Settlement with Broadridge reached to include the language below in their proxy. I then withdrew my proposal, and they withdrew their no-action request. (SEC file) After considering issuer practices during virtual shareholder meetings and to respect the voice of our shareholders, during our annual meeting we will pause to allow time for stockholders to ask […]
Charles Schwab 2022 annual meeting is on May 17, 2022, at 11:30 am Pacific. It is a virtual-only meeting. Of course, I recommend voting in advance, especially since they have made it very difficult to vote at the meeting and maybe even to enter the meeting. To enhance corporate governance and long-term value, vote Against Ellis, […]
IQVIA Holdings 2022 made the list. Our company is near the top for ‘overpaid’ healthcare CEOs, number 20 of the 100 most overpaid CEOs. IQVIA Holdings 2022 annual meeting is April 12, 2022, at 9:00 am EDT at the Hilton Garden Inn Danbury, 119 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, Connecticut. Although IQVA is a healthcare company and we […]
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…)
Constructive engagement is, supposedly, the primary reason for the SEC’s proposed new rules. As Chairman Clayton noted, Today’s proposed amendments follow from the staff’s extensive experience with shareholder proposals and recognize the significant changes that have taken place in our markets in the decades since these regulatory requirements were last revised, including, in particular, the […]
Climate Action 100+ calls for trade association accountability on climate change. 200 institutional investors with a combined $6.5 trillion in assets-under-management are calling on 47 of the largest US publicly traded corporations to align their climate lobbying with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Lobbying activities that are inconsistent with meeting climate goals are an investment […]
Facebook CalSTRS court clash seeks to reform governance practices. The California Teachers’ Retirement (CalSTRS) Board recently announced it will make a motion to be added as a plaintiff to a pending derivative case against Facebook’s leadership, including CEO/Chairman Mark Zuckerberg in line with the fund’s Corporate Governance Program and Portfolio Policy. (more…)
CalSTRS Corporate Governance Division Seeks Investment Officer II The CalSTRS Investments Branch seeks a motivated individual to work as an Investment Officer II in the Corporate Governance Division. Qualified readers should apply to this opportunity of a lifetime. Many decades ago, I helped persuade CalPERS to form a corporate governance unit. They chose one of […]
SSgA critical of GHG short-term perspective offered up by oil and gas, mining and utility disclosures on addressing greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to maintain a salubrious environment, much of the coal and oil will turn out to be stranded assets. Given that reality, I reallocated most positions I had in this sector to […]
2019 CalPERS CalSTRS Diversity Forum lived up to its billing as a unique opportunity to engage with industry leaders and experts on diversity and inclusion topics such as: The “Why” and “How” of driving diversity and inclusion Building and sustaining a positive corporate culture Human Capital Management metrics and their value to investors In the following […]
NAM Board Targeted Investors led by Walden Asset Management, New York Common and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) called on 45 companies sitting on the Executive Committee and Board of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to end the trade association’s attacks on shareholders. The investors’ letter asks the companies to distance themselves […]
Listing standards change sought by the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). CII filed petitions with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ, asking both to limit listings of companies with dual-class share structures. They have taken the right approach to address a growing problem. I hope it ends a worldwide race to the […]
NCR Recent Governance Developments: Typical Statement In a section of NCR Recent Governance Developments, the first paragraph was not unusual. They touted their shareholder engagement and the fact that the Board adopted a proxy access bylaw. As is typical, they fail to mention they did so because we filed a shareholder proposal on that topic. […]
CalSTRS was named a Best Place to Work in Money Management for 2017 by Pensions & Investments magazine. This year’s honor is the third CalSTRS has garnered—the only public pension plan to do so. They could cinch a fourth such honor by surveying member values. Pensions & Investments, a global news source for money management, created the […]
CalPERS and CalSTRS sponsored the California Diversity Forum in Sacramento (“America’s Most Diverse City”) on Wednesday, May 12, 2017, bringing together investment and corporate executives to discuss how to better capitalize on the abilities of the diverse modern workforce. Diversity is both morally right and profitable. Narrowing the global gender gap would add $12 trillion in […]
CalPERS and CalSTRS sponsored a diversity forum in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 12, 2017. The goal of the Diversity Forum was to bring together investment and corporate executives to discuss how to better capitalize on the abilities of the diverse modern workforce. While I think diversity should be adopted simply because it is morally right, […]
The Global Stewardship at Work report, its 2015—16 sustainability report. was released by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS). This is the third year the system published the report, which is based on the Global Reporting Initiative G4 Guidelines. In 2015, CalSTRS became the first U.S. public pension plan to issue a sustainability report that met the […]
Directors Forum 2017 in San Diego was billed as Directors, Management, & Shareholders in Dialogue. Sure, all well and good, but I went there also hoping to learn more about President Donald J. Trump. He is the subject of a huge portion of tweets, Facebook posts and much of the news, so I expected Trump to also […]
