Archive
-
NioCorp general counsel to retire
John Ashburn to step down in December John Ashburn, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Centennial, Colorado-based NioCorp Developments, is retiring on December 2, 2021. The company expects that he will continue to provide consulting services to NioCorp on a part-time basis. Ashburn joined NioCorp’s senior management team in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was vice president, chief legal officer and a member of the board of directors of Simbol, a privately held development stage lithium production company. Prior to that, he was executive vice president and general counsel of Molycorp. Earlier in his…
-
State Street names new risk chief
Andrew Kuritzkes to retire from firm at end of 2021 State Street Corporation has hired Brad Hu as its next chief risk officer (CRO), effective January 1, 2022. Hu will succeed Andrew Kuritzkes, who is retiring from State Street. Hu has joined the company this month as a member of its executive committee for a transition period with Kuritzkes. Hu was most recently CRO at Citigroup. Before taking on that role he was CRO for Citi Asia Pacific, a position in which he was responsible for managing the firm’s risks across all of Citi’s businesses in the region’s 17 markets,…
-
The week in GRC: Citi to require workers to be vaccinated and FTC adopts new M&A policy
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that business groups are urging the White House to delay President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for companies until after the holiday season, fearing it could cause an exodus of employees. Officials from the Office of Management and Budget have held dozens of meetings with labor unions, industry lobbyists and private individuals as the administration conducts its final review of the mandate. Retailers are particularly concerned the mandate could trigger a spike in resignations that would exacerbate staffing problems at businesses already short on people, said…
-
New report shows rise in success of ESG shareholder activism
Research finds 13 percent of ESG activist campaigns were successful in the first eight months of this year A new report released by Diligent Institute finds an increase in successful ESG shareholder activism campaigns, with a lack of modern governance practices cited as a key catalyst for activist action. Diligent’s report focuses on the steps companies are taking to be better prepared for shareholder activism, analyzing the governance data of companies targeted by investor activists. The sample includes data from 726 companies that engaged with investors, focusing solely on investor activism campaigns that were successful, unsuccessful, settled and/or withdrawn. The…
-
Majority support for E&S proposals almost doubles in US
Environmental and workforce diversity proposals garner notable shareholder support in 2021, according to analysis by Georgeson Thirty-three environmental and social proposals won the backing of most voting shareholders this year, compared to 18 in 2020, according to analysis by Georgeson. ‘The results of the 2021 proxy season highlight the monumental change in investor focus toward ESG risks and opportunities, particularly climate change and workforce diversity,’ Hannah Orowitz, Georgeson’s US head of ESG, says in a statement. More than a third – 13 out of 36 – of environmental shareholder proposals passed, with average support exceeding 39 percent. This is nearly…
-
KBR hires general counsel
Sonia Galindo most recently worked at FLIR Systems KBR has appointed Sonia Galindo as executive vice president and general counsel. Galindo most recently worked at FLIR Systems (now known as Teledyne F, a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies), where she was senior vice president, general counsel, secretary and chief ethics and compliance officer. She joined FLIR – a technology company with applications in government and defense, industrial and commercial markets – in 2019. Before working at FLIR, Galindo was general counsel and corporate secretary at education technology software company Rosetta Stone. She began her legal career at the SEC. She was…
-
Fidelity launches new climate goals and internal rating system
Asset manager pledges 50 percent cut in emissions across its portfolio by 2030 Fidelity International has announced plans to cut the carbon emissions in its investment portfolio by 50 percent by 2030 in a move that will put more pressure on companies to show they are managing the impact of climate change. The global investment firm, which looks after around $787 bn in client assets, has also published information about new internal climate ratings that it will use to assess the carbon reduction plans of portfolio companies. The move aligns Fidelity with the aims of the upcoming UN Conference on…
-
Citi to conduct racial equity audit
Move comes amid growing pressure on companies to address DE&I matters Citigroup has agreed to have a third party conduct a racial equity audit of the bank, six months after a significant number of its shareholders – though not a majority – voted for such a step. The move comes in a year when several US financial institutions have faced requests for racial equity audits amid growing investor scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) issues at US companies. Citi announced the move in a blog post last Friday afternoon. In it, executive vice president Edward Skyler says: ‘We believe…
-
The week in GRC: US companies add more diverse directors and energy companies link ESG to executive pay
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – According to The Wall Street Journal, the craze for sustainable investing is extending to the world’s oceans via ‘blue bonds.’ The debt is the latest iteration of investments known as green bonds, which aim to fight climate change and help the transition away from fossil fuels by reducing the cost of financing such projects. For example, Seaspan, which has an operating fleet of 132 vessels, initially tapped asset managers for $500 mn of bonds in July – the company’s first US blue bond – to pay for ships…
-
SEC’s Lee seeks global action on climate disclosure
Data only part of the solution, commissioner says SEC commissioner Allison Herren Lee has called for organizations around the world to work together in determining how companies report on the risks of the climate crisis. ‘Climate is, of course, a global challenge that demands a global solution,’ Lee said earlier this week. ‘That’s why we must seek ways to collaborate across jurisdictional boundaries to promote consistency in climate-related disclosure.’ She described as an ‘important and promising international effort’ the IFRS Foundation’s work on an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). ‘The ISSB can hopefully provide an international baseline for sustainability reporting…