GM and Atlas Air take top honors at Corporate Governance Awards

The leading lights of US governance, risk and compliance gathered last night at the 11th Corporate Governance Awards, with General Motors and Atlas Air Worldwide picking up two of the most prestigious titles.

In all, 14 companies were presented with awards across 15 categories at the black-tie gala, which took place at Cipriani 25 in New York City.

GM won the governance team of the year (large cap) prize, while Atlas Air took home the governance team trophy in the small to mid-cap category. Detroit-based GM also won for best proxy statement (large cap), with the award in the small to mid-cap category going to AMN Healthcare Services.

Visa was chosen as having the best large-cap compliance and ethics program, while NW Natural took the prize in the small to mid-cap category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise won the best shareholder engagement award.

Among the categories for GRC individuals, ConocoPhillips’ Shannon Kinney was named large-cap governance professional of the year, while the judges picked Courtney Kamlet of Syneos Health for the same honor in the small to mid-cap category.

This year’s lifetime achievement award went to Paul Washington, senior vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary of Warner Media. From 2006 until June of this year he served as senior vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary of Time Warner, during which dozen years he helped guide the board and company through a series of fundamental changes, culminating in the sale to AT&T.

The full list of winners is:

Governance team of the year (large cap)
General Motors

Governance team of the year (small to mid-cap)
Atlas Air Worldwide

Best proxy statement (large cap)
General Motors

Best proxy statement (small to mid-cap)
AMN Healthcare Services

Best compliance and ethics program (large cap)
Visa

Best compliance and ethics program (small to mid-cap)
NW Natural

Best ESG reporting
Microsoft

Best shareholder engagement
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Best use of technology
HP

Best overall corporate governance – international
Westpac

Best overall governance for a private company
Graybar Electric Company

Governance professional of the year (large cap)
Shannon Kinney, ConocoPhillips

Governance professional of the year (small to mid-cap)
Courtney Schuster Kamlet, Syneos Health

Rising star
Connie Wu, Splunk

Lifetime achievement
Paul Washington

The Corporate Secretary editorial team reviewed all the nominations supplied by the industry. Once the short lists were agreed, they and their supporting evidence were passed to the independent judging panel to select the winners. This year’s judges were:

• Lydia Beebe, governance expert, LIBB Advisors
• Brian Breheny, head of the SEC reporting and compliance practice at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
• Douglas Chia, executive director, the Conference Board Governance Center
• Lucy Fato, executive vice president and general counsel, AIG
• Carol Strickland, board director, Trireme Energy Holdings.

The awards were hosted by David Brancaccio, host of American Public Media’s Marketplace Morning Report.