In this month’s episode of the Governance Matters podcast, we take a look at some of the key moments and trends in shareholder activism from this past proxy season and what they mean for governance professionals.
There were proxy tussles at The Walt Disney Company and Starbucks, both notable for several reasons – including that each company has a large retail shareholder base. Disney succeeded in beating back Nelson Peltz and his activist fund firm Trian Partners, while the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions, nominated three director candidates to the Starbucks board before withdrawing them after an agreement was reached to work toward a collective bargaining framework.
This year is also the second in which the universal proxy card has been in play, creating new dynamics for activists and companies. At the same time, observers have been keeping their eyes on potential ESG-related activism and even the role of unions, which have gained some momentum with a broader push toward signing up workers and actions such as the United Auto Workers’ strike against the Big Three Detroit automakers.
Our special guest for this episode is Geoffrey Weinberg, a managing director in the M&A and activism advisory group at Sodali & Co. He shares his governance insights on these developments and advises companies on how to approach off-season shareholder engagement this fall. Click here to download this and other episodes of the Governance Matters podcast.
Join our research!
This week we’d like to invite you to take part in a new online survey. Governance professionals find it useful to benchmark their work against the efforts being made by others at peer companies. That knowledge can be reassuring in showing that you’re on the right track, constructive in guiding you in a new direction or helpful in lobbying for additional resources if needed.
By taking part (anonymously) in the survey, you’ll be adding to a dataset we can use to bring you actionable information in the months ahead. In this edition of the questionnaire we’re asking for feedback on the following topics:
- Board assessments
- Succession planning
- Director education and training
- AI and automation for governance and in the boardroom.
Click here to take the survey. Thank you for your participation!
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
