The best and brightest in US corporate governance took center stage last night at the 10th anniversary Corporate Governance Awards, with 15 winning companies across 15 categories.
PepsiCo and Chesapeake Utilities won the governance team of the year award for the large-cap category and small to mid-cap category, respectively.
Tiffany Wooley, chief counsel for executive compensation & governance and assistant secretary at Marsh & McLennan Companies, won the governance professional of the year award in the large-cap category, while the small-cap governance professional award was taken by Nicole Dragoo, chief operating officer and chief compliance officer at Chandler Asset Management.
Microsoft’s corporate secretary, vice president and deputy general counsel John Seethoff received the lifetime achievement award. Under Seethoff’s leadership, Microsoft won the best use of technology award in 2016 and the best shareholder engagement award in 2015. After 17 years at Microsoft, Seethoff will retire later this year.
Jung-Kyu McCann, principal corporate and governance counsel at Apple, won the rising star award, which is presented to an individual who has spent less than five years in a corporate role.
The full list of winners is:
|
Award |
Winner |
|
Governance team of the year (large cap) |
PepsiCo |
|
Governance team of the year (small to mid-cap) |
Chesapeake Utilities |
|
Governance professional of the year (large cap) |
Tiffany Wooley, Marsh & McLennan Companies |
|
Governance professional of the year (small to mid-cap) |
Nicole Dragoo, Chandler Asset Management |
|
Best compliance and ethics program (large cap) |
Visa |
|
Best compliance and ethics program (small to mid-cap) |
Voya Financial |
|
Best CSR disclosure |
Intel Corporation |
|
Best overall corporate governance for a private company |
USAA |
|
Best overall governance (international) |
RBC |
|
Best proxy statement (large cap) |
The Allstate Corporation |
|
Best proxy statement (small to mid-cap) |
KBR |
|
Best shareholder engagement |
Honeywell |
|
Best use of technology by a corporate secretary or general counsel |
Eli Lilly & Co |
|
Lifetime achievement |
John Seethoff, Microsoft |
|
Rising star |
Jung-Kyu McCann, Apple |
The awards were hosted by David Brancaccio, host of American Public Media’s Marketplace Morning Report, at Cipriani 25 in New York City. This year we received more than 150 nominations, making it the most highly competitive Corporate Governance Awards so far.
The long lists were reviewed by the Corporate Secretary editorial team then, once the short lists were prepared, they were passed to the independent judging panel. This year’s judges were:
- Lydia Beebe, board member at Kansas City Southern and Aemetis, and former chief governance officer at Chevron
- Brian Breheny, a partner with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, who advises clients on SEC reporting and compliance, M&A, corporate finance and corporate governance
- Douglas Chia, executive director of the Conference Board Governance Center
- Lucy Fato, executive vice president and general counsel of AIG
- Carol Strickland, corporate secretary and chief administrative officer at EverPower Wind Holdings.
Ben Ashwell
Ben Ashwell is the editor at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, covering investor relations, governance, risk and compliance. Prior to this, he was the founder and editor of Executive Talent, the global quarterly magazine from the Association of...
