News
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AMC Networks’ veteran general counsel to retire
Jamie Gallagher has spent 16 years with the company behind shows such as The Walking Dead Jamie Gallagher, veteran general counsel and executive vice president at AMC Networks, will retire at the end of the year. The company has launched a search for a successor. Gallagher joined AMC Networks in 2008 having previously been executive vice president and general counsel for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. Before that he spent six years at HSN, formerly known as Home Shopping Network, as executive vice president and general counsel. Earlier in his career he was group counsel at American Express Travel Related Services. Before…
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The week in GRC: Starboard Value engages with Autodesk board and companies try to keep politics out of the workplace
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that Logitech International co-founder Daniel Borel called for shareholders at the Swiss-American company to find a new board chair this year to replace Wendy Becker, who recently announced she would not stand for re-election in 2025. In an open letter, Borel said shareholders should not wait until next year to install a new chair on the board. He has proposed board member Guy Gecht be chosen at the firm’s AGM, tentatively scheduled for September 4. Logitech did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for…
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‘This is not about politics’: GIX co-founder on launching the first US green exchange
Daniel Labovitz talks about the genesis of the exchange and answers ESG-skeptic questions It’s been nearly three months since the Green Impact Exchange (GIX) filed an application with the SEC for approval of what is going to be the first green economy stock exchange in the US. On July 17, the US regulator published its notice to solicit comments from the investment community, which has until September 6 to submit its feedback. As an exchange focused on dual listings rather than primary listings at the moment, GIX was founded two and half years ago by a group of Wall Street…
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Kraft Heinz legal chief to join Estée Lauder
Rashida La Lande had been with the food company since 2018 Rashida La Lande will join The Estée Lauder Companies as executive vice president and general counsel, effective August 19. She will report to William Lauder, executive chair, and Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO. La Lande was previously chief legal and corporate affairs officer at The Kraft Heinz Company. Her decision to step down from the company was announced on Monday in an SEC filing. She joined Kraft Heinz as senior vice president, global general counsel and corporate secretary in January 2018. She was senior vice president, global general counsel…
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‘Investors can still be taken by surprise’: Morningstar’s Lindsey Stewart talks ESG
Stewardship researcher on the questions that have come out of the ‘big think’ on ESG and bridging the gap between values and investment ‘For me, summer reading lists often start with big intentions and end with much less ambitious actions. A bit like New Year’s resolutions – or even investment stewardship on climate,’ writes Lindsey Stewart, director of stewardship research and policy at Morningstar, in his most recent LinkedIn newsletter. In it, he talks about everything from the power of proxy advisers to questioning the number of ESG proposals in the most recent proxy season, as well as offering up…
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The week in GRC: DoJ launches whistleblower pilot program and shareholders sue CrowdStrike after outage
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that President Joe Biden proposed sweeping changes to the US Supreme Court, including term limits and a binding code of conduct, but a divided Congress means the proposals have little chance of becoming law. Biden called on Congress to pass binding, enforceable rules that require the justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. He also urged the adoption of an 18-year term limit for the…
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Fox News Media hires new general counsel
Katherine Moran Meeks was previously a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Fox News Media, which is owned by Fox Corporation, has hired Katherine Moran Meeks as general counsel, effective August 19. She will report to CEO Suzanne Scott. Meeks is joining the company from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where she has been a partner in the law firm’s Washington, DC office practicing in the litigation department in addition to the appellate and constitutional law and labor & employment groups. Meeks has represented journalists and media companies in libel and other speech-based tort cases. She has litigated appeals in state…
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CSRD readiness soars midway through first reporting year
More than nine in 10 companies ready to meet regulation requirements, research finds The four letters of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) acronym have been almost as much a buzzword in 2024 as AI. Members of the European investment community and those who work for non-EU listed companies that have activities in the bloc face a new ‘burden of compliance’: CSRD came into force in 2023 and has applied since the start of this year. But if in 2023 many independent surveys found that at least six in 10 companies didn’t feel ready for CSRD, the same question…
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Will a new face in the presidential election race change the prevailing mood on ESG?
Companies have abandoned sustainability initiatives but the tide could turn It was former British prime minister Harold Wilson who coined the phrase ‘a week is a long time in politics’. The past seven days have certainly proved that to be true. But the impact of whoever wins the race for the White House later this year will certainly be felt in the capital markets for decades to come. Indeed, the ongoing repercussions of Donald Trump’s first term as US president are still reverberating through listed companies. Earlier this week, the Financial Times ran a story claiming that US firms are…
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The week in GRC: Enhabit shareholders elect activist-nominated director and US foreign investment watchdog sees rise in penalties
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that Moderna co-founder Robert Langer will step down from the vaccine maker’s board on August 5. Moderna said it expects to focus recruitment efforts on individuals with scientific and innovation experience. Langer is a former chair of the US Food and Drug Administration and currently one of the nine Institute Professors – the highest honor awarded to a faculty member – at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also heads the Langer Laboratory that focuses on studying the delivery and mechanism of drugs based on…