Cognizant 2023. Fair Elections is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 6:30 am Pacific on June 6, 2023. Vote AGAINST Bali, Deskus, Mackay, Jr., Patsalos-Fox, Velli, Wijnberg, pay, incentive plan; FOR employee stock plan, auditor, fair elections, ratify termination pay. Join the meeting with your control number. […]
Walmart 2023. Fair Elections is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 8:30 am Pacific on May 31, 2023. Vote AGAINST Flynn, Harris, Horton, Mayer, Penner Stephenson, pay, auditor, #8, #11; FOR Fair Elections #9 and most other shareholder proposals. Join the meeting with your control number. I […]
Chipotle Mexican Grill 2023. Fair Elections is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 8:00 am Pacific on May 25, 2023. Vote AGAINST Baldocchi, Engles, Fili-Krushel, Gutierrez, Niccol, Winston, pay, auditor; FOR Fair Elections #5, Free Association #6. You cannot just join the meeting with your control number. […]
CVS Health 2023. Fair Elections is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 5:00 am Pacific on May 18, 2023. Vote Against Brown, Farah, Finucane, Million, auditor, pay, proposal #9; FOR shareholder proposals #5, #6, #7, #8. Join the meeting with your control number. (more…)
Proto Labs 2023 Fair Elections is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 6:30 am Pacific on May 17, 2023. Vote AGAINST all directors except Greiner, auditor, pay, incentive plan; FOR Blodgett, Fair Elections #5. Join the meeting with your control number. (more…)
Intuitive Surgical 2023 Pay Equity is just one of several issues to be voted on before the annual meeting at 3 pm Pacific on April 27, 2023. Vote AGAINST Levy, Johnson, Ladd, Nachtsheim, Reed, Pay; FOR#5 pay equity disclosure. (more…)
Christians are called to be “salt and light” in this world. This reference to a passage in the book of Matthew chapter 5 (vs. 13-16) speaks to the dual role we all can have in impacting our world for the better. To be salt is to be “in the world but not of it,” to […]
INDEX investors empowered by iconikapp can regain control of capitalism from the financial services industry. Invest indirectly in 500 companies & vote YOUR VALUES AUTOMATICALLY before each annual shareholder meeting. ONEFUND (ticker symbol INDEX) partnered with iconikapp.com to give retail investors a say in how the fund’s shares are voted. Iconikapp’s technology enables fund managers to […]
Pay Equity Disclosure 2023 is a hot topic for CorpGov.net thanks to assistance from Julia Cedarholm of Arjuna Capital, who contributed to their groundbreaking Racial and Gender Pay Scorecard. Arjuna’s efforts in this area and their reports since 2018 are impressive. Over the last seven years, 143 shareholder proposals requesting pay gap disclosures have been filed […]
NeevaAI is another option for harnessing the power of the web through AI. ChatGPT gives me a constant busy signal. Plus, NeevaAI may actually have some advantages. Tired of our Alphabet/Google overlords, I have been trying out neevia search for a while and like it. CorpGov.net’s days of ranking #1-5 in any search for corporate governance […]
ESG via UPC may be the next field of play for those interested in corporate governance reform. Corporate Accountability Forums will host a discussion with proxy advisor John Glenn Grau and activist investor Michael Levin on December 1, 2022, at noon Eastern time. How do new universal proxy card (UPC) rules make it easier for […]
Ownership: Reinventing companies, Capitalism, and Who Owns What by Corey Rosen and John Case should be read by every director on the board of public pension funds. I (James McRitchie) am planning to send a copy to all the board members of CalPERS once newly elected members take office next year. In celebration of […]
CalPERS investments underperform. CalPERS underperformed for a decade, investment chief says in pitch for more risk. The country’s largest public pension system earned an average of 7.7% per year on its investments over the last 10 years. That’s 1.2% less than a hypothetical peer should have expected to earn in the same time period. To remedy the […]
Musings Missed Musings; not all of mine got mentioned at the Forum. I had the distinct pleasure of being a panelist at the Public Funds Forum 2022 with Maine’s Treasurer Henry Beck and David Wescoe, Executive Director of the Texas Municipal Retirement System. Our topic was Best Practices in Fund Governance. I thought of several […]
Saving American Democracy in the Age of Citizens United, that’s the subtitle of a new book by Robert A.G. Monks entitled The Emperor’s Nightmare. The subtitle speaks to the book’s forward thrust. The title puts that in the context of a long journey in corporate governance by Monks. The cover of Power and Accountability in 1991 […]
Presentation by Phone. John Chevedden recently reminded me, “I just got the first company to have a 2022 in-person annual meeting to give me a telephone number for my telephone presentation of my rule 14a-8 proposal.” (more…)
Bruce Herbert on Vote counting, Chevron, and the changing tide of investor awareness. That’s a small fraction of Bruce Herbert’s focus at Newground Social Investment and some of what we will discuss on April 11, @ 11 am Pacific (2 pm Eastern). Register. CorpEngage.net houses links to scheduled Corporate Accountability Forums and a growing number of […]
21st Century Investing: Redirecting Financial Strategies to Drive Systems Change is one book we hope investment fund trustees are reading and taking advice from. There are far too many green-washing funds trying to appeal to our green wishes. Money is flowing into ESG funds faster than ever. Many of us recognize that investing and shareholder advocacy […]
