Reform No-Action Process Reform no-action process. That was the call of a recent letter by the Shareholder Rights Group to John Coates in his new role as Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. The letter is posted below. Some formatting changes were made and I added links to put our request to reform […]
Prison labor disclosure was supported by shareholders at TJX, voting 38% of shares in favor of an initiative from NorthStar Asset Management at their June 4, according to a preliminary vote report. See NorthStar’s rebuttal to Board’s opposition statement. (more…)
Proxy Preview 2019 reveals intensified shareholder pressure on corporations across a wide range of ESG issues from climate and political spending to women. Investors with a conscience; we are having a bigger impact every year. Download the report and/or watch webinar here. (more…)
NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., a Boston-based wealth management firm, announced that it has published a white paper outlining its perspective on the issue of domestic (U.S) prison labor in company supply chains, and recommending best practices for companies and investors to uncover and respond to abusive labor practices. Prison Labor in the United States: An […]
$COST, Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates membership warehouses. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. $COST has supermajority vote requirements (66.67%) to amend certain charter provisions, a classified board with staggered terms, and no written consent unless unanimous by all shareholders. In short, reasonable shareholder rights are missing. […]
At Alphabet, Inc.’s most recent annual meeting on June 7, 2017, class A shareholders overwhelmingly supported a shareholder proposal asking company management to recapitalize the share structure so that each share has one vote. According to the proponents of the proposal, assuming that all outstanding class B shares were similarly voted, then up to 99.8% of […]
At the June 7 annual shareholder meeting of Alphabet, shareholders will vote for a sixth year in a row to weigh in on tech-giant Alphabet’s unequal voting structure. Today is the last day to vote without attending the meeting tomorrow. Shareholders are expected to vote in favor of the Recapitalization Plan for all Stock to Have […]
After engagement with shareholders, two California-based water utilities, California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) and American States Water (NYSE: AWR), have adopted policies confirming a commitment to support the human right to water. Sparked by shareholder proposals filed last fall by Boston-based socially responsible investment firm NorthStar Asset Management, Inc., these two human right to water policies are the first at […]
The SRI Service Award is one of the most prestigious awards given in the corporate governance industrial complex… and this one is for work in the field of Sustainable, Responsible, Impact investing. No one has to excuse themselves for working in SRI. Like motherhood and apple pie, SRI is inarguably good… although there are still a […]
FedEx LGBT Employees Subject to State-Sponsored Discrimination I’ve already provided my suggested votes at FedEx ($FDX) at FedEx (FDX): Proxy Score 44. September 25th is the last day to vote online. However, the following came in today from my friend of NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. concerning their proposal #7 Report Application of Company Non-Discrimination Policies in States With Pro-Discrimination […]
Procter & Gamble Company (PG), which manufactures and sells branded consumer packaged goods, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 10/14/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 9/20/2014. I voted with management 44% of the time and assigned them a proxy score of 44. View Proxy […]
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 […]
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…)
Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/25/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 4/22/2013. I voted with management 76% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor of […]