Archive
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A career of success in deals and mentoring
Carol Ward received the lifetime achievement award at the recent Corporate Governance Awards Carol Ward is this year’s recipient of the lifetime achievement award as a result of her work both in guiding major firms through times of governance and corporate transformation, and in guiding young professionals on the values of good corporate governance. ‘Carol has been very active in the governance community for the 25 years I have worked in the field, and probably longer,’ says Lydia Beebe, founder of LIBB Advisors and director of Kansas City Southern, EQT Corporation and Aemetis. ‘She makes herself available to others as…
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The week in GRC: Brexit may complicate global sanctions compliance, and SEC proposes MD&A changes
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web The governance team at Chesapeake is a small and tight-knit group that, despite its lack of numbers, lends a helping and expert hand to a wide array of projects. Stacie Roberts was promoted in May 2019 to assistant vice president of corporate governance and continues to report directly to the company’s executive vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief policy and risk officer. In terms of full-time staff, her team comprises governance managers Heidi Zanecosky and Darcy White. The team has remained roughly the same size while Chesapeake…
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Chesapeake Utilities’ governance team offers an expert helping hand
Chesapeake Utilities Corporation won governance team of the year (small to mid-cap) at the 2019 Corporate Governance Awards The SEC should reconsider what it is trying to achieve in revamping the regulatory framework governing proxy advisers and shareholder proposals – and revise its rulemaking proposals in the area, according to the commission’s own investor advisory committee (IAC). ‘While we appreciate the commission’s effort to seek a productive balance in a changing environment for corporate governance and shareholder engagement, we are concerned that the [proxy advisers and shareholder proposals] actions may collectively shift the balance in a manner that does not…
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Con Edison appoints new general counsel
Deneen Donnley joins New York utility from USAA As a small-cap company, Coeur Mining doesn’t have the same resources that many past winners and nominees of the best proxy statement award have had. But this year, for the first time, the Corporate Governance Awards recognize the best proxy statement among small caps, rather than grouping their entries with mid-cap ones. While the legal team at Coeur Mining may have a small budget and fewer resources than some companies, it has looked at the trends adopted by the large-cap leaders in proxy disclosure and thought carefully about what it could emulate.…
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How Caesars improved governance through ‘trial by fire’
Why Caesars Entertainment Corporation took home the 2019 Corporate Governance Award for governance team of the year (large cap) Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison) has recruited Deneen Donnley as the utility’s new senior vice president and general counsel, succeeding Elizabeth Moore, who retired at the end of December. Donnley joined Con Edison having spent the last nine years at USAA in San Antonio, Texas. USAA, a private holding company for a diversified group of financial services firms with members rather than shareholders, won Corporate Secretary’s 2017 Corporate Governance Award for best overall governance at a private company.…
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How Coeur Mining won best proxy statement (small cap)
Coeur Mining took home the trophy at the Corporate Governance Awards 2019 Caesars Entertainment Corporation this year wins the award for governance team of the year (large cap) after making strides on governance while undergoing what one of our judges called ‘trial by fire.’ Michelle Bushore, leader of the governance team, joined Caesars in October 2018. She was promoted in June 2019 from deputy general counsel to executive vice president, general counsel, chief legal & risk officer and corporate secretary, succeeding Timothy Donovan, who had been Caesars’ general counsel for 10 years. The team spent the first part of 2018…
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Marsh & McLennan’s Kuratek has stellar governance year
Why Connor Kuratek of Marsh & McLennan Companies was named rising star at Corporate Secretary’s 2019 Corporate Governance Awards Adam Kokas is a man with his hands on many governance levers. As executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Atlas Air Worldwide, he leads the company’s governance program and takes charge of initiatives ranging from year-round shareholder engagement and keeping directors up to date on the latest trends in corporate governance to board refreshment and the company’s proxy statement. Over the past three years, Kokas has led a process of board refreshment that has led to the arrival of…
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How Atlas Air’s Kokas aims high on governance
Adam Kokas of Atlas Air Worldwide was recently named governance professional of the year (small to mid-cap) at Corporate Secretary’s 2019 Corporate Governance Awards It’s been a banner year for Marsh & McLennan Companies’ (MMC) Connor Kuratek, in which he traveled from one side of the world to the other to help with governance issues. Kuratek only joined the firm in 2016 but was handed key roles on two of the most important issues facing MMC: an industry-wide investigation by the Australian Royal Commission, and the $6.5 billion acquisition of the UK’s Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), MMC’s largest ever M&A…
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Eli Lilly hires next general counsel
Anat Hakim succeeds Michael Harrington, who is retiring As proxy statements continue to evolve into glossier, more visually engaging publications, the number of people involved can increase – as can budgets. But for NorthWestern Energy that isn’t an option. The two-person corporate secretary team is responsible for drafting the language, gathering the data and drawing the charts, says Tim Olson, senior corporate counsel and corporate secretary at the company. Olson says he and his colleague Emily Larkin, assistant corporate secretary, ‘try to make incremental progress each year’ by looking at the nominees for each Corporate Governance Award and exploring what…
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How award winner Mehlman handles governance at Regions Financial
Why Corporate Secretary’s 2019 Corporate Governance Award for governance professional of the year (large cap) went to Hope Mehlman of Regions Financial Corporation Anat Hakim will join Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company on February 3 as senior vice president and general counsel. She is succeeding Michael Harrington, who is retiring at the end of this week. Hakim is moving to Lilly having spent more than three years at WellCare Health Plans, where she has been executive vice president, general counsel and secretary. Before joining WellCare, she worked as divisional vice president and associate general counsel for intellectual property litigation at…