Tag Archives: board-shareholder communication
Directors Face a Changed World
As Ira Millstein told directors on a recent NACD/Weil webinar on the Dodd-Frank Act, they must align with the owners of the company, the shareholders. He advised directors “not to make believe” or “live in a dream world” because governance power has already shifted to shareholders and it’s not going to be the way it [...]
Bill Ruckelshaus Looks Back, Offers Advice Going Forward
William Ruckelshaus describes how the U.S. got serious about environmental issues with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency 40 years ago in his Saturday commentary in the Wall Street Journal. The turning point from the “race to the bottom” came when the public demanded action.
If that’s where shareholders and the larger public are today [...]
Goldman Decides It’s a Good Idea to Communicate with Shareholders
In advance of its May 7th annual meeting with shareholders, Goldman Sachs used surprising candor in an eight-page letter in its 2009 annual report. Reiterating that it didn’t ‘bet against’ clients using short positions it took on before the residential real-estate market crashed. Rather, it was one of the first Wall Street firms to reduce [...]
Prudential Sets a New Standard for Communication with Shareholders
Not only does Prudential Financial prove that the proxy can serve as an effective communication vehicle to shareholders while fulfilling its legal requirement, but the company has added a number of innovations that set a new standard for others.
It begins with the Letter from the Board of Directors to our Shareholders: “As stewards of the [...]
How Boards Can Rebuild Confidence
When the former general counsel of Calpers notes that boards need to assert strong independent leadership and take the steps that allow for the “ new phenomenon” of increased dialogue between directors and shareholders, you know that the idea of real director engagement with shareholders has taken root.
In his opinion article in AgendaWeek, Richard Koppes discusses [...]
Directors Have an Opportunity
The Deloitte/Directorship survey demonstrated that opinions from both ”Main Street” — journalists, policymakers, analysts and the “C-Suite” including CEOs and directors as well as teachers, laborers, policymakers, doctors, students and community leaders have a relatively poor opinon about the effectiveness of the current corporate governance.
Smart CEOs and boards will see this as an important opportunity to use [...]
A Financial Icon Offers an Agenda for Restoring Faith
John C. Bogle, the founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group, cites a host of interesting statistics that document the changes in the investing public in his call for the creation of a Federation of Long-Term Investors, in which institutional investors, who alone hold some 15 percent of U.S. stocks would join together to [...]
The Public Has an Opinion about Directors
As directors read the landmark survey of Main Street and C-Suite undertaken by Directorship magazine and Deloitte in conjunction with Korn Ferry International, they will see that the public’s opinion of them and their performance is not high.
Directors need to know what people are thinking and saying and why. The results from the first survey create a [...]
An Opportunity for Directors to Communicate More Effectively
TK Kerstetter’s very interesting program This Week in the Boardroom took an interesting look back on the events of 2009 that will impact boards and directors in the years ahead. Both Kerstetter and his guest, Scott Cutler noted that corporate governance has been politicized and wrongly blamed for the financial crisis but both see opportunity for directors to focus [...]
New Rules Require Better Board Communication
“By adopting these rules, we will improve the disclosure around risk, compensation, and corporate governance, thereby increasing accountability and directly benefiting investors,” Chairman Mary Schapiro said in her opening statement at yesterday’s Securities and Exchange meeting.
The rules will be in effect by the 2010 proxy season and could be published as early as next week.
Do [...]
