THE HOTTEST NEW ISSUES ON ACTIVISTS’ 2019 MEETING AGENDAS
The number-one new issue for issuers to focus on as they prepare for their 2019 proxy disclosures, and their all-important “early engagement” activities is - and we say this with very mixed emotions - your company’s management of “Human Capital.” On the one hand, the...
People: 2018Q4
Donna Ackerly, who had, for many years, been one of the busiest, most popular and most client-oriented people at Georgeson, has signed-on as a Senior Vice President - Business Development at Laurel Hill Advisors. We are so happy for Donna, and for Laurel Hill as well,...
Hot Topics, Trends, and Tips for Transforming Shareholder Relations in 2019
Some practical advice, cost savings tips, and details of the hot topics and trends in the field of proxy solicitation and governance advisory work: As a proxy firm, our business brings us in contact with the most influential institutional investors in the world and...
Transformations in the Transfer Agency World
An Update on the Number-One Question Your Editors Get: “What’s Up With All Those Transfer Agents?” The Transfer Agency industry, as most long-term readers know, has been undergoing a rapid and rather massive transformation for well over a decade now. The latest view...
Maybe the Biggest Breakthrough Ever, We Say, To Increase Retail Investor Voting
In mid-November, Broadridge Financial Solutions announced that big retail broker Raymond James Financial is all set to effect “mobile integration of shareholder voting...to enhance the investor experience...and simplify shareholder voting” for the upcoming...
The Top-Three Things You Should Fear to Hear at Your 2019 Meeting of Shareholders
If there is one thing that will strike fear into the heart and mind of an unprepared Meeting-Chair, it is this question from the floor: “Who counted those votes, Madam Chairman”…and secondly, “how do we know the results are correct?” Your editor-in-chief has heard...
Star Journalists Celebrate the End of Annual Meeting Season
Phong Bui, co-founder of art and culture journal The Brooklyn Rail, M-C Jerry Saltz, Pulitzer Prize winning writer and Senior Art Critic at New York Magazine - and world-renowned journalist Jane Pauley, the evening's honoree - flanked by two of the Benefit Co-chairs,...
Comments on the Proxy Process in Advance of the SEC’s November 15 ‘Roundtable
In this letter, I will try to focus primarily on Over-Voting and Under-Voting, “Empty Voting,” Technology and Innovation (where I have reconsidered a few of my 2010 comments) and, very briefly, on Improving Retail Shareholder Participation. Brent J. Fields,...
THE BIGGEST AND BEST THING WE SAW THIS SEASON: A 41% INCREASE IN RETAIL INVESTOR VOTING PARTICIPATION…FOLLOWING AN 8% INCREASE LAST YEAR… AT BANK of AMERICA
Given the slow but steady falloff in individual investor voting that we have been witnessing since the 1970s, it’s hard for us to overstate what a huge and important development this is. We were mightily impressed with last year’s addition of 50,000 new retail voters,...
People: 2018Q2
Abby Cowart has resigned as Executive Director of the Shareholder Services Association (SSA) as of June 13, 2018, after a highly successful three-year tenure, marked by the launch of a Certification Program for Shareholder Relations Professionals and vigorous new...
Podcast Alert: Annual Meeting Season 2026 — Expert Advice from Carl & Peder Hagberg
Carl and Peder Hagberg of The Shareholder Service OPTIMIZER join Meredith Ervine from TheCorporateCounsel.net to discuss proxy season risks, virtual meetings, and shareholder engagement for 2026.
Listen to hear their insights on this year’s annual meeting season.