Archive
-
Veteran Moody’s general counsel to retire
John Goggins has held the role for more than 20 years Moody’s Corporation’s general counsel is stepping down after more than two decades in the job. According to a filing with the SEC, executive vice president John Goggins will retire on September 4 having been in the post since 2000. He joined Moody’s Investors Service in February 1999 as vice president and associate general counsel. Richard Steele will succeed Goggins, the filing states. He joined Moody’s KMV Company in 2006 as its chief legal officer and became general counsel of Moody’s Analytics in January 2008. According to his LinkedIn profile,…
-
AI flashes on governance teams’ radars
Company attorneys eye opportunities and risks from emerging technology. Keeping humans in the loop remains key In-house legal and governance teams are among the many groups taking a hard look at artificial intelligence (AI) and figuring out how to make the most of the opportunities it offers while mitigating the risks it presents. At this stage, AI appears to be more widespread in attorneys’ minds than in their offices. Research conducted around this time last year for a report by FTI Consulting and Relativity found that 20 percent of general counsel and chief legal officers were using some type of…
-
MUFG appoints general counsel for the Americas
Matt Abrusci was previously a senior attorney with Royal Bank of Canada Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has hired Matt Abrusci as general counsel for the Americas. In his new role, Abrusci manages legal affairs and board of directors administration related to MUFG’s combined operations in the region. He was previously global head of the capital markets law group of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Before taking on that role, he was head of the Americas for RBC’s capital markets law group. Before joining RBC, Abrusci worked at Credit Suisse Securities, most recently as managing director and…
-
New ISSB global standards have arrived
On June 26, 2023, in a tremendous undertaking in the world of standard-setting, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) issued in final form its first two standards: IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures. This is a significant milestone in establishing a global baseline with one common language to communicate an entity’s sustainability risks and opportunities, starting with those driven and/or impacted by climate change. The standards have been developed by building from existing frameworks and standards, most notably the TCFD and SASB Standards. Given the wide adoption and use of both…
-
The week in GRC: Google, Microsoft form AI safety standards group and Goodyear reaches agreement with Elliott
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web –Four leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies launched a new industry group to identify best safety practices and promote the technology’s use toward great societal challenges, according to CNBC. Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI said the Frontier Model Forum has four key goals, which Google said include advancing AI safety research to promote responsible development of frontier models, minimize risks and enable independent, standardized evaluations of capabilities and safety. Organizations that meet several criteria can join the group. Those include developing or using frontier models, or ‘large-scale machine-learning models that…
-
SEC adopts cyber-security rules without director expertise element
Companies will have to report on major attacks and cyber-security governance The SEC on Wednesday voted three-to-two to approve rules requiring companies to disclose material cyber-security incidents that affect them. They will also have to report each year material information about their cyber-security risk management, strategy and governance – although the commission has dropped a controversial proposal that companies report on board-level cyber-security expertise. Under the new rules, firms will have to report on a new Item 1.05 of Form 8K any cyber-security incident they believe to be material and to describe the material aspects of its nature, scope and…
-
Navigating investor sustainability pressures: A path to thriving in a changing landscape
Integrating sustainability into business practices requirements is the global trend, World Benchmarking Alliance says In today’s interconnected world, finance has a major impact on the real economy and institutional investors exert significant influence over the companies they invest in. Sustainability efforts within companies are centered around reporting and data. While good and transparent sustainability reporting is crucial, there is a paradigm shift underway. As investors are looking to align their financial goals with societal and environmental matters, they will increasingly choose to invest in companies that are considered to be sustainable. If companies learn to navigate this, they can improve…
-
Gender tops boards’ considerations of new directors, research finds
Refreshment is one of board’s key duties Gender tops the list of criteria taken into account when boards are looking for new members, according to new research on board refreshment from Corporate Secretary. Asked which factors their board uses in its considerations when recruiting new directors, gender is mentioned by 87 percent of respondents. It is followed by relevant experience from an industry other than the company’s, which is mentioned by 80 percent of those taking part in the research, then race/ethnicity (75 percent), ESG skills and experience (60 percent) and cyber-security skills and experience (54 percent). Soft skills and…
-
New expert joins Corporate Governance Awards judging panel
Distinguished members will determine winners, including of new categories Jacqueline Condron, vice president for governance and proxy voting manager at Mellon, has become a member of the panel of judges who will preside over the 16th annual Corporate Governance Awards, for which submissions are due by August 4. Condron joins other distinguished industry experts who will decide the winners of this years’ awards: – Anna Catalano, board member, Ecovyst, Frontdoor, Hexion and HF Sinclair – Joan Conley, board member, EJF Acquisition Corp and Tigo Energy – Matthew Geekie, senior vice president, secretary and general counsel, Graybar – Eileen Kamerick, non-executive…
-
Philip Morris appoints company lawyer as general counsel
Yann Guérin has been with the company since 2006 Philip Morris International (PMI) has appointed company veteran Yann Guérin as senior vice president and general counsel. Since joining the company in 2006, Guérin has held several positions within PMI’s legal and compliance department, including vice president and associate general counsel for the Middle East and Africa and PMI duty-free from 2018 to 2019, vice president and associate general counsel for Southern Asia from 2019 to 2021 and vice president and associate general counsel for corporate since 2021. In this last role, he was lead deal counsel on PMI’s acquisition of…