eBriefing

Shareholder Engagement: BlackRock, CalSTRS, Pressuring Boards
By Eve Tahmincioglu

Whether it’s the impact of iPhones on kids or employee retraining, major investors are looking to corporate leaders to do more.

In January, BlackRock’s CEO and Chairman Laurence D. Fink sent a letter to executives at major companies to not only focus on profits but also the social good. The letter addressed a host of issues seen as creating the world’s polarization, including automation’s displacement of workers and the lack of secure retirements among low-income workers.

In particular, Fink singled out boards as the lynchpins in creating strategies around what BlackRock, which manages $1.7 billion of funds, is looking for:

The board’s engagement in developing your long-term strategy is essential because an engaged board and a long-term approach are valuable indicators of a company’s ability to create long-term value for shareholders.

If companies don’t adopt what BlackRock calls “a new model of corporate governance,” Fink said the firm “can choose to sell the securities of a company if we are doubtful about it’s strategic direction or long-term growth.”

Gender Diversity: Former DuPont CEO looks to bolster gender diversity in the C-suite and boardroom.

By Maureen Milford

The image is striking.

A DuPont Company board meeting in 1952.Seated at an enormous board table are more than two dozen men in white shirts, ties and business suits. The top executives of the industrial giant are identified as “men with backgrounds in various phases of business.” The year is 1952.

Nearly 60 years would pass before a woman would head that DuPont Co. table. The company’s glass ceiling was broken in 2009 when Ellen Kullman became the first woman CEO and board chairman at the-then 207-year-old company.

Kullman — who retired as DuPont’s CEO and chair in 2015 — has been on a mission to speed up the glacial progress of women executives to the C-suite.

In 2016, she co-founded Paradigm for Parity, a coalition of business leaders pushing to have women in 50% of senior leadership positions by 2030. Joining Kullman as co-chairs are Jewelle Bickford, a partner with Evercore Wealth Management, and Sandra Beach Lin, former CEO of Calisolar Inc.

Environmental, Social & Governance: Key transparency and performance issues for the year

By Thomas Singer

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, socially conscious directors might consider tackling this trifecta: gender diversity, climate risk and sustainability-tied compensation.

These issues stood out in a recent Conference Board study, which looked at transparency and performance in select areas of S&P Global 1200 companies.

Gender diversity at the management and board levels

Only 12% of North American companies disclose the percentage of women in management positions. By comparison, European companies are almost four times more likely to report this information in their annual reports or sustainability reports.

May 16-18

Boards & Business Disruption

How private and family businesses build an engaged and effective board of directors to copilot through today’s turbulence, including blockchain, sexual harassment, cybersecurity, the ‘Amazon’ effect, and more.

Learn from directors, business owners, investors and experts who have been there and can guide you on the governance path to success.

Directors & Boards, Family Business Magazine and Private Company Director invite owners, shareholders and board members of privately held companies to the Private Company Governance Summit 2018, May 16-18, 2018, at the Westin City Center, Washington, D.C.

Reserve your seat at the governance conference for directors, owners, and advisors of family-owned, closely held and private-equity owned businesses of all sizes.

Click here for more information.

#MeToo Consciousness: Public & Private Companies Lagging

By Eve Tahmincioglu

It’s time for corporate and private company boards to catch up!

That’s the directive from theBoardlist, a board placement firm focused on getting more women in public and private boardrooms that just released the findings of a survey gauging the ongoing governance impact of the #MeToo movement. The study sheds light on how seriously private and public company directors have taken the international outcry against sexual harassment.

theBoardlist, along with data analytics firm Qualtrics, first surveyed board members last summer, right after #MeToo first hit the headlines, and the news wasn’t encouraging. The study found nearly 80% of the 400 directors polled hadn’t even discussed the issue.

(Related Article:  Sexual Harassment: Boards Can’t Be Silent-Company policies and more women on boards could stem financial fallout.)

But the followup poll – taken in February and March and released this week – found some improvement. theBroadlist found there was improvement in discussions, but a majority of boards, 57%, still had not even broached the topic.