Increasing Proxy Voting Can Begin with Employees

dalyIn his remarks before the National Press Club, Broadridge CEO Richard J. Daly called for a nationwide effort to encourage employees to vote their proxies and thereby participate in the larger enterprise of improving corporate governance.proxy

As we said in our tweet earlier today (Karen Kane@BoardAdvisor)  Daly is right to use his position to encourage shareholder education by asking the country’s top 1000 CEO’s to mobilize employees to participate in corporate governance by voting their proxies.

Daly calls Broadridge the major player in investor communications and proxy distribution, providing the digital pipes for these transactions but he also notes that Broadridge makes no more or less money from an increased exercise of proxies.

Companies and the boards of directors that provide oversight need to embrace the concept that engaging shareholders has never been more important in restoring trust. Shareholders need to be reminded that their proxy represents their investment, their wealth and their financial returns.

“It is clear to me that when raising capital, creating jobs and effectively competing in an ever increasingly global market, companies need input and support from shareholders to validate they are on the right track.”