SEC Trampled Rights. September 23 was a bad day for shareholders, society, and the environment. It was an action typical of the Trump Administration, where political appointees work counter to the missions of regulatory bodies. The only significant “support” for the amendments from shareholders came from a few fake letters, which Chairman Clayton read into […]
Apple 2020 annual meeting is 2/26/2020. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST Al Gore (1C); Art Levinson (1E); Ron Sugar (1F), pay and the auditor. Vote FOR shareholder proposals #4 Proxy Access Amendments; #5 Report Link Pay to Sustainability; and #6 Report on Freedom of Expression. (more…)
The Making of a Democratic Economy: How to Build Prosperity for the Many, Not the Few by Marjorie Kelly, Ted Howard, Naomi Klein (Foreword). Buy the book. As Naomi Klein notes in the Forward, We need to know what we are for as well as what we’re against… It’s not enough to imagine that another world is […]
Alphabet 2019 annual meeting is June 19th. To enhance long-term value WITHHOLD vote from all directors. Vote AGAINST all Board proposals and FOR all shareholder proposals, especially #4 to recapitalize shares. (more…)
Amazon 2019 annual meeting is May 22nd, so vote online by May 21st. To enhance long-term shareholder value, vote AGAINST Thomas Ryder, pay and auditor. Vote FOR all shareholder proposals EXCEPT #12 Report on Board Ideologies. (more…)
MICUS 2019 was my first Morningstar investment conference. It was HUGE, with lots interesting exhibits, speakers and attendees. I had a chance to chat with Ray Sin who, along with Ryan Murphy and Samantha Lamas, authored The True Faces of Sustainable Investing: Busting Industry Myths Around ESG. Additionally, I got a chance to play a […]
Real-time proxy voting disclosure by big funds could drive competition for investments from individual investors and smaller institutional investors with few resources for proxy analysis. Such disclosures would also go a long way in solving problems raised by Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Lucian Bebchuk, and the Main Street Investors Coalition regarding potential […]
The deceptive title of a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal would not keep politics out of the boardroom. Instead, the recommendations would deny shareholders the right to request boards disclose those politics, in addition to denying many other long-standing rights. Read the op-ed and weep that such trash gets published in the Journal. This […]
Alphabet 2018 proxy recommendations. Alphabet is run by an Oligarchy. Will $GOOG overlords give up their position as a dictatorship? Are companies governed by dictatorships and oligarchies healthy for democratic governments? Shareholders can vote for change. Alphabet Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides online advertising services in the United States and internationally. Most shareholders do not vote […]
Part 4 28th Annual SRI Conference in San Diego. Search #AllinForImpact on Twitter to see more posts. See Parts 1, 2, and 3. Yes, I know, this conference was held months ago but I’m still digesting… maybe until the next one. I could spend a productive year just exploring links to the work of the speakers. Mark […]
Sorry, this Caterpillar Inc Proxy Voting Guide comes late, since tomorrow is the last day to vote unless you attend the annual meeting. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives for heavy and general construction, rental, quarry, aggregate, mining, waste, material […]
PayPal Proxy Voting Guide by CorpGov.net. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) operates as a technology platform company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants worldwide. PayPal is one of the stocks in my portfolio. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three fund families when I checked and voted. Their annual meeting is coming up on May […]
Tipping Points 2016, a new state-of-the-industry report profiled 50 investors investors with $17.3 trillion in assets, finds that investors are deliberately incorporating new investment approaches to help address systems-level risks and opportunities. The study indicates that investors are intentionally attempting to influence systems-level risk factors previously ignored as beyond the impact-ability of institutional investors. The report identifies ten tools […]
I continue my review of The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Board Member. With the current post, I provide comments on Part 7 of the book, Governance of Sustainability. This is why I got into the field as an NIMH Fellow in the late 1970s studying what forms of corporate governance would be […]
#ICGN16 was the hashtag for tweeting about the 2016 annual meeting of the International Corporate Governance Network held in San Francisco, June 27 – 29th, 2016. Check Twitter for additional posts to #ICGN16. What follows are a few of my rough notes from the conference. Accuracy for details isn’t one of my noted strengths, so […]
Facebook Inc (NASD:FB), one of the companies in my portfolio, builds products that enable people to connect and share through mobile devices and personal computers. Their annual meeting is coming up on June 20, 2016. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three fund families when I checked. Vote AGAINST pay, pay committee, board; FOR all shareholder proposals. I voted […]
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc (NYSE:CMG, $CMG) develops and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, which serve a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads. It is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on May 11, 2016. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of 2 funds when I […]
