Boardroom

This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that Starbucks appointed Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol as its next leader. The company said Niccol would start as CEO and executive chair of its board on September 9. Current Starbucks chief Laxman Narasimhan has stepped down as CEO and board director after roughly 16 months on the job. Mellody Hobson, Starbucks’s executive chair since 2021, said the company started discussing a leadership change roughly two months ago and contacted Niccol. Hobson, who will become lead independent director, said the decision…

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…

Categories include focus on work done either in close collaboration with boards or by board members themselves Governance Intelligence has extended the deadline for submissions to the 17th Corporate Governance Awards until the end of Friday, August 2. The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in New York on Thursday, November 7. They celebrate outstanding achievements by the governance profession in areas such as hosting AGMs, compliance and ethics programs, ESG reporting, entity management, use of technology, proxy statements, investor engagement and corporate transactions. Submissions are also encouraged for categories that highlight work done either in close collaboration…

This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that Macy’s said its board had unanimously decided to end negotiations with the activist group that had been looking to take the company private for roughly $6.9 bn. ‘We have concluded that Arkhouse and Brigade Capital Management’s proposal lacks certainty of financing and does not deliver compelling value,’ Macy’s lead independent director Paul Varga said in a press release. Macy’s said the company had gone ‘well beyond what is customarily required’ in a due diligence period, offering the bidder group store-by-store profit and loss information and…

Around a quarter of votes cast at Delta Airline’s AGM were in favor of a proposal supporting unionization rights at the company. The resolution is among a number filed at US companies to focus on labor rights amid an uptick in efforts of US employees to organize. The proposal was backed by 26 percent of the votes cast, down from 33 percent at last year’s AGM and not a majority but still a level of support widely seen as significant by governance experts. The resolution, filed by As You Sow, asks that Delta’s board ‘adopt and disclose a non-interference policy……

Experts discuss future impact of AI and related technologies on corporate governance – Reuters (paywall) reported that activist investors mounted campaigns at a record number of companies globally during the first six months of 2024 but have been less successful in breaking into boardrooms as companies fought back effectively. In the first half of the year, Barclays tracked 147 activist campaigns, toppling the previous record of 143 set during the first six months of 2018. In the second quarter, 86 campaigns were launched. Elliott Investment Management was the busiest activist, launching 11 new campaigns this year and committing around $11…

Distinguished panel will review outstanding work by governance professionals Governance Intelligence has announced the panel of judges who will preside over the 17th Corporate Governance Awards, for which submissions are due by July 26. The distinguished industry experts who will decide the winners of this years’ honors are: Emma Butler, manager for investment stewardship at Dimensional Fund Advisors Jacqueline Condron, senior vice president for proxy voting & governance at Mellon, a division of Mellon Investments Corporation Joan Conley, board member at EJF Acquisition Corp and Tigo Energy Matthew Geekie, senior vice president, secretary and general counsel at Graybar Eileen Kamerick,…

A quarter of business leaders say they have deprioritized sustainability issues While some companies have dialed back their ESG goals, CEOs as a whole continue to see sustainability as a growing area of importance, according to a recent survey. Short-term priorities have shifted, however, with investment in technology viewed as more critical than decarbonization efforts in the coming months. In a poll of 1,200 executives, more than half (54 percent) say sustainability is more of a priority now than it was a year ago, reports the quarterly CEO Outlook Pulse survey from EY. Business leaders based in the Americas are…

Resolution filed by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System Most S&P 500 companies are going beyond SEC requirements for their executive compensation clawback policies, according to research from DragonGC. New SEC rules came into effect last year under which national securities exchanges now require listed companies to adopt a policy ensuring companies will recover incentive-based compensation erroneously received by current or former executive officers after an accounting restatement. Issuers must disclose these policies in annual reports released after December 2023. DragonGC analyzed the clawback policies of the 401 S&P 500 companies that had made disclosures as of early May.…