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 upbeat - and not an experience ‘like watching paint dry’ at all.

Starbucks hit every single one of our own hot-buttons - well before we’d published many of them. They also deserve extra points for being the first really big company on the 2020 meeting calendar that had to confront the fact that Covid IS a pandemic - on very short notice - and they brought everything off to perfection. A visit to their website for the replay should be absolutely required for anyone thinking of having a VSM in 2021.

Do we think that Starbucks will have a VSM in 2021? Absolutely NOT, unless God forbid, the CV pandemic continues to require social distancing into 2021. They made it clear, during a Society panel where we served with Starbucks Corporate Secretary Sophie Hager Hume and others, that they consider their in-person meeting a highly important corporate, employee, shareholder and customer “event” - where they spend significant time and money to make it a special “experience.”

The INTEL meeting should also be on your list of required visits: They were the first mega-cap company to have a VSM and they now have this down to a science. The meeting ran like clockwork - and the time flew by amazingly fast, thanks to a great forward-looking intro and to a very engaging Q&A period, with probing and insightful questions from the many sophisticated Intel technology buffs - and fans - and competitors too, we’d bet - who probe hard for clues to new developments on the horizon. Only “static” visuals, but the layout, the content, and the nice graphics on their slides were worth careful attention, and certainly got ours, from start to finish.

Do we think that Intel will drop its VSM and revert to an in-person meeting - after what we think is 12 years of successful and informative VSMs? Absolutely NOT.

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE produced one of the best-planned, best scripted and best run meetings of the season – smoothly disposing of six items of business - including three shareholder proposals - while marking the retirement of the CEO, the handoff to new CEO Carol Tomé, and giving shareholders ample opportunities to ask a variety of good questions - all in 36 lively minutes!

The meeting opened precisely at 8:00 a.m. with an operator welcoming listeners and handing off immediately to Scott Childress, the chief IRO, who noted that “the meeting would be conducted solely through virtual means due to the unique circumstances presented as a result of the coronavirus pandemic,” and that he would be joined by David Abney, the Chairman and CEO, Board Member and soon-to-be CEO Carol Tomé, the General Counsel, and the CFO. He added that each of the Board Members, each of the senior executive officers, representatives from their audit firm and the Inspector of Election for this meeting (full disclosure again, your editor-in-chief, who has served as the IOE at every UPS shareholder meeting but two, since the company first went public) would all be present on the phone. He noted that they would handle the business of the meeting first, that shareholders could pose questions on the proposals, and later of a general nature and that (brilliantly put we thought) “We will attempt to answer questions of a long term strategic nature and respond to as many as possible during our allotted time.”

The Chair and CEO presided over the business portion - in a pre-recorded speech - pausing after each management proposal and reminding holders that they could enter questions if desired. Then, the meeting went “live” and each of the three proponents introduced their proposals over a phone line. The Chairman called for questions, which were read by the IRO - and yes - and unlike so many meetings we go to - there were actually three good ones; two fielded by the CEO and one - on compensation - fielded by the GC. Then a pause for any last-minute voters, the polls were closed and the IOE gave the Preliminary Report on the voting outcomes, none of which were in doubt.

Then came the general Q&A period, where the IRO asked the questions, which Dabney, Tomé and CFO Brian Newman answered as appropriate…on things like liquidity, the company’s biggest CV-related challenges, a regulatory and a legal issue…and one on why, in an unprecedented move, the board chose a non-UPS employee to be CEO. Then, a pre-recorded farewell from Abney was played; then he formally adjourned the meeting…and - a very nice touch, we thought - a bouncy and cheerful baroque-style recessional was played to provide a smooth and happy-sounding sign-off.

Do we think that UPS will stick with the VSM - or revert to an in-person meeting in Wilmington’s Hotel DuPont as they did for 14 of the past 15 years? Hmm…Traditionally, the Board is super-busy with Board and Committee meetings the day before and the day of the meeting…and there is much to be said about the value of face-to-face meetings of boards and board committees…and at shareholder meetings too, which, at UPS, are typically over in just a half hour or so.

On the other hand, as noted earlier, the VSM attracted 177 attendees - many of them employees or retirees at this largely employee-owned company vs. 1 or 2 in-person attendees most years, and never more than 5 as best we can recall. So the VSM was far better attended, with far more questions than usual. It was also far more engaging and far more useful to shareholder attendees than any of the in-person meetings we’ve attended. We’d say, “If ever there was a good case to be made for a Hybrid-VSM - and we think there IS - this would be IT.” A five-star performance - and a super-useful way to spend 36 minutes of your time.

UNITEDHEALTH GROUP is yet another must-review VSM: After a few welcoming remarks from the CEO he turned the formal part of the meeting agenda over to Board Secretary and Chief Governance Officer Dannette Smith - a procedure that is very much worth considering, we’d advise, as a way to quickly and efficiently cut to the chase.
Dannette went through the formalities briskly - noting the record date and shares outstanding, the affidavit of distribution, the appointment of the Inspector of Elections (full disclosure, your editor-in-chief, who has been serving at this meeting for 10+ years) who was attending via a conference line, and who had confirmed the existence of a quorum and would certify the final results.

Then she proceeded to very briefly introduce the management proposals, and then to introduce shareholder proponent John Chevedden, who presented his proposal live, via a conference line, after which she opened the meeting for questions on the business before the meeting, where there were two good ones, we thought.

The first question was on the specific qualifications of one of the (newest) nominees - and about the selection and vetting process, which was answered by Michelle Cooper, Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee. She did an excellent job of answering - noting, among other things, that they have an “outside advisory committee” of experts to assist and advise the Board Committee in its searches.

The second shareholder question was about the 2020 Incentive Plan that was up for a vote - specifically, the number of employees who would be covered - which was answered by the EVP of Human Capital: 5,000.

The General Q&A period covered 10 questions - almost all of them very good questions to ask, we thought, which were answered by the logically appropriate persons to answer them, including the CFO, the CEO, the Chair of the Audit Committee and others. This made for a very interesting and lively presentation - with a great deal of credibility and a really great show of a governance structure - and a corporate culture - that has created such a great company. (We especially appreciated the fact that the meeting was not completely dominated by “old white men” as, historically, so many are: See the article on our website on the importance of avoiding this.) We give this meeting a solid five-star, triple-A-plus rating for sure.

Do we think that UnitedHealth will stick with a VSM in 2021 after this highly successful run? Hmmm…we’d be inclined to bet yes…except for the fact that one year, both Fidelity and Vanguard sent small delegations to the meeting - simply to observe, and to briefly meet and thank the leadership for their truly awesome results. It will be interesting to see what happens, but another excellent candidate for a Hybrid Meeting, we think.