Research Analyst – Environmental & Social Issues Proxy Research based in Rockville, Maryland. Institutional Shareholder Services, an MSCI business, seeks to hire a full-time, permanent analyst to join its environmental and social proxy issues research team in Rockville, MD. The primary duties and responsibilities of the position are to conduct research, write reports, and make recommendations […]
Archive | November, 2012
Video Friday: Women on Boards & Glass Ceilings
James McRitchie, 11/30/2012 ,
A range of videos on the subject. The most recent EU proposal sets out a 40% “objective,” with unspecified sanctions against companies flouting the rules. The proposals would require companies to have clear, gender-neutral criteria for choosing non-executive directors and that if candidates are found to be equally qualified, then preference should be given to women. As […]
CalPERS Seeks Global Governance Investment Officers
James McRitchie, 11/29/2012 ,
Job Announcement: As the nation’s largest public pension fund, managing assets of $240 billion as of November 13, 2012, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is committed to a diverse work environment and culture centered on core values of quality, respect, integrity, openness, communication, balance, and accountability. We’re looking for talented, enthusiastic people who […]
Excellent Reporting of MSFT Meeting by Janet Tu
James McRitchie, 11/29/2012 ,
Great reporting of Microsoft’s annual meeting yesterday by Seattle Times technology reporter Janet I. Tu. She did a fine job of covering the voting results, presentations and Q&A. (more…)
Call for Papers: Conference on Governance of Family Firms, Bejing
James McRitchie, 11/29/2012 ,
Conference: Place: Beijing Date: June 28/29, 2013 Host: Renmin University Business School, Beijing, China Co-Organizers: Renmin Business School and Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise INSEAD Submission deadline: March 15, 2013 Authors of accepted papers for the Conference will be notified by April 30, 2013. (more…)
Harvard's Shareholder Rights Project Turns Up Heat for 2013 Season: Will Others Follow Their Example?
James McRitchie, 11/28/2012 ,
The Shareholder Rights Project (SRP) and each of eight institutional investors it represents announced their collaboration for the 2013 proxy season to encourage 74 S&P 500 and Fortune 500 public companies to move to annual elections. (more…)
Shareholder Mix Campaigns or Effective Engagement?
James McRitchie, 11/27/2012 ,
Writing for Inside Investor Relations, Elizabeth Judd‘s article, The Perfect Shareholder Base, demonstrates a more sophisticated approach. Still, I think directors will find Douglas Y. Park’s advice, Shareholder Activism: A Thoughtful Approach for Effective Engagement a better approach. (more…)
Elisse Walter to Head SEC
James McRitchie, 11/26/2012 ,
Obama chose SEC official Elisse Walter to lead agency after Mary Schapiro announced she is stepping down. Walter is a Democrat on the SEC’s five-member panel. Her term expired June 5, 2012, but a commissioner can stay on for an additional 18 months if not reconfirmed or replaced before then–in her case December 2013. Obama expressed his “deep gratitude” to Schapiro […]
Call for Papers: Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets
James McRitchie, 11/26/2012 ,
4th International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets, August 23-24, 2013 at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, INDIA. Submission Deadline: February 28, 2013 (more…)
Video Friday: Replace the Goldman Sachs Muppets
James McRitchie, 11/23/2012 ,
Goldman Sachs has come under fire for placing its interests above those of clients, lack of transparency and insensitivity regarding its compensation practices. Goldman has been the target of numerous investigations, enforcement actions and private litigation. Key governance flaws include executive compensation and business practices that create financial and reputational risks. (more…)
Thanksgiving Wishes
James McRitchie, 11/21/2012 ,
“Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders.” See the New Yorker cartoon. At least it hasn’t come to this… yet. Wishing you and yours a joyous and thoughtful Thanksgiving.
