Shareholder Votes Have Value – Please Do Not Let Your Votes Go To Waste!
©2023 by Carl T. Hagberg and Associates. All rights reserved. This publication may not be copied or made available to readers over the Internet without the express permission of the copyright holder. (The letter below can be generic - or personalized with issuers’...A Quick Look At Retail Investor Loyalty Programs – And Other Incentives To Get Out The Retail Vote
In the last few weeks of 2021 we had inquiries from three readers on this subject - one of our favorite ones - so we placed calls to a few colleagues who’ve had success here, and reviewed some of our own past articles for other ideas: Peggy Foran, who pioneered the...In 2022 Issuers Will Have To Fight Harder Than Ever For The More-Important-Than-Ever Retail Vote
This year, The OPTIMIZER believes that the battle for the management-friendly retail investor vote will be harder to win than ever before - even while the retail vote will be a bigger decider than ever before. Here’s why: Over the past 18 months more than 22 million...Retail Engagement In An Evolving World
By John Dunn Head of Corporate Issuer Sales at Broadridge There is an opportunity for issuers to guide retail shareholders and become that trusted source. In recent years, the number of directors failing to receive majority support rose by 38%. Institutional owners...Engaging Employee-Investors
An interview with Ellen Philip of Ellen Philip Associates Carl: For many a year your principal concentration has been on shareholder voting as it applies to employee plans. And, as everyone knows, employee-shareholders have not been untouched by the general apathy...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,...The 2017 “Ficklefinger Award”
And the winner is……. It’s been quite a few years since we handed out our once-annual Ficklefinger Award. With so much focus on good corporate governance practices over the past few years, most public companies are extremely wary of flicking a finger at...“Diversity” and the Prevalence of “Old White Men” at Shareholder Meetings
In our last issue we predicted that “diversity” would be a hot topic during the 2017 Meeting Season, and we are indeed happy to see a much overdue and much increasing focus here. We noted the new initiatives at State Street, and at several of the public pension funds...Our FOUR Top Takeaways from the 2017 Annual Meeting Season
This year’s big-meeting-season brought two earthshaking changes in the overall corporate governance climate that will, we believe, alter the landscape forever. Also, there were developments on political disclosure and so-called diversity proposals that issuers should...Board Diversity: What Are You Waiting For?
by Patricia Lenkov, Founder and Principal at Agility Executive Search The burden of proof has been met. Diverse boards make better decisions that lead to improved company performance. Yet despite the research and validation and the increasing prodding by institutional...More News from the 2017 Meeting Front: The Best & Worst
BofA’S DONATIONS TO SPECIAL OLYMPICS PRODUCED BIG NEW-VOTER TURNOUT: In our last issue we singled out Bank of America’s proxy package for special mention as “required viewing.” With most of the ‘big season’ now behind us, it remains the best and most effective set of...Ways to “Optimize” Your Retail Shareholder Base
Margaret (Peggy) Foran, Chief Governance Officer, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Prudential Financial, Inc.
Why Companies & Investors Are Embracing Real Online Annual Reports
Will U.S. Companies Take a Cue from Their European Counterparts & Jump on This Rising Trend? By Erwin Groenendal of Tangelo Software Annual reports serve a vital function. Aside from fulfilling the SEC’s requirements with the Form 10-K, substantial annual reports...Our Best New Ideas To Attract A Cadre Of Solid, Long-Term Investors That Will Create Big Value For Your Company
In our last issue we published some pretty grim statistics about the huge number of individual investors that have given up on owning common stock. We are at the lowest levels since the Depression. And as we write this, the U.S. stock markets are following China’s...Corporate Governance: A 20 Year Overview
A Quick Look-Back At “Shareholder Service”, “Shareholder Relations” - And The Securities Industry As A Whole Over 20 Fast-Changing Years – All Leading Up To Today’s “Glorious Days Of The Corporate Governance Movement” Your editor found it almost hard to believe that...Computershare’s Jay McHale Reviews Issuer Challenges And Solutions For 2015
The Optimizer had an opportunity to sit down with Jay McHale, President of Computershare’s US Equity Services, to talk about his perspective on the securities industry.
Rewarding Long-Term Stock Ownership
We hate it when the European Union seems to forge far ahead of us on governance issues…so we did a double take when we read in the Financial Times that “Loyal shareholders in European companies would gain extra voting rights and a bigger slice of dividends under a...Creating A Proactive “Shareholder Engagement” Plan
Having A Proactive “Shareholder Engagement” Plan Seems To Be The Top Priority Of Smart Companies Going Forward: A Great Job-Booster – When Done Right – So Start Preparing Now Let’s be sure to note that at many companies that sniffed potential trouble in the wings and...Computershare: Earning Its Clients’ Business Everyday
An Interview With Jay McHale, President, US Equity Services, Computershare Every year around this time, The Optimizer interviews Jay McHale, the President of Computershare US Equity Services, about what has been going on at Computershare and what clients can expect in...Tablet Use Skyrockets
Issuers Must Adapt To Remain Compliant Rhoda Anderson, CEO of EZOnlineDocuments, LLC The advent of tablet and mobile technology continues to change the landscape of shareholder communication. Incredibly,...Really Reaching Out To Individual Investors…
The Game Really Is Worth The Candle, As Our Panel Of Expert Practitioners And Innovators Will Prove
Investor Relations Officers Continue To Struggle To Prove Their Worth
A recent IRO consultant’s posting on the NIRI-NY Linkedin page, bemoaning the much-fallen status of the IRO these days, moved us to move this topic up on our own agenda, and to think on what might be done.
Getting Your Message Across “Effective Engagement Is Critical…”
Some practical advice from Ken Bertsch, President of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals – and a prominent institutional investor analyst and spokesperson in his former career.
Wells Fargo Shareowner Services
An Interview With Todd May
