Archive
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PepsiCo and Nuance Communications win top honors at Corporate Governance Awards
Winners of the 13th annual Corporate Governance Awards announced at special virtual ceremony PepsiCo and Nuance Communications yesterday were given two of the most prestigious honors at the 13th annual Corporate Governance Awards. PepsiCo was awarded the governance team of the year (large cap) title, and Nuance Communications was named best governance team of the year (small to mid-cap). PepsiCo also won the prize for best ESG reporting. The top individual awards went to American International Group’s (AIG) Rose Marie Glazer, who was named governance professional of the year (large cap), while Wendy Cassity of Nuance Communications was named governance…
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West picks successor to retiring general counsel
Kimberly Banks MacKay to join company from The Segal Group Exton, Pennsylvania-based West Pharmaceutical Services has recruited Kimberly Banks MacKay as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective December 8, 2020. MacKay will join West from The Segal Group, a privately held firm focused on employee benefits and investment consulting, where she has been senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Before working at Segal, she spent more than 15 years at Novartis in roles such as head of US legal for Novartis Business Services, deputy compliance officer for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and lead counsel for a…
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SEC’s Lee eyes bank disclosure around climate change
Commissioner emphasizes need for complete, accurate and reliable information to assess risks SEC member Allison Herren Lee has suggested the agency should help create standards for banks to release information about the climate-change risks associated with their decisions to finance companies and their activities. In remarks earlier this month, Lee noted the growing consensus that climate change may present a systemic risk to financial markets. There is a need for complete, accurate and reliable information in order to assess that risk, she said, starting with public company disclosure and financial firm reporting. ‘Investors also need this information so they can…
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Activism in a pandemic: Tampered appetites and the rise of climate activism
Uncertainty in 2020 has put activism on hold in most regions, according to Activist Insight data. But what’s in store for 2021? Companies across the US, Canada, continental Europe and the UK had something of a respite from shareholder activism this year. The Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with uncertainty over the US elections, saw the number of public campaigns globally drop from 757 by the end of Q3 2019 to 652 by the end of Q3 this year. Numbers from Activist Insight show activism was down across almost all regions. In the US alone, those numbers were 412 campaigns by the…
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Attorney returns to Toys‘R’Us parent as general counsel
Anand Shah was corporate counsel at Toys‘R’Us from 2012 to 2017 Tru Kids Brands, the parent of Toys‘R’Us and Babies‘R’Us created in January 2019, has hired Anand Shah as general counsel. Shah most recently worked as assistant general counsel for North America at chocolate company Ferrero, where he advised the business on issues such as acquisitions, e-commerce, retail operations, manufacturing, supply chain, financings and litigation. Before that he was corporate counsel at Toys‘R’Us from 2012 to 2017. In that role he was responsible for global corporate governance, negotiating and implementing strategic partnerships and supporting financing activities and licensing transactions. From…
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The week in GRC: COSO urges co-ordinating compliance and risk, and New Yorkers reluctant to return to offices
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web Joia Johnson, chief administrative officer, general counsel and corporate secretary of Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based HanesBrands, plans to retire, effective May 2021. HanesBrands is conducting an internal and external search for her replacement, according to the company. Johnson joined NYSE-listed HanesBrands as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary in 2007. She took up her present role in 2016, and has responsibility for legal, CSR, government affairs, real estate and human resources. From May 2000 until January 2007, Johnson was executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of…
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HanesBrands general counsel to retire
Joia Johnson joined company in 2007 – The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple suspended new business with key supplier Pegatron Corp, saying that the Taiwanese company violated the US smartphone maker’s rules related to student worker programs at its China facilities. Apple said it placed Pegatron on probation and won’t give the Taiwanese company any new business until it completes all required corrective actions. ‘Pegatron misclassified the student workers in its program and falsified paperwork to disguise violations of our code,’ Apple said in a statement. It said Pegatron fired the executive with direct oversight over the program. In…
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Poly hires CLO and CCO
Lisa Bodensteiner was most recently principal of MDAC Santa Cruz, California-based Poly has appointed Lisa Bodensteiner as executive vice president, chief legal and compliance officer and corporate secretary, joining the senior executive leadership team of CEO and president Dave Shull. Bodensteiner was most recently principal of MDAC. Before her time with the family-owned real estate company she was executive vice president, general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer of SunPower Corporation. She previously held key executive roles at First Solar and OptiSolar. Before spending a decade working in the solar power industry, Bodensteiner was executive vice president, general counsel, secretary…
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PJT Partners picks next general counsel
David Travin is currently deputy general counsel at PJT NYSE-listed PJT Partners has picked David Travin for promotion to become its next general counsel, effective January 1, 2021. He has been deputy general counsel for PJT Partners since joining the company in December 2016. Travin succeeds James Cuminale, who joined the company as general counsel in 2015. Cuminale will retire from his present role and remain at the company, initially to help with the transition and then to offer legal advice on transactions. Before joining the company, Travin spent five years at UBS where he was mainly involved in handling…
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The week in GRC: San Francisco voters back pay inequity measure, and SEC releases enforcement report
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal noted that major US companies are asking the law firms they hire to explain how many diverse lawyers they employ and whether those attorneys are assigned meaningful work. Firms that don’t have good answers could lose out on bonuses or not get hired. ‘What gets done is what gets rewarded,’ said Shannon Klinger, chief legal officer of Novartis, which withholds 15 percent of legal fees if diversity benchmarks are not met. Roughly 2 percent of partners at US law firms and less than 5…