Tag: overboarding

Can director commitments policies help prevent overextended boards?

There is a lot going on at companies, and—you may be surprised to hear—not all of it is new regulation.  There are new technologies, such as AI, global political instability and social change, not to mention ESG and cybersecurity.  Many of these topics, as they affect a company, fall within the remit of the board for oversight. The energy and time necessary can be overwhelming. In this article, Director Commitments Policies, Overboarding, and Board Refreshment, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis discusses one way to help ensure that directors have “sufficient time and energy to fulfill their duties and obligations to shareholders”: a director commitments policy. As a corollary, GL maintains, these policies can also serve to boost board refreshment, and can represent a vital measure of corporate governance. 

ISS releases 2019 Global Policy Survey

ISS recently released the results of its 2019 Global Policy Survey. In this year’s integrated survey, the topics included board gender diversity, overboarding, sunsetting of multi-class capital structures, combined chair and CEO roles and climate change risk. The respondents included 128 investors (including 88 asset managers, 24 asset owners, four advisors and 12 other investors), and 268 non-investors (including 227 corporate issuers,  19 advisors, six corporate directors and 16 other non-investors). Highlights of the survey are summarized below.

Proxy season takeaways from PJT CamberView

In this article, the authors, from advisor PJT CamberView, talk about their takeaways from the 2019 proxy season, which they expect to see as part of the conversation in the fall.

BlackRock issues proxy voting guidelines for 2018 proxy season

As discussed in this PubCo post, BlackRock has recently issued its 2018 Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities.  Because BlackRock is reportedly the largest asset management firm (with $6.3 trillion under management), its voting guidelines will matter to more than a few companies.  And BlackRock takes its proxy voting seriously. With the growth in index investing, CEO Laurence Fink has argued, asset managers’ responsibilities of engagement and advocacy have increased, given that asset managers cannot simply sell the shares of companies about which they have doubts if those companies are included in index funds.

ISS and Glass Lewis Update 2017 Proxy Voting Policies

by Cydney Posner If you haven’t already, please check out our recent Cooley Alert, ISS and Glass Lewis Update 2017 Proxy Voting Policies.  It’s a great way to start the new year and a lot more fun than a diet!

Directors overboard

by Cydney Posner Companies are paying increased attention to the potential for director “overboarding,” according to the WSJ.  Many companies have adopted restrictions on the number of outside seats that directors may hold, often in response to shareholder requests. In addition, some institutional shareholders are guided in their voting by […]