Archive
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Perdue Farms appoints compliance chief
Catherine Muldoon is a former long-time chief legal officer at BDP International Perdue Farms has hired Catherine Muldoon as chief compliance officer, to lead the family-owned food and agriculture company’s office of business ethics and compliance. In her new role, Muldoon will establish, implement and administer a compliance structure to strengthen Perdue Farms’ existing compliance efforts, according to the company. Muldoon most recently was general counsel for Baldor Specialty Foods. She was previously chief legal officer at logistics transportation firm BDP International, where she created a code of conduct and business ethics program. According to her LinkedIn profile, she spent…
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GE appoints legal and compliance leaders for energy spin-off
Company aims to split off GE Vernova next year – Bloomberg (paywall) reported that Bath & Body Works, which had been nearing a proxy battle with Third Point, appointed a director nominated by the activist investor. Third Point told the company it no longer plans to nominate additional board members at its AGM following the appointment of Thomas Kuhn, which was the result of ‘continued engagement’ with the firm, according to a statement. ‘The board was impressed with Tom’s background as a strategic adviser to numerous companies and boards of directors,’ said Sarah Nash, board chair at Bath & Body…
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The week in GRC: SEC eyes potential earnings manipulation and Yellen warns of climate change impact
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web GE Vernova, GE’s portfolio of energy businesses, has recruited Rachel Gonzalez as general counsel, effective April 1. Gonzalez most recently was general counsel of Starbucks Coffee Corporation, a role in which she managed legal and regulatory affairs, global security & data privacy and ethics & compliance. Before joining Starbucks in 2018, she led a global team responsible for legal strategy, regulatory affairs, corporate compliance, human resources, corporate communications and government affairs at Sabre Corporation. She was previously executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary with Dean Foods. Before…
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Comment: The American right has gone to war with ‘woke capitalism’ – Here’s what it gets wrong
Republican states pull billions from BlackRock over its focus on ESG Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor and likely future presidential contender, has opened up a new front in his party’s war on ‘woke capitalism’. He is proposing to change the rules around how public bodies within Florida borrow from the markets by issuing bonds. The proposal is that they would no longer be able to work with ratings agencies that value the bonds using the ESG sustainability criteria that have become commonplace in the world of finance in the past few years. Public bodies and companies with lower ESG scores…
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New York Life names compliance leader
Sandi Tillotson has been with the insurance firm since 2003 New York Life Insurance Company has promoted Sandi Tillotson to chief compliance officer. She succeeds Sara Badler, who retired at the end of 2022. In her new role, Tillotson reports to Michael McDonnell, who was promoted to general counsel last fall. McDonnell had been senior vice president, deputy general counsel and chief insurance counsel since 2021. Tillotson joined New York Life in 2003 as an associate counsel in the office of the general counsel and later became head of the corporate risk practice team within operational risk management, held a…
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Okta appoints legal chief
Larissa Schwartz has been with the company since 2015 Nasdaq-listed Okta has appointed Larissa Schwartz as chief legal officer (CLO) and corporate secretary, according to a regulatory filing. In that role she leads the tech company’s global legal, compliance and government affairs teams. Schwartz joined Okta in 2015 to lead the legal team through the company’s IPO. Before becoming CLO, she took on increasing responsibilities building the corporate governance, compliance and ethics, corporate and securities, employment, litigation and stock administration teams, in addition to supporting corporate development in its M&A, strategic transactions and Okta Ventures work. She was most recently…
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Data collection for GRI Biodiversity Standard remains challenging, Norway’s SWF says
Fund manager issues response to public consultation Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund has welcomed revisions to the GRI Biodiversity Standard but says collecting data from suppliers may remain challenging. In a letter to the Global Sustainability Standards Board, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) – which manages the $1.2 tn oil fund – says the challenges arise from ‘complex supply chains and lack of direct control’ over business partners. The letter is a response to the board’s public consultation on the exposure draft of the revised GRI Biodiversity Standard, first published on December 5, 2022. Although NBIM recognizes and supports GRI’s…
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The week in GRC: Congress votes against DoL ESG rule and DoJ launches executive pay enforcement pilot program
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that electronics materials maker Rogers Corp said it has reached an agreement with activist investment firm Starboard Value to add two independent directors to the company’s board. Rogers has appointed former Linde executive Anne Roby and former CEO of electrical power storage firm C&D Technologies Armand Lauzon as new independent directors. The board will consist of nine members after the annual meeting, Rogers said. Starboard will withdraw its director nominations, Rogers added, noting that the firm has also entered into a standstill and voting agreement.…
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Governance Matters podcast: Addressing social risks through governance
Investors have thrown a spotlight for companies on social issues such as slavery. This episode looks at the challenges posed by an emerging legal framework around forced labor and how companies can address social risks ‘[Around] 40 mn to 50 mn people in the world are subject to modern slavery,’ says Yousuf Aftab, director of A2, a law firm that helps companies manage social risk across the globe. He emphasizes the scale of the problem amid growing scrutiny from investors and lawmakers around the world on human rights issues such as forced labor within companies’ supply chains. One of the…
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WWF makes urgent call for consistent GHG standards
New analysis outlines need for ‘standardized or interoperable’ Scope 3 methodologies Companies need to become more selective about which material ESG topics they identify and report on, according to Mark Babington, executive director of regulatory standards at the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Speaking this today at the ESG Integration Forum – Europe, hosted in London by Corporate Secretary and IR Magazine, Babington said companies can lose focus on what is important if they try to keep all stakeholders happy. ‘One of the challenges for all companies – be they reporters in the EU, the UK or other jurisdictions –…
