-term value so that Impinj lives up to its full […]
Redfin 2021 Should Ban Zombies
Redfin 2021 annual meeting is June 9, 8:30 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. Bring the 16-digit control number from your proxy card or voting instruction form. I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Ligon and Slavet; FOR Auditor, Pay and Transition to […]
Alarm.com Holdings 2021
Alarm.com Holdings 2021 annual meeting is June 9, 6 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. You will need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. Warning: You will need to obtain a legal proxy and upload it at least 2-3 […]
Caterpillar 2021 Faces Proxy Issues
Caterpillar 2021 annual meeting is June 9, 6 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here (Password: CAT2021). To participate, use the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Dickinson, Reed-Klages, Rust, Schwab, […]
Invitae 2021 Proxy Votes
Invitae 2021 annual meeting is June 7, 4 PM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the NVTA Annual Meeting visit here. To participate, use the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST the Auditor. Vote FOR […]
Netflix 2021 Proxy Votes: Political Disclosures
Netflix 2021 annual meeting is June 3, 3 PM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. To participate, you need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote Against all directors, auditors, […]