News
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Cargill hires HPE general counsel
Rishi Varma will join Cargill later this month Cargill has hired Rishi Varma as corporate senior vice president, chief legal and compliance officer, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective January 29. He will succeed Anna Richo, who will become corporate senior vice president and strategic adviser to the general counsel and CEO until her retirement in September.Varma is joining Cargill from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) where he is senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. During his 11 years at HPE, he has overseen corporate governance, M&A, commercial contracting, supply-chain matters, litigation, intellectual property and corporate securities. He also…
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General counsel at Jack Daniel’s parent company to retire
Mike Carr will be promoted to succeed Matthew Hamel Matthew Hamel, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Brown‑Forman Corporation, home to alcoholic drinks brands such as Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve and Coopers’ Craft, will retire from the company on May 1. Mike Carr, who is at present vice president and associate general counsel for regional and corporate development at Brown‑Forman, will succeed Hamel at that time. Hamel joined the company in 2007. During his tenure as general counsel, he has led Brown‐Forman’s legal, compliance, risk and public affairs teams, overseeing activities related to corporate governance, regulatory compliance,…
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The week in GRC: SDNY launches whistleblower pilot program and Oregon pushes companies to stop thwarting shareholder activists
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Financial Times (paywall) reported that according to a report by Lazard, companies faced a record number of attacks from activist investors in 2023. There were 252 new campaigns globally, the report found, a 7 percent increase on the previous year. Europe and Asia-Pacific saw record levels of activity, with the UK and Japan leading the charge. There were 69 campaigns launched in Europe, most of which had demands related to M&A, and 44 new campaigns in Asia-Pacific where local hedge fund firms were the most active participants.…
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Support for environmental shareholder proposals fell in 2023 amid anti-ESG investor sentiment
Big investors supported significantly fewer environmental proposals last year, Georgeson finds Investor support for environmental shareholder proposals was lower last year than in 2022, with big investors such as Vanguard, Capital Group and Dimensional supporting less than 10 percent of environmental proposals, data shows. A total of 68 anti-ESG proposals were put to a vote during 2023’s proxy season: four that tackled environmental issues, 46 social proposals and 18 concerning governance matters, according to Georgeson’s latest Investor Voting Report. Of the largest institutional investors, Northern Trust continued to be most likely to support environmental proposals, though it was also the…
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State Street hires new general counsel from Barclays
Mark Shelton succeeds David Phelan in the role State Street Corporation has appointed Mark Shelton as executive vice president and general counsel, reporting to CEO and chair Ron O’Hanley. Shelton succeeds David Phelan, who announced his retirement last year. Shelton joins State Street from Barclays International where he was general counsel, a role in which he oversaw legal services related to client transactions and trading in addition to cross-border regulatory compliance, data security, privacy and ESG strategy. According to his LinkedIn profile, before moving to Barclays Shelton was co-chair of the financial institutions group at law firm Gibson Dunn &…
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Apple and Disney face shareholder proposals on AI
Door open for similar filings at other companies Apple and The Walt Disney Company are set to face votes at their 2024 AGMs on their use of AI after the SEC denied their requests for permission to keep the shareholder proposals off their proxy materials. The SEC decisions under Rule 14a-8 are among the agency’s first of this year’s proxy season, setting the tone for other tech companies that may face similar resolutions. The rapid rise to prominence of ChatGPT in late 2022 meant there was not sufficient time for shareholder advocates to file proposals ahead of last year’s proxy…
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Europe sees fewer say-on-climate plans put to vote
France, Spain and UK lead on climate plan proposals, while Portugal sees first company put climate strategy to its shareholder base Baker Hughes has promoted Georgia Magno to become chief legal officer. Magno was previously vice president and general counsel for Baker Hughes’ industrial and energy technology business. She joined the company in 2010, initially as general counsel for its global supply chain. She went on to hold legal roles in various commercial, operational and product line organizations with Baker Hughes countries, including Italy and the US. In her new role, Magno is responsible for the energy technology company’s legal…
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Baker Hughes promotes attorney to become legal chief
Georgia Magno has been with the company since 2010 Just 17 European companies put their climate plans to a vote in 2023, a drop from 36 the previous year, according to new research. The idea of putting a climate strategy up for shareholder approval – so called say-on-climate votes – emerged in 2020, with a number of companies offering investors the opportunity to vote on their forward-looking climate strategies across the following years. But it appears the trend receded last year, with just 17 such resolutions recorded in Europe, despite the region being typically more supportive of the idea. France,…
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Introducing the EU’s law on AI
Lawmaker Dragos Tudorache explains how the regulation – which will also apply to many US firms – will affect companies in Europe Governance Intelligence’s sister publication IR Magazine recently spoke with Dragos Tudorache, a member of the European Parliament,about the new EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which was finalized last month. Tudorache has been a key player in helping get the regulation across the finish line. Here, he explains what the regulation means and who it affects. Why did you think AI needed to be regulated within the European space? First of all, the impact was there. It is a…
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The week in GRC: Investor backs Disney in proxy battle and political polarization worries US business leaders in 2024
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that The Walt Disney Company won the support of a key shareholder in its fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz over the direction of the company. Disney said it reached a deal with ValueAct under which the activist would back the company’s board nominees at the 2024 AGM and Disney would share information and meet with the investor. Disney’s deal with ValueAct could help protect it from the pressure of Peltz’s demands for board seats. Another shareholder, Blackwells Capital, said it plans…