BlackRock 2019 annual meeting is May 23. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST directors Murry Gerber; Jessica Einhorn; William Ford; Margaret Johnson, Cheryl Mills; Gordon Nixon; Ivan Seidenberg; and Marco Antonio Slim Domit, as well as pay and the auditor. Vote FOR shareholder proposals to report lobbying and move to a simple majority voting […]
Amazon 2019 Proxy Voting Guide
Amazon 2019 annual meeting is May 22nd, so vote online by May 21st. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST Thomas Ryder, pay and auditor. Vote FOR all shareholder proposals EXCEPT #12 Report on Board Ideologies. (more…)
American Tower 2019 Proxy Guide
American Tower 2019 annual meeting – May 21st. Vote AGAINST Dolan, Reeve, Sharbutt, Taiclet. Exec Pay, & Auditor. Vote FOR Independent Director and Disclose Political Contributions. (more…)
PayPal 2019 Proxy Guide
PayPal 2019 annual meeting is May 22nd. Vote AGAINST Casares, Christodoro, Donahoe, Dorman, McGovern, Schulman, Exec Pay, & Auditor. Vote FOR Disclose Political Contributions & Human Rights. (more…)
Sustainability at Morningstar
Sustainability at Morningstar (Morningstar Investment Conference #MICUS) in Chicago was an important topic, growing in popularity. As posted, their research found “72% of the United States population expressed at least a moderate interest in sustainable investing.” Nice to know many value a habitable planet as well as profits. However, research from Morningstar also finds we […]
3D Systems 2019 Proxy Guide
3D Systems 2019 annual meeting is April 20th. Vote AGAINST Curran, Kever, McClure, Moore, and Wadsworth. Vote FOR all other items, including lowering the threshold requirement to call a special meeting. (more…)
MICUS 2019: #Susty #VR
MICUS 2019 was my first Morningstar investment conference. It was HUGE, with lots interesting exhibits, speakers and attendees. I had a chance to chat with Ray Sin who, along with Ryan Murphy and Samantha Lamas, authored The True Faces of Sustainable Investing: Busting Industry Myths Around ESG. Additionally, I got a chance to play a […]
Twitter 2019 Proxy Voting Guide
Twitter 2019 annual meeting is April 20th. Vote AGAINST Robert Zoellick, auditor and shareholder proposal on board nominee ideologies. FOR Pay, shareholder proposals on Simple Majority Vote and Content Enforcement Policies. (more…)
Mission-Led Employee-Owned Firms Top Charts
Mission-led employee-owned firms offer an alternative to conventional publicly-traded companies. With support from Partners for a New Economy, Fifty by Fifty‘s research demonstrates, mission-driven employee-owned firms are the Best of the Best. Using data from B Lab, which assesses the social and environmental impact of B Corps, Fifty by Fifty found these firms outperform on […]
Marriott 2019 Proxy Voting Guide
Marriott 2019 annual meeting is May 10th. Vote by May 9 online. For optimum accountability and shareholder return vote AGAINST J.W. Marriot Jr., Mary K. Bush, Eric Hippeau, Lawrence W. Kellner Aylwin B. Lewis, George Muñoz, Steven S. Reinemund, and Susan C. Schwab, as well as auditor and say-on-pay. Vote FOR Eliminate Supermajority and Provide Right […]
We Three Kings: Sharetopia
We Three Kings: Disintermediating Voting at the Index Fund Giants (download at SSRN) by Caleb N. Griffin provides insight as to how investors could influence the Big Three index funds — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, as those funds exercise increasing power over the economy. Like me, Griffin is interested in extending democracy to corporate […]
American Express 2019 Proxy Vote Recommendations
American Express 2019 annual meeting is May 7th. Vote by May 6 online. For optimum accountability and shareholder return vote AGAINST John Brennan, Peter Chernin, Stephen Squeri, Ralph de la Vega, Ronald Williams, the Auditor, Say-on-Pay. Vote FOR Written Consent, Deduct Impact of BuyBacks on Pay, Report on Gender Pay Gap. (more…)
Governance Fundamentals: Tech
Governance Fundamentals: Understanding Your Company’s Mechanics and Benchmarking. That was the title of the final spring 2019 SVDX/Rock Center program at Stanford Law on April 18. My cryptic notes below. (more…)
Proxy Voting Alignment Will Drive Index Fund Competition
Proxy voting alignment with client values will drive competition between index funds. Most index funds have low fees and earn close to the same rate of return for their investors. How can they differentiate themselves? SEC Commissioner Rob Jackson Jr. implies competition should be driven, at least in part, by funds aligning their proxy votes with […]
Paycom 2019: Proxy Voting Recommendations
The Paycom 2019 annual meeting is April 29th at 5300 Gaillardia Boulevard, Oklahoma City at 11:00 a.m. local time. Your last opportunity to vote online is April 28th. To increase corporate performance and shareholder value, WITHHOLD votes from Clark and Duques. Vote AGAINST pay; FOR auditor and FOR shareholder proposal to declassify the board. (more…)
CSR 5.0 Skytop Strategies
