Most companies opposing a shareholder proposal simply rely on an opposition statement, although sometimes they solicit the votes of their largest shareowners. Steris Corporation (NYSE:STE) took it a bit further. Was it cheating? That depends on your perspective. Like a partially inflated football, a partially stuffed ballot can provide the crucial margin needed to win. Proxy Voting […]
I hope those concerned with good corporate governance are also concerned with stewardship. Investors shouldn’t be making money by investing in products that harm the environment. Their are plenty of alternatives to plastic microbeads. This 2-minute video “explainer” shows how tiny plastic microbeads go down the drain and into our rivers, lakes, and oceans. We […]
Duties & Responsibilities The Business and Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School seeks to deepen our collective understanding of the urgent environmental challenges confronting business leaders and to help them use the tools of business to design effective solutions. We aspire to help leaders create the economic and political institutions that will enable firms and […]
The Conference Board Governance Center’s current executive director, Donna Dabney, is retiring at the end of the year. It would be great to get someone of her high caliber to fill the position. Please inform your well-qualified colleagues of this great opportunity The Conference Board Governance Center® The Conference Board Governance Center® facilitates small groups of prominent […]
More of my notes from the Society’s 2015 National Conference in Chicago, 6/24-27. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Sorry to be posting so long after the event but I still find them useful… and going through my notes may help me remember some of the more interesting points. David Axelrod Believer: My Forty Years in Politics @davidaxelrod I’m not sure why David Axelrod […]
STERIS Corporation (NYSE:STE) is a provider of infection prevention and other procedural products and services focused on healthcare, pharmaceutical and research. Steris is one of the stocks in my portfolio added at the end of 2008 for a gain to date of 182%. Their next annual meeting is August 27, 2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I […]
The Open Mind: Corporate Governance a decade later Although taped on 4/20/2006, this interview with Ira Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, was not posted to YouTube until this month. Millstein discusses corporations, corruption, and regulation. Listen and learn about changes that have been made and some of what remains to be done. In […]
Almost three-quarters of investment professionals worldwide (73 percent) take environmental, social, and corporate governance — ESG issues into consideration in the investment process, according to the CFA Institute ESG Survey, a new survey of CFA Institute members created by CFA Institute and the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRC Institute). In addition, 64 percent of survey […]
Bernard Sharfman notified me of his post, Public-pension funds play with newest toy in corporate governance, saying: “As you know I am not a big fan of proxy access.” I was looking forward to a thoughtful analysis of the issues but that is not what I found. The R Street blog, where his piece was posted, […]
Driving Retail and Employee Votes The 2015 National Conference in Chicago, 6/24-27, was my first time attending one of the Society’s events. Part 1 and Part 2. Yes, I’m posting notes late but hopefully they are still useful. Panelists: Lawrence Dennedy, Irving Gomez, Martin Koopman, Theresa Molly In 2001 Prudential switched from a mutual to a public company, so they […]
The 2015 National Conference in Chicago, 6/24-27, was my first time attending one of the Society’s events. Part 1. Yes, I know; I am very late in posting notes but some are still useful. I’ve actually been taking some time off. For example, right after the conference my wife and I went to Oak Park to look […]
Shareholder Activism at Roll-Royce ValueAct, the US hedge fund, has emerged as a shareholder in Smiths Group, just days after revealing it is the largest investor in Rolls-Royce. Lex’s Rochelle Toplensky and Jonathan Eley discuss the possible implications for Smiths and Rolls-Royce. (more…)
In part 2 of a post on facilitating votes and activism by retail shareowners I continue to speculate on what could be done to improve the situation by recalling some of the better features of major efforts to date and possible improvements that would help conscientious shareowners. As Mark Latham reminded me after yesterday’s part 1, […]
Retail shareowners own about 1/3 of shares traded in the United States but vote only about 1/3 of the shares we own. As Nell Minow once quipped, “you can lead a shareholder to a lot of dense material, but you can’t make them read it.” (Video Friday: SEC Proxy Voting Roundtable) Our voting influence is much smaller […]
CivicSpark, a partnership of California’s Local Government Commission and the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research is an AmeriCorps program dedicated to building capacity in local governments to address climate change. They are now recruiting team members for the 2015-16 service year. Follow on Facebook and Twitter @LGC_media. CivicSpark: Climate Leaders If you are interested in joining the next generation of climate […]
As you may have read by now Microsoft Makes It Easier for Shareholders to Nominate Candidates to Board, another company where we filed for proxy access has adopted proxy access lite. We were glad to play a role in negotiating the change on behalf of shareholders and withdrew our proxy access proposal contingent on the Board’s […]
TK Kerstetter, of Boardroom Resources, LLC interviews Greg Sandfort, CEO of Tractor Supply Company (TSCO). Sandfort is also a Board Member of WD-40 (WDFC). This session highlights one of America’s most productive companies, Tractor Supply, and focuses on how they create value for their shareholders. TK asks Greg Sandfort, Tractor Supply Co.’s CEO, how culture has contributed to […]
The UK’s Investment Association’s Statement of Principles has now been signed by 25 firms with £1.8 trillion in assets. Does it represent substantial progress or is it simply an attempt to console the investing public? In principle, it all sounds good. I like their pledge: As signatories to these principles we do our utmost to: 1. […]
In case you haven’t tuned in lately, Nell Minow and the crew at ValueEdge Advisors continue to crank out some interesting posts. Yesterday a brief comment on the SEC Chair on Board Diversity and a few days ago Koch Brothers’-backed ALEC wants dark money image makeover. Frequently, they are posting more extensive original material, such as Phil Gramm’s Views on […]
If you thought 2015 was the year of proxy access, wait until you see next proxy season. These news stories on proxy proxy access are worthy of note but are in no way a comprehensive list of such posts. Proxy Access: New SEC Staff Paper 8/4/2014 Broc Romanek reports on a blog by Cooley’s Cydney Posner: (more…)
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of 300 investors with assets under management of over $100 billion, Calvert Investments and Christian Brothers Investment Services, commend Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) for her introduction of The Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking & Slavery Act of 2015 in the […]