The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for its February 19 roundtable on ways to improve the proxy voting process. The roundtable, announced in January, will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will be divided into two panels. Participants on the first panel will focus on the state of contested director elections […]
United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) , which distributes and retails natural, organic, and specialty foods, as well as non-food products primarily in the United States and Canada, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 12/17/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org was down when I checked and voted on 12/14/2014. I hope they are able to obtain […]
… If the stockholder is to regard himself as a continuing part-owner of the business in which he has placed his money, he must be ready at times to act like a true owner and to make the decisions associated with ownership. If he wants his interests fully protected he must be willing to do […]
James McRitchie, the publisher of Corporate Governance and one of three retail shareowners accused in the New York Times of holding Corporate America ‘hostage,’ will be in Colorado Springs November 8th through the 12th, attending the SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing. I am eager to meet with readers to discuss activist corporate governance strategies and […]
Entrenched corporate elites may need to up their public opinion game. Robert Monks and Nell Minow are near the top of their attack list. (Shareholder crusaders Monks and Minow speak out) Having been sued several times for having the audacity to make recommendations to boards via shareowner proposals, I’m on there too. (see EMC v. […]
Most people don’t like their behavior criticized. CEOs and boards almost always fight my proxy proposals aimed at improving corporate governance. I wasn’t happy with the Deal Professor’s criticisms of my shareowner activism in his August 19th NYTimes article, Grappling With the Cost of Corporate Gadflies. He also criticizes John Chevedden and William Steiner. I stewed for days […]
Amy L. Goodman and John F. Olson, both of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP posted Shareholder Proposal Developments During the 2014 Proxy Season on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation yesterday. It included some good information and analysis but seemed a bit too much like the response to a shareholder […]
The following on shareholder rights by Timothy Smith, Director of ESG Shareowner Engagement at Walden Asset Management, originally appeared in the Summer 2014 Edition of Walden’s Values Newsletter, which included the usual disclaimer at the bottom. I’ve added the links and have tacked on some additional reformatted comments from Timothy Smith regarding the role of individual investors in prompting reform. […]
This is the last in a three part series. See also Fiduciary Duty to Announce Votes (Part 1): Editorial Calls For Advanced Disclosure and Fiduciary Duty to Announce Votes (Part 2): Historical Background. Take Action: Ask your mutual fund, pension fund, and/or endowment to: Send you a copy of their proxy voting policies and their proxy […]
Tesla Motors (TSLA) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 6/3/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of one fund when I checked and voted on 5/25/2014. I voted with management 17% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. What follows are my proxy voting recommendations for TSLA. (more…)
Guest Post from Darius Peek, a junior at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, majoring in Finance who presented our proposal to allow shareowners to call special meetings. ITC Holdings (ITC), the nation’s largest independent electric transmission company, held its annual shareholders meeting yesterday at its headquarters in Novi, Michigan. ITC invests in the electric transmission […]
As reported by CSRwire, Under Fire from Critics, Chevron CEO Quietly Moves Annual Shareholder Meeting to Remote Town In Texas. We are still in the midst of our second Foxhole of the Year Award for the company that makes it the most difficult for shareowners turn up at their annual meeting. Last year’s winner was Peabody Energy for their choice of […]
ITC Holdings $ITC, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/21/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of no funds when I checked and voted on 5/15/2014. I voted with management 50% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. My proxy voting recommendations follow. (more…)
Just a brief post to thank shareowners at Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) for sending a strong message to the company’s board and management. 77% of shares were voted against the executive pay package and a majority supported our proposal to end supermajority voting requirements. CalSTRS, Florida SBA, AFSCME, Calvert, Domini, Trillium, CBIS, CtW and many […]
Goldman Sachs Group $GS, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/16/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 5/11/2014. I voted with management 31% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. Compensation GS’s Summary Compensation Table shows CEO/Chair Lloyd C. Blankfein (more…)
Here’s an example of classy questioning at an AGM. Thanks to Ms. Soumerai for allowing me to reprint here. Good morning Mr. Tucci, members of the board, and fellow shareholders. My name is Heidi Soumerai and I am the Director of ESG Research at Walden Asset Management, a division of Boston Trust & Investment Management […]
Ford Motor Company $F is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on 5/8/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 5/4/2014. I voted with management 52% of the time. View Ford’s Proxy Statement, which is user friendly. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any […]
Gilead Sciences $GILD is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/7/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/28/2014. I voted with management 43% of the time. View GILD’s Proxy Statement, which has a linked Table of Contents. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the […]
Johnson & Johnson $JNJ is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/24/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/18/2014. I voted with management 67% of the time. View Proxy Statement, which is user friendly. (more…)
CorpGov.net publisher, James McRitchie presents proposal #5 for the 2014 annual meeting of shareowners, which requests the Board of The Coca-Cola Company move prospectively to an independent board chair. To see how I voted on the rest of the issues, click on The Coca-Cola Company (KO): How I Voted – Proxy Score 63 – Things Go […]
Citigroup Inc $C, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/22/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of no funds when I checked and voted on 4/15/2014. I voted with management 33% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Why an index with no links? That seems so basic. Perhaps Citi doesn’t want to make reading […]
Mike Tyrrell is Editor of SRI-Connect – an online research marketplace for professional institutional investors, analysts & companies interested in sustainable development. He is keen to open up the site to corporate governance analysts & corporate governance research. Mike kindly gave permission to reproduce the interview on CorpGov.net. (more…)
It is wonderful to have supportive friends, especially when they represent socially responsible investors and advisors. John Chevedden, Myra K. Young and James McRitchie extend sincere thanks to the following for sending letters of concern regarding their recent lawsuits against us to: EMC Corp, Omnicom, Express Scripts, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.: (more…)
Thanks in large part to Phil Goldstein, long-time friend and defender of the underdog, John Chevedden, James McRitchie (me), and Myra K. Young (my wife) we were able to get a third lawsuit dismissed. Like EMC and Omnicom (OMC) before, Chipotle (CMG) had sued in court, rather than seek a no-action letter from the SEC, alleging our […]
Starbucks Corporation $SBUX, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 3/19/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 3/9/2014. I voted with management 44% of the time. View Proxy Statement. (more…)
In a memorandum and order issued yesterday, Judge Louis L. Stanton, of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled John Chevedden’s motion to dismiss is granted. Omnicom’s motion for summary judgment is denied. “The clerk is requested to enter judgment dismissing the complaint, with costs and disbursements in favor of Mr. […]
The chilling effect of companies bypassing the SEC’s inexpensive ‘no-action’ process may be coming to an end. Apache, Waste Connections and a growing number of companies have been successful in US district courts in Texas. Finally, we won a landmark case in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The law can prevail, even against the weight […]
Testimony of James McRitchie Finance & Administration Committee, Agenda Item 6b, February 18, 2014 (Staff Report) As the Harold Stassen of CalPERS, having run for the Board more times unsuccessfully than anyone else, I have some experience with the governing rules and favor the actions recommended by staff but with additional improvements to recommendation 2, CEO […]
CorpGov.net publisher/shareowner activist, James McRitchie in the news. Shareholders push for more say over board members (WSJ’s MarketWatch), on proxy access proposals at Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Sued again for daring to file proxy proposals, EMC sues shareholder activists over bid to separate CEO, chairman roles (Boston Business Journal). They lost their ‘no-action’ request […]
Some have argued that Ralph Nader started socially responsible shareholder activism with Campaign GM, when the group filed shareholder proposals to expand GM’s board to include consumer advocates and empower shareholders to place their board nominees on GM’s proxy ballot (proxy access). According to a recent article in the WSJ, the longtime consumer advocate is now putting […]