CSR 5.0. I must have missed 2.0 through 4.9… focused on corporate governance and ESG. This was my first Skytop Strategies conference (agenda) or one specifically on the topic of CSR. It was billed as presenting “the evolution of corporate social responsibility from its initial shared value paradigm to its current form. The program will […]
Kellogg 2019 Proxy Vote Recommendations
Kellogg 2019 annual meeting is April 26th. Stock price fared poorly for the last five years, so the CEO should not be paid as if he had average performance. Vote AGAINST pay. The Compensation Committee should not be reelected, since they recommended average pay for below average performance. Vote AGAINST Laschinger and Tasted. Vote AGAINST […]
Discover 2019 Proxy Vote
Discover 2019 Proxy Vote Recommendations. The Discover Financial Services (DFS) 2019 annual meeting is May 16th. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST directors Aronin, Case, and Weinbach, as well as the auditor. Vote FOR pay, end supermajority standards and shareholder proposal to allow shareholder of 15% to call a special meeting. ABSTAIN on the […]
ESG Executive Director Position @ TCB
ESG Executive Director position opening at The Conference Board (TCB) in June, since Douglas Chia is taking a position in academia at the Rutgers Center for Corporate Law & Governance. This is a dream job for the right candidate. Doug is a hereo and will be hard to replace, so you had better be good. […]
Annalisa Barrett Joins KPMG
Annalisa Barrett Joins KPMG Board Leadership Center. Annalisa is a corporate governance god. KPMG is the platform she needs to have an even bigger impact. (more…)
Intuitive Surgical 2019 Proxy Vote
Intuitive Surgical 2019 annual meeting is April 25th. Vote AGAINST (1F) Alan Levy and (1H) Mark Rubash. Vote FOR #5 Eliminate Supermajority Provisions. (more…)
Normalized Deception: Spectrem Group
Normalized deception in the world of politics has spread to proxy voting controversies. A recent white(wash) paper by the Spectrem Group purports to be “providing a voice to retail investors on the proxy advisory industry” by employing a ham-handed survey, which seeks to “educate” respondents through leading questions. The report’s catchy title is Exile of […]
Northern Trust 2019 Proxy Recommendations
The Northern Trust 2019 annual meeting is April 23rd. Vote AGAINST Bynoe, Richards, Slark, and Tribbett; AGAINST Executive Pay & Auditor: FOR Disclose Political Contributions and Right to Call a Special Meeting. (more…)
Gender-Diversity: Who Votes Fearlessly?
When investing for gender-diversity for other ESG, check fund voting records. With the SEC’s cryptic proxy vote disclosure system, that is difficult (draft Petition for Real-Time Disclosure of Proxy Votes), so ask your investment advisor and hope they subscribe to Morningstar Direct. As evidenced by a recent Morningstar report, State Street’s Fearless Girl appears timid about […]
Gender Pay Scorecard for Equal Pay Day
A Gender Pay Scorecard released by Arjuna Capital f0r Equal Pay Day finds only Citigroup earning an “A” grade, while 23 of 46 large companies evaluated got failing grades of “F.” (more…)
MBII Elects Directors by Majority Vote
MBII elects directors by majority vote, effective March 15th 2019. Marrone Bio Innovations (MBII) amended its bylaws after a request by shareholder advocate James McRitchie and upon the recommendation of the Nominating and Governance Committee. The bylaws now provide that, in uncontested elections, MBII elects directors by majority vote of “For” and “Withheld” votes cast. […]
Morningstar Direct Uncovers ESG Hypocrites
Morningstar Direct is planning to offer its clients important voting data. The firm recently published a preview of what I impolitely term ESG hypocrites – funds that advertise themselves as allowing us to invest in our values but then vote proxies against our values. For example, last week, students around the world participated in a massive […]
Petition for Real-Time Disclosure of Proxy Votes
Petition for Real-Time Disclosure of Proxy Votes Abstract: Corporations have facilitated the most dynamic economic growth in history. Addressing adverse externalities, like dark money and climate change, has been hampered by dispersed ownership. Mechanisms are needed to define common values and increase individual empowerment within corporate dominated economies. Ironically, recent concentration of corporate ownership by […]
Proxy Preview 2019: Better Every Year
Proxy Preview 2019 reveals intensified shareholder pressure on corporations across a wide range of ESG issues from climate and political spending to women. Investors with a conscience; we are having a bigger impact every year. Download the report and/or watch webinar here. (more…)
Walt Disney 2019: Proxy Vote Recommendations
Walt Disney 2019 annual meeting is March 7, 2019. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST directors Barra, Lagomasino, Iger, as well as pay and the auditor. Vote FOR shareholder proposals to report on lobbying and cyber security. (more…)