Archive
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The week in GRC: LGIM to back climate proposals at banks and Hong Kong plans mandatory climate disclosures by companies
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla signed on to an industry letter in support of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority to regulate drugs, after a federal judge in Texas suspended the agency’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Bourla was among more than 200 pharmaceutical company executives who signed the letter after US Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s controversial ruling. The executives wrote that the decision ‘ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent.’ They also raised concerns that the ruling will ‘set a precedent’ for diminishing…
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Lowe’s hires legal chief
Juliette Pryor to join company on May 3 Lowe’s Companies has hired Juliette Pryor as executive vice president, chief legal officer (CLO) and corporate secretary, effective May 3. She succeeds Bill McCanless, who has been Lowe’s executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary since 2015. He advised the company last year of his intention to retire at the end of May. Pryor will join Lowe’s from Albertsons, where she has been executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary since 2020. Before that, she was general counsel and corporate secretary for almost four years at Cox Enterprises. She previously…
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Alcoa general counsel to retire
Jeffrey Heeter has been with the company since 1998 Molson Coors Beverage Company has announced in an SEC filing that Anne-Marie D’Angelo, the company’s chief legal and government affairs officer, has resigned for personal reasons. The filing states that Molson Coors and D’Angelo have entered into an agreement under which she will provide legal advisory consulting services to the company until December 31, 2023 while the company seeks a new chief legal officer. She will also provide transition services as needed. D’Angelo joined Molson Coors to take up the chief legal and government affairs officer role in December 2021. She…
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Molson Coors legal chief steps down
Anne-Marie D’Angelo joined the company in 2021 Jeffrey Heeter, executive vice president and general counsel of Alcoa Corporation, plans to retire from the company, effective September 1, according to an SEC filing. Heeter joined Alcoa in 1998 as associate counsel in the company’s legal department in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During his time with the firm, he has been business unit counsel for several units within Alcoa’s global primary products group, including the former Alcoa world chemicals business. In his present role, Heeter is responsible for Alcoa’s legal, compliance and governance matters globally. He was also corporate secretary from November 2016 to…
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How PepsiCo secured an ESG reporting hat trick
Why PepsiCo won best ESG reporting (large cap) at Corporate Secretary’s 15th annual Corporate Governance Awards This is the third year in succession that PepsiCo has taken home an award for its ESG reporting. The firm shares detailed ESG-related information with stakeholders across several platforms that in themselves continue to adapt and improve. The 2021 ESG summary, for example, marked a shift from the previous sustainability report with a high-level overview of the company’s pep+ (or PepsiCo Positive) agenda and progress made during the year. The summary is also designed to demonstrate the integration between ESG and the firm’s business…
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ISSB to focus on climate disclosures in first reporting year
Reporting group adds new relief measures for companies The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has decided to prioritize climate-related information in its first reporting year, part of a series of measures designed to ease the burden on companies from the new disclosures. The ISSB has agreed that companies need not ‘provide disclosures about sustainability-related risks and opportunities beyond climate-related information’ in the first year of reporting, according to a statement from the organization. Companies would be expected to provide ‘full reporting on sustainability-related risks and opportunities, beyond climate, from the second year,’ it adds. The announcement beefs up the relief…
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Governance Matters podcast: Getting your board ready for the future
Boards increasingly face pressure to become more proactive and strategic about not only their company but also their own composition, structure and role. This episode shares commentary in this area and reports from the ESG Integration Forum – Europe ‘Some say you can use artificial intelligence. [But] I think we would like to have some people. We want those people around the boardroom table to be the heart, the mind, the conscience of the business,’ says Helle Bank Jorgensen, CEO and founder of Competent Boards. In this episode of the Governance Matters podcast, editor-in-chief James Beech sits down with Jorgensen…
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The week in GRC: TotalEnergies faces climate change resolution and HSBC rejects activists’ spin-off plan
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters reported that, according to data from legal consultancy Fairfax Associates, there were at least as many large law firm mergers completed in the first quarter of 2023 as in all of 2022. So far this year, 1,400-lawyer Holland & Knight has merged with 257-lawyer Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, and 1,050-lawyer Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has combined with 100-lawyer Buckley. Fairfax defines large mergers as those in which each law firm has at least 100 lawyers. In 2022, just two sets of large firms merged all year,…
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Applied Industrial Technologies hires new general counsel
Jon Ploetz joins from Harsco Corporation NYSE-listed Applied Industrial Technologies has hired Jon Ploetz as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. In his new role, Ploetz heads up the Cleveland, Ohio-based company’s global legal affairs, governance and compliance activities, ESG activities and corporate secretary duties. Ploetz succeeds Fred Bauer, who retired on January 31, 2023 after spending 30 years with Applied, the last 21 of which as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Bauer continued to be the company’s secretary during the search for his successor and officially left on March 31. Ploetz has joined Applied from Harsco…
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Why Nasdaq’s proxy statement leads by example
Nasdaq took home the best proxy statement (large cap) title at Corporate Secretary’s 15th annual Corporate Governance Awards Unlike other public companies, Nasdaq also serves as a market regulator and exchange operator. As such, its proxy statement is viewed as an opportunity to be a corporate governance role model, says Erika Moore, vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary. Nasdaq’s 2022 proxy statement is thorough, well designed and innovative throughout. New elements include an ‘About Nasdaq’ section, highlighting the company’s vision, purpose and key performance metrics such as net revenues and IPO ‘win rate’. Erika Moore The document also…