Platforms and Vehicles for Institutional Co-Investing
James McRitchie, 11/21/2012 ,
A growing number of institutional investors, persistent in their desire to disintermediate and align interests with asset managers, are turning away from Wall Street and are instead looking to one another for assistance. These direct investors are hoping to overcome the loss of agglomeration economies embedded within traditional financial centers by leveraging a new set […]
Wal-Mart (WMT) to be Hit on Black Friday
James McRitchie, 11/21/2012 ,
As Black Friday nears, Wal-Mart ($WMT) workers and community supporters are beginning 1,000 nationwide non-violent protests leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Wal-Mart has been taking against its workers. As part of the protests, Wal-Mart workers walked off […]
Best Practices in Proxy Disclosure
James McRitchie, 11/21/2012 ,
Since 2004, the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) has prepared best practices documents for reporting issuers to provide guidance on effective disclosure communication related to corporate governance and executive compensation. These documents have been (more…)
NACD Focuses on Ombuds Programs
James McRitchie, 11/20/2012 ,
Last year I attended the NACD Directorship 100, proud to be listed again a worthy of being watched. This year, even though so honored, I won’t be able to make this important learning event. Learning event? Aren’t these functions mostly just networking opportunities? They are both. No one should question the value of such functions […]
Proxy Access Regulations Revisited
James McRitchie, 11/19/2012 ,
Jill E. Fitch, a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, argues the DC Circuit’s 2011 decision in Business Roundtable v. SEC, completely disregarded the congressional policy judgment reflected in Dodd-Frank’s authorization of proxy access regulations. (more…)
NACD Offers Board Advisory Services
James McRitchie, 11/19/2012 ,
Boards ranging from small-cap companies to the Fortune 10 are currently working with NACD Board Advisory Services to facilitate confidential and independent evaluations of their boards and directors. (more…)
ISS Updates Policies
James McRitchie, 11/19/2012 ,
ISS updated its proxy voting policies. The most interesting to me is the “Board Response to Majority Supported Proposals.” The marketplace has been evolving in the matter of board responsiveness to majority-supported shareholder proposals, both in terms of institutional investors’ expectations, and in terms of the actual responsiveness by issuers. ISS’ 2012-2013 Policy Survey results show […]
Women on Boards: EU Commission Proposes 40% Objective
James McRitchie, 11/18/2012 ,
Despite an intense public debate and some voluntary initiatives at national and European level, the situation has not changed significantly in recent years: an incremental average increase of the number of women on boards of just 0.6 percentage points per year has been recorded since 2003. It is for this reason that the Commission is […]
Microsoft (MSFT): How I Voted – Proxy Score 92%
James McRitchie, 11/16/2012 ,
Microsoft ($MSFT) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/28/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of six funds when I voted on 11/16/2012. (The Table below doesn’t include the votes of Trillium.) I voted with management 92% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the […]
Video Friday: Responsible Endowments Coalition
James McRitchie, 11/16/2012 ,
On February 15th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition honored Anuradha Mittal, the Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. Anuradha spoke about university investments in land grabs—the act of buying up vast tracts of land in poor countries that often result in environmental destruction and violations of human rights. (more…)
PRI Publishes List of New and Delisted Signatories
James McRitchie, 11/15/2012 ,
The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative today published its annual list of signatories joining and leaving the initiative. In total, 254 new signatories joined the PRI between 12 September 2011 and 9 November 2012, bringing total signatory numbers to more than 1,100, drawn from 50 countries and managing assets of more than […]
NACD Objects to Proposed ISS Proxy Voting Changes
James McRitchie, 11/15/2012 ,
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) sent a letter to ISS commenting on their recent policy proposal: Board Response to Majority-Supported Shareholder Proposals. (more…)
Support Petition to Disclose Corporate Political Spending
James McRitchie, 11/15/2012 ,
More than $6 billion was spent on this year’s presidential/congressional elections, too much of it by unknown sources. Are your companies opposing candidates you support or supporting those you oppose? If so, do those contributions add to the value of your companies? If they don’t disclose the expenditure, how would you ever know? Sick of […]
NSFM Appoints Cary Krosinsky as First Executive Director
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The Network for Sustainable Financial Markets is an International, non-partisan network of finance sector professionals, academics and others who have an active interest in long-term investing. The recurring crises recently experienced in our financial markets are not isolated incidents. Rather, this instability is evidence that the financial market system is in need of well thought-out reform so […]
Weinberg Center Announces Advisory Board
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware is announced a new Advisory Board for the Center. Charles Elson, Director of the Center and Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chair of Corporate Governance, said (more…)
Hidden Landmines in Comp Committee Charters
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The latest edition of Ralph Ward’s Boardroom Insider contains an informative article on the above topic. Without giving it all away, here are a few highlights: (more…)
Sempra Defies Shareowners
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
From Fox News: Sempra Energy (SRE, $SRE) said its board elected Chief Executive Debra L. Reed as its new chairman, succeeding former company CEO Donald E. Felsinger, who is retiring. (more…)
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
Trillium Asset Management LLC, on behalf of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, along with the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan recently filed a shareholder proposal with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C, $C) asking the company’s board of directors to explore a possible separation of one or more of its business units. (more…)
Resources Guide to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice today released A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The 120-page guide provides a detailed analysis of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and closely examines the SEC and DOJ (more…)
Deadline Nears for Post-Modern Portfolio Theory Paper Submissions
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi) is accepting submissions for its second annual competition for research that examines the interaction of the real economy with investment theory. Two papers – one academic and one practitioner – each will receive the “2013 IRRC Institute Research Award” along with a $10,000 award. A blue-ribbon panel of renowned judges […]
Corporate Governance Guide for Journalists
James McRitchie, 11/14/2012 ,
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in conjunction with the International Center for Journalists, has produced A Guide to Reporting on Corporate Governance designed for reporters and editors with experience covering business and finance. The goal is to help journalists develop stories that examine how companies are governed, and spot events that […]
Broadridge ($BR): How I Voted – Proxy Score 50%
James McRitchie, 11/13/2012 ,
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. ($BR) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/15/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I voted on 11/8/2012. I voted with management 50% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank will be […]
Oracle Loses Pay Vote
James McRitchie, 11/13/2012 ,
Software giant Oracle ($ORCL) suffered an embarrassing defeat on executive compensation policy last week. (more…)
Hain Celestial ($HAIN): How I Voted – Proxy Score 8%
James McRitchie, 11/11/2012 ,
Hain Celestial Group ($HAIN) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/15/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I voted on 11/8/2012. I voted with management 8% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank will be […]