Investor Stewardship Group Launches Stewardship Framework for 2018 The Investor Stewardship Group (link), a collective of some of the largest U.S.-based institutional investors and global asset managers, along with several of their international counterparts, announced the launch of the Framework for U.S. Stewardship and Governance, a historic, sustained initiative to establish a framework of basic standards […]
Large institutional investors, concerned about portfolio risks stemming from the effects of global warming, are calling for climate-competent boards and directors as part of their fiduciary responsibility to preserve and enhance the long-term value of their investment assets. Despite the anticipated rollback of climate related governmental policies such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power […]
3D Moves to Equilar. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today announced the Diverse Director DataSource (3D) will now be available through the Equilar Diversity Network. The new partnership marks an exciting milestone for the 3D, a database the two pension funds jointly developed in 2011. 3D […]
WEST SACRAMENTO, CA – The California State Teachers’ Retirement System is searching for public equity investment managers with an environmental, social and governance focus. There are up to six new ESG manager spots available for consideration. This is a great opportunity for ESG focused PE Managers. You will be working with one of the most progressive funds […]
Senators seek to rein in hedge funds through legislation by narrowing the window in which hedge funds must file 13D disclosures with the SEC once they have taken a 5% stake in a company. Right now that window is 10 days. The bill would reduce that to two days. The bill also seeks to block activist “wolf […]
There it was under my tree, Reeds delivered a corrected proxy for Christmas! Santa has finally been good to Reeds (REED) shareholders. I’m tacking notification of the corrected proxy as a sign that Founder/CEO, Christopher Reed might be at the start of a new attitude toward SEC rules and corporate governance, I changed my vote. […]
Medtronic PLC ($MDT) manufactures and sells device-based medical therapies worldwide. Medtronic is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on December 11, 2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 44% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the proxy […]
WDFC develops and sells maintenance products, and homecare and cleaning products. WDFC is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on December 8, 2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the vote of one fund when I checked. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 100% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my recommendations on how to vote the proxy in […]
Microsoft Corporation (MFST), a technology company, develops, licenses, and supports software products, services, and devices worldwide. Microsoft is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on December 2, 2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of five funds when I checked. I voted with the Board’s recommendations 62% of the time. View Proxy Statement. iiWisdom provides a nice interactive viewing platform […]
In response to proxy access proposals filed this year, both Whole Foods Market (WFM) and H&R Block (HRB) have adopted proxy access. While I had filed standard proposals seeking the ability of shareholders with 3% of shares held for 3 years to be able to nominate up to 25% of the board, both companies adopted […]
Facebook Inc (NASD:FB) operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 6/10/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of three fund families when I checked and voted on 6/8/2015. I added the votes of CalSTRS in the table below. Like ALL the pre-disclosing funds, I voted […]
Kite Pharma Inc (NASD:KITE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on the development and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy products and is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 6/8/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of one fund when I checked and voted on 6/1/2015. However, I also picked up the votes of CalSTRS. […]
The Walt Disney Company $DIS will hold their annual meeting tomorrow (3/12/2014). Today is the last day to vote unless you attend the meeting. My voting recommendations are at The Walt Disney Company (DIS): Proxy Score 79. Since that post a few additional funds have voted and there has been further debate: (more…)
Update: Preliminary voting results indicate that our proxy access proposal got 39% of the vote. Yes, the proposal could have been worded to more closely conform to the Rule 14a-11 standards. Hopefully, Apple got the message and will propose a “best practices” revision of their articles and bylaws as needed for the 2016 annual meeting. […]
The Thirty Percent Coalition’s Institutional Investors continued their active “Adopt a Company” campaign following a series of letters sent to approximately 160 companies in the S&P 500 and Russell 1000 with no women on their boards. The third letter writing campaign to increase gender diversity in the boardroom in the fall of 2014 was supported […]
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), which operates membership warehouses, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 1/29/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org lists the votes of 6 funds from 5 fund families. You can also find votes from CalSTRS and OTPP. I voted with management 36% of the time and assigned them a proxy score of 36. […]
In a global first, a group of institutional asset owners and managers are jointly calling for comprehensive transparency and disclosure to be adopted as core principles in reform of the international taxation system to be put before the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane this weekend. The group including the £150B UK Local Authority Pension Fund […]