In the aftermath of agreeing to pay $2.9 billion to settle the 1MDB scandal, the Goldman Sachs Group announced it will attempt to claw back approximately $174 million from a dozen current and former executives—one of the largest clawback attempts ever...
Norms and expectations of what corporations should do are changing rapidly. In August 2019, the Business Roundtable, an influential club of the chief executives of major U.S. corporations, announced a new statement on the “Purpose of a Corporation”...
/PRNewswire/ - The Laurel Hill Advisory Group is pleased to share Laurel Hill's 6th annual Trends in Corporate Governance report . Click here to download the report. The annual report serves to highlight trends, risks and challenges across the environmental, social and governance (ESG) and activism landscape...
On October 15, 2020, Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”) published preliminary FAQs providing general guidance as to how ISS may assess COVID-related executive compensation decisions as part of its regular pay-for-performance qualitative evaluation for the upcoming proxy season...
These include (1) a spate of stockholder lawsuits alleging corporate breach and securities law violations tied to the alleged failure to fulfill companies' ...
Increased scrutiny of numerous Wall Street financial institutions and firms has resulted from Friday's announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a civil fraud suit against Goldman Sachs...
In recent years, the idea of stakeholder capitalism has gained traction among some investors, activists, and policymakers as a new model of corporate governance. Under this model, corporations essentially give greater consideration to the interests of a broader group of “stakeholders,” rather than just their “shareholders.” While corporations have legal duties to pursue strategies to help investors achieve return, businesses are increasingly having to address other issues presented by employees, consumers and others...
Ask companies if they want to increase board diversity, and a majority will say yes. Ask them how, and things get murkier. While greater diversity on boards is a priority among organizations, a new survey released this week finds few are willing to take actions likely to change their demographic makeup...
Executive compensation is a perennial engagement topic for the State Street Global Advisors Asset Stewardship team. We believe that executive compensation presents risks, such as creating perverse incentives, as well as opportunities, such as demonstrating a commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities...
Sometimes it takes something bad to instigate something good. A hard lesson — a scandal, a breach, a product failure — can make us look at a problem head-on and ask ourselves how to fix it...
This Post will begin a series of blog entries focused on the topic of linking executive pay to a publicly-traded issuer’s diversity and inclusion (“D&I“) initiatives...
Executive compensation clawback policies continue to grow in popularity. Although the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet finalized its rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) that will require publicly-traded companies to adopt compensation recovery policies, many companies have now voluntarily adopted clawback policies...
The advisory board is one area that is overlooked by many businesses but can be a game changer. According to BDC, 86% of businesses with an advisory board say it has a significant impact on their businesses...
As the 2021 proxy season approaches, compensation committees are actively assessing the unique challenges they face in making short- and long-term executive compensation decisions amidst the ongoing pandemic...
Activist investors are shareholders that purchase large numbers of a public company's shares in an effort to effect a significant change within the company, often by trying to obtain seats on the company's board...
Ethical organizations require ethical cultures, and leadership is key to ensuring a strong code of conduct at all levels...
Even before the emergence shareholder activism had become a mainstay of public company life in the real estate investment trust world. But in the wake of the pandemic, which upended business as usual in a number of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) sectors, we expect shareholder activism to accelerate as the dust settles. Below are some key trends that we believe will begin to play out as hesitation gives way to opportunism...
Communicating effectively with corporate directors is vital to tech leaders’ success. Here are several key elements for gaining their trust...
As you might remember, Reggie Fils-Aime was announced as part of GameStop's Board of Directors not that long ago. It seems that addition to the ...
Boardroom diversity continues to be a struggle for most public companies, but it’s not for a lack of trying...
The Securities and Exchange Commission's proxy rules require the following disclosure with respect to board diversity: "Describe the nominating committee's process for identifying and evaluating nominees for director, including nominees recommended by security holders, and any differences...
The immediate challenge for California-based public companies to comply with the state’s mandate on corporate board diversity is the lack of regulatory guidance...
When it comes to executive compensation issues at the corporations in CalPERS' portfolio, pension fund officials have made corporate board member actions personal...
Corporate boards could soon be on the hunt for fresh technology expertise as digital business models pursued in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic reshape business strategy. Companies over the past several months have rushed ahead with investments in AI-enabled analysis of business data, automation and new forms of digital collaboration. The moves, aimed at business continuity, are finding permanence as processes change across industries...