It’s been two months since the SRI Conference in Colorado Springs but I’m still digesting content, like the potential of Folio Investing, and following up with other attendees. #AllinForImpact continues in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, New York City, Boston and then Denver. Get to at least one of these conferences this year so you too can get inspired. The people and idea are […]
I’ve previously written two posts on California’s Savings Plus program and how one major contractor, Northern Trust has voted. (Part I & Part II) Below, I compare the votes of Northern Trust on proxy proposals with those recommended by the AFL-CIO. A similar exercise could be performed at any deferred compensation plan. Shareholders have voting rights, […]
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 […]
There are good neighbors. Then there is Nabors Industries, Inc. Those were the opening sentences of another excellent editorial at Pensions & Investments (Test of Governance Wills, June 30). See their cartoon at right, which is very close to portraying the truth about Nabors. (P&I’s other outstanding recent editorial was Winning over proxy voters, May 12.) […]
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. […]
EMC Corporation $EMC is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/30/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I checked and voted on 4/22/2014. I voted with management 13% of the time. View EMC’s Proxy Statement, which is user friendly. (more…)
Announcing the 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 Gillette, Wyoming, a town with less than 30,000 residents. Nominations are now being accepted for 2014. Yuanzhi Li and David Yermack studied the location […]
I joined for what was billed as a ‘fireside chat’ style presentation featuring Anne Simpson of CalPERS, Ralph Whitworth of Relational Investors, LLC, and Katherine Rabin of Glass, Lewis & Co., who will address the hot topics of this year’s proxy season. “Bring your burning questions and get the opinions of these experts.” (more…)
Below are some notes I took during the morning sessions at the Corporate Directors Forum 2014, held on the beautiful campus of the University of San Diego, January 26-28, 2014. This year, I was only able to attend on January 27th. The program was subject to the Chatham House Rule, so there will be little in the way of attribution […]
After posting Cisco Systems: Prime Target For Proxy Advisor Competition, Cisco Systems: Proxy Proposal #5 – 11 Q&A, and Cisco Systems (CSCO): How I Voted – Proxy Score 56 I am still getting the most basic question from funds trying to determine how to vote. That’s understandable. People lack the time necessary to analyze proxy issues. That’s one of […]
This timely book, edited by Joan Loughrey, brings together academics and practitioners to assess the efficacy of directors’ duties, or lack thereof, regarding shareholder litigation in the wake of the financial crisis. Although primarily focused on the UK and the Companies Act of 2006, the part played by the US and its regulatory scheme is not […]
Lecture given by Chad L. Norton, Vice President, Fund Business Management Group of Capital Research and Management Company at Banta Center for Business, Ethics and Society, University of Redlands. Mr. Norton previously served as corporate secretary of The New Economy Fund and SMALLCAP World Fund, Inc., two of Capital’s retail mutual funds, as well as American Funds Insurance Series, […]
Rose, Paul and Sharfman, Bernard S., Shareholder Activism as a Corrective Mechanism in Corporate Governance (September 11, 2013). Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 225. Available at SSRN. Type: Theoretical Research Issue: How can activism be utilized to allow corporate decision making to be executed in the most efficient manner? (more…)
Inside Investor Relations (IR) had an important article on July 30th, On the Way to the Investor Forum that raised the question: do companies really want to encourage their shareholders to chat about them in online forums? Wouldn’t it create a lot of work for investor relations officers (IROs) “who are responsible for monitoring these online […]
Activist, John Chevedden pushed for Google to change its capital structure to give all shares an equal vote. Most of us own Class A stock with one vote per share. But Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with Chairman Eric Schmidt, control about 64% of the votes through Class B stock with 10 […]
While the majority of shareholders continue to vote with management, a growing number of shareowners are giving more care and attention to how they vote, with several key votes in 2012 registering 20% or more of shareowners voting against management recommendations. (more…)
Board/Shareholder engagement is a topic receiving increased attention in the US. Many governance organizations and experts have been discussing this topic in an attempt to highlight the issues and challenges that have been expressed by the various constituencies including the directors, institutional shareholders (both US and global), activist shareholders, corporate management, regulators, (more…)
