The Informed Board Podcast | Pass-Through Voting: Empowering Shareholders or Increasing the Influence of Proxy Advisors?
ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
What are ISS and Glass Lewis and Why Should My Bank Care?
Proxy advisors, and specifically ISS and Glass Lewis, are in the business of advising asset managers on whether to vote for or against the thousands of director nominees and proposals that are presented to shareholders each...more
Some proxy advisors and institutional investors have made changes to their diversity policies and mandates, including the following ...more
This Cooley Alert that I blogged about earlier today – penned by Brad Goldberg, Beth Sasfai, Luci Altman, and Michael Mencher – has been updated for this development...more
On February 11, 2025, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced a change to its voting policy with respect to board diversity. ISS will no longer consider the gender and racial and/or ethnic diversity of U.S. company...more
À l’approche de la période de sollicitation de procurations de 2025, les émetteurs pourraient vouloir prendre connaissance des lignes directrices canadiennes en matière de vote par procuration émises par Institutional...more
President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to power on January 20, 2025, has created uncertainty and challenges for proxy advisory firms, such as ISS and Glass Lewis, which provide voting recommendations to investors on...more
ISS and Glass Lewis generally publish changes to their proxy voting policies around this time of year. Glass Lewis recently issued its 2025 US Policy Guidelines listing changes and clarifications....more
As Maryland public companies begin preparing for their 2024 annual meetings, we recommend that each consider the voting results of its 2023 annual meeting of shareholders. Maintaining awareness of institutional investor and...more
Davies Governance Insights analyzes the top trends and issues most important to Canadian public companies and provides practical guidance for boards to meet these challenges head on. In the 2020 edition of Davies...more
On August 1, 2022, the Delaware General Corporation Law Section 102(b)(7) was amended to extend exculpation rights to executive officers. The new amendment permits a corporation to adopt exculpatory language in its...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2023 proxy season, we note that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, issued...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. Their voting...more
It’s worth noting that the budget package passed by the House last week includes a provision intended to put the kibosh on the proxy advisory firm rules that were adopted by the SEC in July 2020. Specifically, the bill...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively reconsidering its position on the applicability of its proxy rules to proxy voting advice. Background - In July 2020, the SEC adopted amendments to its proxy...more
The SEC’s long-awaited final rules governing voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholders Service (ISS) and Glass Lewis (the “final rules”) became effective on November 2, 2020. The final...more
As COVID-19 rages on, companies are again flocking to virtual annual meetings for the 2021 proxy season, but with one important difference: the luxury of time. Many companies are already exploring retention of virtual annual...more
In recent years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought to address controversy regarding the proxy voting system and the influence of proxy advisory firms such as Glass, Lewis & Co. and Institutional...more
The nation’s largest shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), recently filed suit against the SEC over new guidelines meant to give investors more transparency into how proxy advisory firms...more
On January 29, 2020, Skadden hosted the webinar “Key Trends in Executive Compensation, Employment Law and Compensation Committee Practices” presented by panelists Michael Bergmann, Executive Compensation and Benefits counsel;...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued rule updates and guidance in 2019 that are intended to simplify certain public reporting requirements, clarify the staff’s expectations with respect to no-action relief...more
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to its rules governing proxy solicitations. If adopted in their current form, these proposals could significantly affect interactions...more
Glass Lewis recently posted its comprehensive 2020 voting guidelines, which are summarized on the first page of the 2020 voting guidelines as well as on the Glass Lewis blog. Among other things, the 2020 voting guidelines...more
Proxy advisor Glass Lewis has posted its 2019 Proxy Guidelines and 2019 Guidelines Regarding Shareholder Initiatives. One of the more striking points is that GL indicates that it may, albeit in limited circumstances,...more
Hosts Jonathan Hightower and Rob Klingler are joined for today's episode by Kevin Strachan, an attorney in Bryan Cave's Financial Services Corporate and Regulatory practice, to discuss proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis as...more
ISS and Glass Lewis are continuing to apply special scrutiny to certain corporate governance provisions of "newly public" companies (generally, companies that have gone public in 2014 or later). In short, the latest policies...more