2022 Corporate Accountability forums begin 2/22 at 11 am Pacific (2 pm Eastern) with Brandon Rees as our first guest speaker using our own Zoom account and registration process. Each session will last 60 or more, so everyone should get a chance to join the discussion. Flexibility is key, so meeting days and times will […]
Restore shareholder proposal rights to the pre-Trump era level. That is the objective of the complaint (pdf 2021 06 15 ICCR Complaint) filed this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC’s) recent amendments to the rule governing the filing of shareholder proposals. The revised […]
Alarm.com Holdings 2021 annual meeting is June 9, 6 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. You will need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. Warning: You will need to obtain a legal proxy and upload it at least 2-3 […]
Yelp 2021 annual meeting is June 3, 9:30 AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit here. To participate, you need the 16-digit control number provided on your proxy card or voting instruction form. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST Hu, Wells, Auditor, […]
True Shareholder Democracy? Jeff Sommer at the New York Times thinks he’s glimpsed the future. (A Glimpse of a Future With True Shareholder Democracy) He is off the mark but focuses on a fundamental issue, John Coates’ The Problem of Twelve. Should twelve people control US public companies? True Shareholder Democracy? More important than INDEX’s […]
Proxy Season 2021 Investor Sentiment Study: Background Proxy Season 2021 Investor Sentiment Study finds the rise and influence of individual investors presents unique opportunities to engage new investors like never before. A new survey from Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) highlights how new and younger retail investors are thinking about investing and this year’s proxy […]
S&P Global 2021 annual meeting is May 5, 8AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit www.meetingcenter.io/283714745. You will need your control number. Of course, I recommend voting in advance. To enhance long-term value. Vote AGAINST , the Auditor, and Pay. Vote FOR . With my broker (TD Ameritrade), the […]
Amazon Shareholders Unite Amazon Shareholder Unite for two two-way dialogues. Last summer I warned that chat rooms are the key missing ingredient at virtual shareholder meetings. Chat rooms before and after meetings would allow shareholders to interact informally with each other and with corporate representatives, as they do at in-person meetings. Virtual chat rooms would […]
SEC to Protect Shareholder Rights in 2021 Shareholder rights in 2021 will strengthen if recent speculation is realized. U.S. Senate Democrats aim to undo Trump-era shareholder voting rights rule. Shareholder Rights in 2021: History As discussed elsewhere on CorpGov.net (Review: Carl Gershenson). After its founding, the SEC was largely a champion of shareholder rights, requiring companies […]
The Giant Shadow of Corporate Gadflies, by Yaron Nili and Kobi Kastiel, (download at SSRN) is one of the more objective reviews of the recent influence of “gadflies” on corporate governance in America. It might have been even better if the authors had discussed their work with the subjects of their study – the gadflies. (Disclosure: […]
WD-40 2020, where employee voice and empowerment is on the ballot. The WD-40 2020 annual meeting is Tuesday, December 8th. To enhance long-term value, vote AGAINST the auditor and FOR all other items, including #4. $WDFC (more…)
ESG Options in DC Plans? Morningstar can help you find them. President Trump’s Department of Labor aims to limit ESG investing in retirement plans, although even law firms recognize the need for ESG research. Fund flows and investor interest remained high according to Morningstar’s research, even amid the year’s earlier market downturn. Insights from Morningstar discuss how the Presidential […]
Climate Risk Hypocrites exposed by Morningstar’s Jackie Cook and Tom Lauricella. The authors found support for climate-related proposals rose at Fidelity, State Street Global Advisors, and Vanguard. Support fell at American Funds and BlackRock. (Top Fund Companies’ Climate Change Votes: A Very Mixed Picture) (more…)
BlackRock 8-K of October 6th contains good news for shareholders. I frequently complain about BlackRock because their actions, especially proxy voting, are out of sync with their positive ESG statements. (see BlackRock Action Update) However, it is also appropriate to give their board credit for proposing important corporate governance reforms to be voted at the […]
#MICUS 2020, the Morningstar conference, had so much to write about during day 1 that it may take me a month or so to go through it. Register for day 2 if you missed the first day. I just heard Larry Fink, of BlackRock. For someone heading the largest pile of investment money in the […]
Trump celebrates labor day. Many who actually labor cringe at his repulsive words and actions. There are far instances too many to mention. Below are a few that are top of mind. (more…)
ESG Rulemaking by DOL – comments are in. Several investor organizations and financial industry firms released an analysis of the more than 8,700 public comments on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rulemaking on the consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in ERISA-governed retirement plans. There is overwhelming opposition to the “Financial Factors […]