As the 2026 proxy season prepares to go into full swing, significant structural shifts are underway in the proxy voting ecosystem. Regulatory scrutiny, evolving investor stewardship frameworks and innovations in retail voting...more
Despite geopolitical volatility, tariff policy uncertainty and a slower-than-expected M&A market in the first half of 2025, shareholder activism has not cooled. In fact, 2025 experienced another record year in the U.S. for...more
Effective shareholder engagement is a business imperative. Companies that do it well are more likely than others to build investor trust, anticipate investor expectations, protect against activism, and earn support for...more
Major proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis announced that it will stop offering its standard benchmark proxy voting guidelines in 2027, and transition clients to differentiated client frameworks. Glass Lewis’ change comes amid a...more
On September 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Mergers and Acquisitions responded to a no-action request from Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon), confirming that it would not recommend enforcement action...more
Withhold campaigns are not new. However, according to Diligent Market Intelligence, 33 distinct activist withhold campaigns took place in the 12 months ended June 30, 2025, up from 23 in the same period of 2023–24 and 24...more
As investor expectations shift, regulatory pressure mounts, and business models evolve, compensation committees are moving away from short-term incentive plans that rely solely on a single financial performance measure. The...more