CivicSpark, a partnership of California’s Local Government Commission and the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research is an AmeriCorps program dedicated to building capacity in local governments to address climate change. They are now recruiting team members for the 2015-16 service year. Follow on Facebook and Twitter @LGC_media. CivicSpark: Climate Leaders If you are interested in joining the next generation of climate […]
Sustainability innovation is powering business growth, according to a new research report. Between 2010 and 2013, revenues from company-defined portfolios of sustainable products and services grew by 91% among the companies examined in the report. For S&P Global 100 companies that break out revenue for sustainable products or services separately, that revenue stream grew at […]
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 […]
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Chipotle Mexican Grill develops and operates fast-casual, fresh Mexican food restaurants throughout the U.S., which serve a focused menu of healthy burritos, tacos, burrito bowls and salads. The company also has restaurants in Canada, England, France and Germany. Their annual meeting is coming up […]
Gilead Sciences $GILD is one of the stocks in my portfolio. They are a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative medicines in areas of unmet medical need Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/6/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the votes of four funds when I checked and voted on 4/28/2015. I voted with management 47% of the time […]
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. They offer a comprehensive selection of merchandise, which include equine, livestock, pet and small animal products; hardware, truck, towing and tool products; seasonal products, including lawn and garden items, power equipment, gifts and toys; maintenance products for agricultural and rural use, and work/recreational clothing and […]
Starbucks Corporation $SBUX, which operates as a roaster, marketer, and retailer of specialty coffee worldwide, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 3/18/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had the votes of four funds (now more) when I checked and voted on 3/8/2015. I voted with management 81% of the time and assigned Starbucks a […]
The Conference on the Use and Misuse of Stock Price will take place on Friday, September 19, 2014, from 9:00AM-5:30PM at Columbia Law School in New York City and will be hosted by the Millstein Center and IRRC Institute. Mark your calendar. (more…)
CalPERS Senior Portfolio Manager and Director of Global Governance, Anne Simpson, discusses how environmental, social, and governance behaviors impact corporate performance and highlights recent Board policy statements concerning three forms of capital: financial, physical and human. Read the transcript on the CalPERS site. (more…)
Chipotle Mexican Grill, $CMG, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/15/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked and voted on 5/8/2014. I voted with management 0% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted […]
Corporate boards are exceeding legal oversight requirements on environmental and social issues, with more than half of S&P 500 companies providing board level oversight of environmental and/or social issues above and beyond that required by law. Board Oversight of Sustainability Issues finds that many industries subject to scrutiny – paper, forestry, healthcare, utility companies – are among the most […]
The Hong Kong Corporate Governance Excellence Awards 2013, jointly organized by The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies (“CHKLC”) and the Centre for Corporate Governance and Financial Policy (“CCGFP”) of Hong Kong Baptist University is open for nomination until September 23, 2013. (more…)
I received my copy of the November edition of Corporate Governance: An International Review a couple of weeks ago (yes, they usually run late). It is a special issue on executive compensation with the usual diversity of well-researched articles from around the globe. I notice that most, if not all, of the articles are available online […]
(Reuters, 18 December 2012) The number of S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies managing and reporting performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues more than doubled from 2010 to 2011, according to an analysis by Governance & Accountability Institute. G&A Institute, the data partner for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in the US, UK and Ireland, says […]
Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute of Directors in 1992, are now regarded by many as holy grail of Corporate Excellence worldwide. The Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat receives over 1,000 entries per year for various awards, from over 25 countries worldwide. IoD sees the Golden Peacock Award as a powerful way to build a […]
Corporate Governance and the Global Financial Crisis: International Perspectives by William Sun, Jim Stewart, and David Pollard addresses the worldwide crisis that cost Americans an estimated average of $188,000 per household. We will be paying back that debt for decades… or perhaps more accurately, our children will be paying back that debt. Yes, we’ve passed the […]
Last year, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) produced a report, the goal of which was to help the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) improve the quality of sustainability reporting by Chinese companies. While SSE was “one of the first stock exchanges to issue a directive for companies to publish a sustainability report,” IFC noted, “Existing frameworks […]
The UK’s industry-led Investment Governance Group (IGG) recently published a best practice guidance for defined contribution (DC) pensions, which include six principles for DC schemes designed to encourage better investment governance and decision making by all stakeholders, including trustees, employers, advisers, providers, and members. As I glance at this guidance it makes me realize how […]