Issuers: Big Investors Are Raising The Bar On Their Expectations For VSMs Big-time: We Predict A Potential Shortage Of Top-quality VSM Providers Vs. Expected Demand… Start Your Engines Now!
Glass Lewis’s late November release of its 2021 policy guidelines pretty much summed up what every major investor says they will be looking for in Shareholder Meetings in 2021: We look for robust disclosure in a company’s proxy statement which assures shareholders...Inspectors Of Election: More Important Than Ever With VSMs
Since the very first VSM hit the airwaves the OPTIMIZER has been advising that the Inspector of Elections should be playing a key role - mainly because, with everything taking place in cyberspace, investors really need some added assurances that all of the voting is...Information Agents: Everything You Need To Know… Except For The Really Important Stuff?
The OPTIMIZER editors - and other professional “Wall-Street-Watchers” too - are always avid watchers of the “tombstones” that describe the terms of newly proposed Mergers and Acquisitions - and especially those “Offers to Purchase for Cash” - in newspapers of record...SEC Fines Transfer Agent VStock Transfer LLC For Numerous Violations; Sets Conditions For A Compliance Consultant To Audit, Report, Recommend And Followup On Remedial Actions
The SEC’s August 27th Release institutes a Cease and Desist Order on a virtual kitchen-sink of violations, including failure to transfer and turn securities around within required time frames, failure to report their failures to do so, failures to properly safeguard...A Few Notes On The Second Proxy Contest Conducted As A Virtual-Only Event… And On The Use Of A “Universal Ballot”
The OPTIMIZER’s sister-company, CT Hagberg LLC, provided the Independent Inspector of Election in September at what we believe was the second Virtual-Only proxy contest to date, at a small bank in the Midwest. Three of the bank’s investors, with roughly 30% of the...The Five Best VSMs To Review – And To Learn From… The Most Noteworthy Feature Of The Very Best VSMs? Women!
A month or so ago we suddenly realized that a feature that made the best VSMs so special had gone totally unremarked. So we emailed a little preview of the article we intended to write in this issue to our great friends at TheCorporateCounsel.net. “Here’s another...Real-Time Voting At AGMs – The Peskiest – And The Stupidest Issue At VSMs – Plus… Our Own Suggested Workaround
As public companies have learned to their dismay and consternation this year, a “Virtual-Only” Meeting of Shareholders requires issuers - and the service suppliers they utilize - to give both registered and street-name holders the ability to cast their votes in...Plan For A VSM – Or – For A “Stringently Limited In-Person Meeting” In 2021… Now
It’s October 2020, and the chances that public companies will be able to responsibly host in-person Shareholder Meetings any time before October 2021 are virtually ZERO - unless in-person attendance can be strictly rationed to include only the most essential...A History of the Corporate Governance Movement – As Illustrated by OPTIMIZER Magazine Cover Art – from 1997-2008
We have been promising ourselves we’d do this lookback for several years now - partly to show off some of our favorite covers, by our amazing cover-artist Guy Dorian, who did our first full-color cover in 1999 and every one since - but mainly because the covers...More Fascinating Materials for the Evelyn Y. Davis File
Following the article for our History File on the notorious EYD, a good friend and former colleague, Stan Siekierski of AST - who is, we believe, the longest-serving person in the Stock Transfer business ever - sent us a rare copy of Evelyn’s HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS...The Virtual Shareholder Meeting Q&A – and How to Tackle It
The most troublesome issues at 2020 VSMs - by far - have revolved around the Question and Answer Period: Just as we had warned, many activist investors took pains to submit questions - both in advance, via an e-mail to the company’s Investor-Page - or by typing into a...The Long and Sometimes Checkered Past of the Proxy Solicitation Business… An Article for Our History File, with Several Lessons Worth Learning
Following the announcement that EQ, the relatively new owners of Wells Fargo Shareholder Services was entering the proxy solicitation business, our good friend, loyal reader and fellow history lover Michael Mackey, President of Alliance Advisors, sent us an outline of the many comings and goings there have been in this fascinating and hotly contested space.
Our Short-List Of Must-Listen VSMs
Topping the list - and the very best VSM we listened to - is STARBUCKS - where we provided some background info and wrote up in detail in our last issue. They put “the shareholder experience” first and foremost, worked hard to make it engaging and informative, and...Our Hall Of Shame For VSM “Bounders”
Topping our 2020 Hall of Shame list is the Transfer Agent that advised all its clients to postpone their Annual Meetings until July at the earliest…simply because they were not able to handle the work involved…and shamelessly implying that this advice was pursuant to...Our Predictions On The Fate Of Virtual Meetings In 2021
First we should note the key assumption, and one we fervently wish for; that ‘the Covid coast will be sufficiently clear’ by year-end to allow people to plan for the possibility of in-person meetings. If not, all bets are off, and likely, there will be many more VSMs...A Word To The Wise: Big Brother Is Watching – And Listening To Your VSMs… Taking Notes… and Gearing Up To Push Back
Yes, a number of “Big Brothers” ARE listening in - some of them to offer constructive criticism and even a few words of praise - but some looking to name and shame - and even, in one extreme case, reported below, to actually threaten executives of companies they...Our “Insider’s Summary” Of The Big Picture At Shareholder Meetings Through June – With A Special Focus On VSMs
From January through June, 2020, the CT Hagberg LLC Team of Inspectors of Elections will have served at 477 Shareholder Meetings - a pretty hefty sample, we’d say, that included a big number of Fortune 500 companies, lots of well-known large-cap companies and a great...Some Timely Reminders On Meeting Etiquette – At In-person And Virtual Meetings
Way back in 2013 we published “A Little Primer on Annual Meeting Etiquette: Our Top Ten Tips on Meeting Manners, Plus One to Think On” - noting that “We’ve never done so from the perspective of meeting-attendees…And, after all, that’s what etiquette is all about, no?...Postpone Your Meeting? Only In The Direst Circumstances, We Advise
We see no reason whatsoever for a company to postpone its annual meeting – unless the company itself becomes overwhelmed during the crisis.
Learn From The Best: Check Out The Starbucks Webcast For A VSM How-To “Playbook”
Starbucks Corporation held its first-ever virtual only shareholder meeting on March 20th, mobilizing quickly to address the looming impact of COVID-19 on its 2020 annual meeting
An Important Update On Shareholder Meeting Readiness From Key Suppliers: Good News…the Best Providers Are Ready, Willing And Able To Face The Many Challenges Posed By Covid-19 Throughout The 2020 Meeting Season
f your company achieved a quorum last year – and was able to pass all or most of the items on the agenda, as most companies were – the OPTIMIZER feel certain that you will be able to do the same this season – with the right game plan, and with the right service providers, of course.
Don’t Let Covid-19 Crash – Or Trash – Your Annual Meeting: Our Updated And Expanded Advice
Let’s put it bluntly: Your company - and you - simply can not afford to let anyone who might potentially be carrying the coronavirus “crash” into your meeting-space this season. So step one has to be to immediately - and drastically - limit the number of “physical...Coronavirus And Your Annual Shareholder Meeting: Some Practical Advice On What To Do Right Now From The Shareholder Service Optimizer
With the coronavirus outbreak now recognized as a global pandemic - and with Annual Meeting Season well upon us - all of us involved with Annual Meeting planning need to take note of the top advice from health experts around the world: To avoid large and potentially...Board Evaluations in 2020 Require a New and 20:20 Vision
By Kristina Veaco Founder, Veaco Group Directors have become bored responding to lengthy questionnaires that cover the same ground year after year. Today’s investors want to know more about board evaluations than ever before. They want to see that the board has taken...
