Georgeson's Anne Meyer joins Latham & Watkins LLP Partners Steven Stokdyk and Bradd Williamson for the final program in our Proxy Season Webcast Series. In this webcast, these experts carefully review the 2017 proxy season, examine the current regulatory and political landscape and discuss the prospects for the rest of the year. The webcast covers the following topics and more:
Executive Compensation Developments
Our speakers share the latest on executive compensation developments, including insights on Say-on-Pay and Say on Frequency updates and data.
Shareholder Proposals and Activism
The webcast also explores the hottest shareholder proposals and noteworthy developments in shareholder activism. Since 2015, proxy access shareholder proposals have been the most prevalent shareholder proposal, but proxy access proposals are actually down from last year. The difference is substantial (34 in 2017 versus 83 in 2016), and a market consensus has been established behind the so-called 3/3/20/20 rule. The speakers also share the top subjects for Rule 14a-8 no-action requests this season.
Evolving Trends in Shareholder Engagement
There are evolving trends and demands in shareholder-investor engagement and some companies are responding by increasingly using innovative methods to engage shareholders, such as videos, interactive proxy statements and streaming meetings online.
Issues of Increasing Concern to Investors
This webcast also covers the key governance issues that are of increasing concern to investors, among which are ESG regulations, reporting and increased engagement. The speakers discuss climate change and sustainability as well as board diversity, multi-class capital structures with unequal voting rights and more. They also analyze the Investor Stewardship Group's (ISG) Framework for U.S. Stewardship and Governance, a set of six principles and responsibilities that U.S. public companies should adopt as essential to good corporate governance that will go into effect this upcoming 2018 proxy season.
2017 Proxy Season: Lessons Learned and Coming Attractions
Anne Meyer, Senior Managing Director, Corporate Governance, Georgeson
Steven Stokdyk, Partner, Latham & Watkins
Bradd Williamson, Partner, Latham & Watkins