On This Week in the Boardroom (TWIB) James Copland, Director & Senior Fellow with the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, sits down with host, Scott Cutler, Executive Vice President, NYSE Euronext to review the results of Proxy Monitor 2012: A Report on Corporate Governance and Shareholder Activism. (more…)
BNN’s The Street is delivering an in-depth look at the growing number of shareholder uprisings. Activist investors are speaking out out at CP Rail, Yahoo, Astral Media and elsewhere. And, they’re not just taking on management. They’re winning their battles too. Click here for more. (more…)
Shareholder Spring Power of the Proxy. CNBC interview with Michael Garland, NYC Comptroller’s director of corporate governance and Lisa Lindsley, of AFSCME. (more…)
Shareholder Democracies?: Corporate Governance in Britain and Ireland before 1850 addresses a central issue. Current governance structures often allow managers to pursue their own interests. According to some, a dissemblance of democracy has led to “elitism and self-interest in the boardroom,” resulting in (more…)
Learn to minimize the “risk” of proxy access and more in this free webinar from Corporate Secretary. Listen to find out how proactive governance can protect you, your board, your company and your brand in our free webinar at 12 noon EDT on April 26, 2012. (more…)
Powered by Jackie Cook’s Fund Votes, a handy list of upcoming meetings. Research voting guidelines and meeting dates (more…)
I’ve been browsing around SharkRepellent.net for a few minutes a day for a few days. Unlike many of the sites I discuss, this one costs money to access but for many the cost may be well worth it. SharkRepellent offers in-depth research the takeover (more…)
TheShareholderActivist.com™ is a new source for information and advice to facilitate responsible shareholder activism. The site includes tools, tactics, and techniques to help retail investors fully exercise their rights in publicly traded (more…)
Stakeholder Theory: Impact and Prospects edited by Robert A. Phillips provides a great education in history to those of us who have been using the term “stakeholder” but who have little idea of its origins. Honoring the twenty-fifth anniversary of R. Edward Freeman’s Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Phillips assembles a collection of commentaries and critiques […]
My say on director pay will be on the Apple proxy (embedded links added): 6 – Shareholder Say on Director Pay Resolved: Shareholders request that our Board of Directors adopt a policy that provides shareholders the opportunity, at each annual meeting, to vote on an advisory proposal, prepared by the Board of Directors, to ratify […]
Francis Byrd, Laurel Hill Advisory Group, Jeffrey Morgan, National Investor Relations Institute and Kenneth Wagner, Peabody Energy Corporation, discussed the governance roadshow idea at the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals conference in June. Now might be the time to begin preparing to engage shareholders with such an effort – especially since the recent […]
This session was the last for me at the fabulous Yale Governance Forum 2011. I had to leave this session early, missed the last one, missed the Rising Stars event and all those other sessions during the breakout. The session was held under Chatham house rule, so no citing people or their organization when discussing what […]
The second session of the second day of the Yale Governance Forum 2011 was held under Chatham House Rule. Panelists were announced in advance, so that is no secret, but under the rule those reporting must not attribute what was said to specific individuals on the panel or in the audience. Stephen Davis was the moderator. […]
Into the second day of the Yale Governance Forum 2011 and I began to relax among friends, not being quite as conscientious about taking notes but here are a few tidbits from an interesting discussion between Kurt Schacht and Jules Kroll. Schacht introduced Kroll by noting that everyone has taken aim at the credit rating agencies. Questions were raised […]
The fourth session of the Yale Governance Forum 2011 was was a breakout. All four sessions looked great. I choose the one on social networking held under Chatham House Rule. Under the rule those reporting must not attribute what was said to specific individuals on the panel or in the audience. This discussion was especially interactive, […]
This was the third session of the Yale Governance Forum 2011, one that I’ve already noted was the best yet of the several I’ve attended. Like the first session, the third was held under Chatham House Rule. There’s no secret as to who the panelists were, but under the rule those reporting must not attribute what […]
The second session, Can Investors Behave Long Term?, of the Yale Governance Forum 2011 was held “on the record.” In some respects, that makes it even more difficult to report. I’m not a quick note taker, so would welcome comments from any who attended the forum, especially panelists, concerning what transpired. As I recall, Keith Ambachtsheer, author of […]