The Changing Profile of Board Recruitment, in the November/December issue of The Corporate Board by Bonnie W Gwin of Heidrick & Struggles, discusses a continued risk aversion among the leadership of the Fortune 500. Companies seeking to fill directors’ chairs with only current or former CEOs will find it nearly impossible to increase diversity on […]
Tag Archives | Broadridge
Will UNFI Go Virtual-Only Again? Not if Shareowners Just Say No
James McRitchie, 10/06/2011 ,
Ever since ownership and management diverged, owners have met with those to whom they entrust their business. They do so at least annually to learn how the business is doing, to communicate, and to exercise their rights as owners. Last year United Natural Foods, one of the companies in my portfolio, announced they were breaking from […]
Don't Let Them Get Away With Stealing Elections
James McRitchie, 04/26/2011 ,
Glyn Holton’s How To Steal a Corporate Election informs us of recent outrages on how elections are tipped in favor of entrenched managers and boards. If you’ve taken the time to read his post, I urge you to take another five minutes to help remedy the situation. To address the situation at American Tower Corporation […]
CEOs Should Get Out Vote Among Employees Says Daly
James McRitchie, 04/04/2011 ,
In remarks before the National Press Club, the CEO of Broadridge, the nation’s largest shareholder communications company, called on all CEOs to encourage individual shareholders, including employee shareholders, to vote their proxies. In 2010, just one in 20 individual retail investors voiced their opinions about the companies they invested in by exercising their fundamental shareholder right. That […]
The Annual Meeting: From Gloss to Dialogue
James McRitchie, 03/17/2011 ,
Directors & Boards ran an important series of articles in its 1st quarter 2011 magazine on Fixing the Annual Meeting. Some excellent ideas are put forward, especially if we parse out the thoughtful from the conventional. (Link through the Shareholderforum to a compilation of most of the articles cited below from Directors & Boards and […]
Broadridge Smokes Their Own Dope
James McRitchie, 11/18/2010 ,
The rudimentary software Broadridge offers corporations for running virtual annual meetings disenfranchises shareowners. This was on display when Symantec Corp. hosted a virtual-only annual meeting with the software in September. It was again on display yesterday. There is an old saying that cautions “never smoke your own dope.” Broadridge didn’t heed that advice yesterday when […]
Q&A on Client Directed Voting
James McRitchie, 05/25/2010 ,
Historically, most retail shareowners have tossed their proxies. During the first year under the “notice and access” method for Internet delivery of proxy materials, less than 6% voted. This contrasts with almost all institutional investors voting, since they have a fiduciary duty to do so. “Client directed voting” (CDV), a term coined by Stephen Norman […]
Update on Virtual Shareowner Meetings
James McRitchie, 05/19/2010 ,
As they have done for the past few years, Intel Corp. hosted a hybrid shareowner meeting today, allowing shareowners to attend in person or via the Internet. This meeting was important because Intel had planned to make it a virtual meeting, hosted exclusively on the Internet. A strong reaction from shareowners prompted Intel to back […]
Ramblings on Votes, the Power of CorpGov.net, TCL and Jim Crow for Retail Shareowners
James McRitchie, 04/29/2010 ,
I see from Alcoa’s 8-K filing, that William Steiner’s proposal to end supermajority requirements won 68%. Last year, a similar proposal won 73% but this year management put their own proposals on the proxy, so some just voted for their proposals to end supermajority requirements in three areas. Management’s highest proposal won 736,143,769 votes, with […]
Jim Crow "Protections" for Retail Shareowners
James McRitchie, 04/19/2010 ,
A strange revolution, or perhaps a counter-revolution against management excesses, is under way, a quiet and orderly one of small capitalists, determined to win democracy and fair treatment from the tycoons they pay to manage American business. — Lewis D. Gilbert, Dividends and Democracy, 1956 John Chevedden sent me an e-mail over the weekend, attaching […]
"Corrected" Ballot at Altrea Tips Votes to Management
James McRitchie, 04/12/2010 ,
The latest development in the case of unfair ballots favoring management at Altrea is that Broadridge has now “corrected” the language on their voter information form (VIF) for the shareowner proposal to eliminate supermajority voting requirements. However, the “correction” fails to accurately portray the proposal at all, and simply places yet another hurdle in the […]
Abusive Practices Continue as VIFs Tilt Voting in Favor of Management
James McRitchie, 04/02/2010 ,
SEC Rule 14a-4(a)(3) states the proxy “shall identify clearly and impartially each separate matter intended to be acted upon, whether or not related to or conditioned on the approval of other matters, and whether proposed by the registrant or by security holders.” Broadridge claims they don’t have to follow the rules required for proxies because […]
Proxy Reform
James McRitchie, 01/14/2010 ,
Chris Kentouris takes up the issue of Who Pays for Proxy Reform? at Securities Industry News (1/12/2010) “In one corner is the New York-based Broadridge Financial, which is only too eager to tout the efficiencies of the current system in which it holds a virtual monopoly. It’s actually the world’s largest distributor of proxy materials […]
ABO? Better Yet, Eliminate Street Name
James McRitchie, 01/04/2010 ,
Chris Kentouris does a good job of explaining Kenneth Altman’s proposal to supplement the system of NOBOs and OBOs now used by banks and brokerages with an “all beneficial owners” (ABO) system. Under this approach, companies who have issued stock to the public would know exactly who their beneficial shareholders are at limited times during […]
Investors Against Genocide Fighting American Funds, Broadridge and Vague SEC Requirements: More Problems Solved Using Direct Registration
James McRitchie, 11/25/2009 ,
According to Investors Against Genocide, proxies issued directly by American Funds met the SEC standard (Rule 14a-4(a)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) by clearly indicating the vote was about not investing in companies that substantially contribute to genocide. However, according to American Funds, 50 – 60% of its shareholders hold their shares in […]
CalSTRS Breaking Ground with Broadridge and ProxyDemocracy
James McRitchie, 05/29/2009 ,
Yes, the huge California teachers fund is moving into a beautiful new headquarters building along the Sacramento River on June 22, but more importantly they are also taken what Gary Lutin, of the Shareholder Forum, says is "a major step in the development of a clearinghouse for shareholder voting recommendations." CalSTRS has become the first […]
Support Petition to Keep Blank Votes Blank
James McRitchie, 05/20/2009 ,
This morning, the SEC held a hearing on proxy access. By a three to two vote, Commissioners voted for proxy access. Democracy in corporate governance will dramatically improve with our right to nominate and elect directors, even if limited to 25% of the board. Directors may actually begin to feel dependent on the will of […]
July 2008
James McRitchie, 07/30/2008 ,
ESG Gaining Acceptance Since 2005, KLD has studied the S&P 100’s sustainability reporting practices for the Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network, a working group of the Social Investment Forum. The 2008 Sustainability Report Comparison reveals encouraging news. Of the 100 largest U.S. publicly-traded companies, 86 maintain corporate sustainability websites and 49 produced sustainability reports in 2007. These numbers represent significant progress […]