13 S&P 500 CEOs Belong to the Thousand Times Plus Club – Our review of the 359 proxy statements filed by S&P 500 companies as of April 14, 2020 indicates that 13 CEOs made more than 1,000 times their employees’ median annual salary in 2019. The chart on page 2 and the table on page…
The coronavirus pandemic has turned investor dialogue upside down ascompanies go dark on negotiations and investors reset priorities at the start of an unprecedented proxy season. Shareholders have filed a host of proposals for the 2020 proxy season, once again largely focusing on environmental and social issues. Indeed, issues such as climate change, gender pay…
As investors continue to pressure boards to take up environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, directors are facing the question of where that responsibility lies on the board. Should the full board be responsible for ESG oversight, or is the subject important enough for a stand-alone committee? Or, should already established committees take responsibility? Agenda readers are…
Board Renewal in the Russell 3000 Index Partnering with NACD, we provided ESG data from the CompanyIQ® corporate governance database on board of director appointments. Some of the findings were that: Director recruitment continues to prioritize classic skills and experiences. Gender Diversity – Percentage of new public company directors who are women – 34% in…
Top legal officers are becoming increasingly valuable to corporations, at least according to the rising number of digits in some of their compensation packages. Pay for the general counsel (GC) and chief legal officer role reached a five-year high, according to data released last month from compensation consultancy Equilar and executive search firm BarkerGilmore. This latest research “brings…
5,435 Directors – The companies in the S&P 500, arguably among the biggest companies in the world, are overseen by 5,435 active directors. Using our CompanyIQ® platform, we surveyed the most recent SEC filings of these companies to identify some key demographics of who these people are that make far-reaching decisions affecting most corners of…
Investors in 2019 have increasingly turned their attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics, and are demanding more information on how companies are thinking about the potential long-term risk and opportunities related to specific environmental and social factors. As companies prepare for the 2020 proxy season and engage with shareholders, directors should understand the…
The largest companies are gradually telling investors more about the pains they’re taking to protect their own information as well as customers’ privacy. Yet some industries are reporting those efforts better than others, according to new studies. A growing number of firms have fallen into step with last year’s guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission to…
Oldest Non-Founder CEOs in the S&P 500 – While it is routine for founders to serve as CEOs well into their 70s and 80s, we’ve found that it’s also not uncommon for non-founder CEOs to man the helm well past standard retirement age. Chart 1 with data from the CompanyIQ® database has the details for…
The Fearless Girl statue, installed by State Street Global Advisors to bring focus to its gender diversity campaign, is rounding out her second year on Wall Street amid a slowly but surely changing business culture. As of July, every boardroom in the S&P 500 had at least one woman in its rank, according to Forbes….