A whopping 72% of new board members at S&P 500 companies come from underrepresented groups, according to an analysis from executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart. However, overall board diversity has not increased by much due to low turnover...
... finance that involves considering material financial risks from environmental factors, social issues and questions of corporate governance...
Congress, having made a fundamental policy judgment to require “full and fair” disclosure to protect investors, directed the Commission to make ongoing subsidiary choices of precisely what details of disclosure to require and when, after engaging in fact-finding and analysis that Congress chose not to try to do itself...
Last week, the CEO of real estate company Redfin, Glenn Kelman, announced the company was laying off 8% of its employees in an email, saying that demand for the company’s realtor services had fallen 17% below expectations in May...
Corporate board term limits won’t resolve all the issues boards need to address, but they are a good place to start, writes Theresa Hamacher. Dreamstime About the author: Theresa Hamacher is the chair of the board of the Morningstar Funds Trust and president of consulting firm, Versanture Consulting, LLC. There’s been a debate for many years about the nature of corporate board term limits...
The chair of NIRI says she has not seen activists leverage ESG as often as traditional shareholder proposals in the 2022 proxy season so far and the ESG proposals that are tabled are rarely passed. IR Magazine caught up with Victoria Sivrais, chair of the US association of IROs and a partner at the strategic communications firm Clermont Partners, during the NIRI 2022 Annual Conference this month...
No corporate director dreams of sitting on an ineffective board—yet many will find themselves serving on a board that underperforms relative to their expectations...
Class actions alleging the board of directors breached its fiduciary duties have become increasingly prevalent, as shareholders seek to hold companies liable for operations management, even across multiple corporate layers...
A fund run by the activist billionaire shaking up Unilever has found itself in the crosshairs of its own top shareholders...
ESG adoption is on the rise, fuelled by client demand and a desire to make an impact. As ESG momentum continues to gain steam, investors are refining and evolving their strategies...
Millions of people are invested in the stock market through BlackRock’s index-tracking funds. As these passive investments have grown in popularity, so have the firm’s stakes in 13,000 companies world-wide. And so has the clout of BlackRock’s investment stewardship team...
EA CEO Andrew Wilson stands on stage at a video game showcase contemplating his next million. The CEO of Madden maker Electronic Arts is set to rake in $19.8 million in total compensation for his company’s strong performance in 2021. That’s about half of what it was for 2020 after EA’s Board of Directors cracked down on exorbitant bonuses in the face of shareholder backlash, but still several hundred times more than what some of EA’s lowest-paid employees make during this time of record inflation. “For fiscal year 2022, the annual total compensation of our ...
Recent pushback on ESG is a sign that it is evolving, with stakeholders taking steps to make ESG efforts more consistently tangible, meaningful and measurable. Calling out misinformed approaches helps make the case for proper design and action. Many business leaders are using the critique of ESG programs to analyze their current approach and rethink their strategies to create more value and impact...
Executive compensation is one of the fundamental principles of Vanguard’s Investment Stewardship program. We believe that well-structured, transparent, performance-linked executive compensation policies and practices are fundamental drivers of sustainable, long-term value. We encourage portfolio companies to adopt pay plans that incentivize outperformance versus industry peers over the long term, aligning executive compensation outcomes with shareholder outcomes...
There is no question that an effective board of directors is a vital element to company success. How is an effective board cultivated? The solution is simple--by assembling valuable, insightful, and productive board members. However, the more nuanced question is: how does one become an effective board member...
Investor and regulator focus on board composition and practices has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. In the wake of the Enron and WorldCom collapses, these stakeholders initially focused on strengthening board independence and oversight...
Last year was a milestone for shareholder activists focused on climate issues. But investors are growing more cautious when demanding aggressive climate actions this year—and that is not necessarily a bad thing...
While most of the attention in Washington D.C. this week will be focused on the Joint Congressional Committee’s continued hearings into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, I will be intently watching the Senate Banking Committee’s hearing on how the managers of stock index funds should vote their proxies...
Diversity on corporate boards is an urgent priority, emphasized by company leaders and public policy agendas. For example, in 2021 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule requiring most companies on the Nasdaq exchange to have at least two directors from underrepresented groups...
It’s lonely at the top. Or at least it can be. As a first-time CEO the biggest adjustment for me is knowing that I’m now where the buck stops. I’ve held other C-suite roles before this in which I’ve advised, made recommendations, but there was always someone else making the final call. Now that’s on me...
It now appears—at least until the appellate dust settles—that California’s statutory efforts to mandate board seats for females and individuals from underrepresented communities is on hold. The recent defeats that two trial courts handed California suggests now may be an opportune time to rethink (and possibly reframe) statutory board diversity efforts to focus on disclosure, not mandates...
On May 13, 2022, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis issued a ruling in Crest v.Padilla I finding that California Corporations Code Section 301.3 (SB 826), which requires publicly listed corporations in California to have women on their boards, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution...
Georgetown isn’t exactly known to leave money on the table, but its endowment is a rare exception. In 2020, the university committed to fully divesting from fossil fuels within a decade. Georgetown’s decision was hardly groundbreaking; its divestment is part of a broader embrace of ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) standards by Wall Street and ordinary investors...