Archive
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Crinetics appoints first general counsel
Garlan Adams was previously an adviser to Indivior Nasdaq-listed Crinetics Pharmaceutical has hired Garlan Adams to fill the newly created position of general counsel. Adams was previously an adviser to Indivior on a range of compliance and litigation matters related to product commercialization including patient access, interactions with healthcare professionals, sales, marketing and product life-cycle issues. Before that, she was general counsel at Avanir Pharmaceuticals, a role in which she advised on matters related to compliance, clinical-stage development, sales, marketing, pricing and distribution, in addition to developing contracting processes and policies. Earlier in her career, Adams worked at Eli Lilly…
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The week in GRC: Companies eye return to workplace and study finds uptick in diverse board appointments
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal reported that companies are increasing the pressure on workers to get vaccinated – not necessarily with mandates but with strong nudges. Many employers have for months tried to coax workers into receiving a Covid-19 vaccine by offering cash, time off and other incentives. Executives have made personal appeals in town hall meetings and internal memos. Now, some of those efforts are taking a more assertive tone. Although most employers haven’t explicitly ordered staff to get vaccinated, many are asking workers to report their vaccination…
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Investor groups probing issuers on racial equity messaging this proxy season
How some investors are pressing US companies to take racial equity issues seriously – and the responses they are getting As thousands of people took to the streets last summer to protest the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans at the hands of police officers – alongside the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on communities of color – powerful chief executives made statements of support and pledged millions of dollars in assistance. And some investors took a fresh look at how they might hold those CEOs and their companies accountable for their promises and progress on diversity…
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First American settles cyber-security reporting action
SEC says company failed to maintain disclosure controls and procedures First American Financial Corporation has settled SEC allegations of disclosure controls and procedures violations related to a cyber-security vulnerability that exposed sensitive customer information. According to an SEC filing, the enforcement involves First American’s EaglePro application for sharing document images related to title and escrow transactions. The SEC says the Santa Ana, California-based company failed to maintain disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that all available relevant information concerning the vulnerability was analyzed before being disclosed in reports filed with the agency. The SEC says that on the morning of…
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Comment: Getting your board ready for ESG shareholder activism
Melissa Paschall explains lessons boards can learn from the recent director elections at ExxonMobil The growth of corporate disclosure on ESG issues will offer new opportunities to activist investors as they search for evidence of underperformance, according to a recently released white paper. Activists are increasingly using ESG issues as a focus area in their engagement with issuers, but it can be hard to build a thesis when there is a lack of data showing how companies stack up against peers. ESG disclosure, already at record levels, is set to increase further thanks to a range of new regulations being…
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ESG disclosure said to create opportunities for activists
‘Greater disclosure [offers] more opportunity for analysis and comparison, and therefore challenge,’ says Andrew Archer of Investor Update Oil majors received stunning climate mandates from their shareholders during the 2021 proxy season, including a historic vote to replace three ExxonMobil board members with individuals from an alternative slate nominated by activist investor Engine No 1. But such shake-ups should not come as a surprise: the real surprise is how long it took for them to happen. The growing climate risks companies face have been clear for years. The rising impacts on the economy and society of a warming planet, the…
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Almost half back climate change proposal at Caterpillar
Proposal seeks disclosure around achieving net-zero emissions Shareholders at Caterpillar’s AGM last week almost nudged a proposal on climate change into the ‘approved’ column of this year’s proxy season scorecard. According to an SEC filing, around 48 percent of votes cast supported the proposal, which requested that Caterpillar’s board issue a report ‘disclosing the company’s climate policies, performance and improvement targets, if any, responsive to each of the indicators set forth in the Net Zero [Company] Benchmark, or any rationale for failure to adopt such metrics.’ The proponent, As You Sow, suggests the report should include: Any net-zero by 2050…
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PGT Innovations hires new general counsel
Ryan Quinn was most recently co-general counsel and secretary at LendingTree Window and door manufacturer PGT Innovations has hired Ryan Quinn as its new general counsel. Quinn was most recently senior vice president, co-general counsel and secretary at LendingTree. During his time with LendingTree he built and managed a legal and compliance team of 15 attorneys and other legal professionals, led major corporate transactions and advised on securities and governance matters such as public reporting and board meetings. He was also involved in executive compensation, equity, data privacy and security matters. According to his LinkedIn profile, Quinn previously spent more…
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The week in GRC: Gensler seeks to revise 10b5-1 plan rules and CEOs press governments for climate action
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal reported that Google agreed to pay French regulators a fine of nearly $270 mn, settling one of the first antitrust cases globally alleging that the company abused its leading role in the digital advertising sector. France’s competition authority said it had accepted proposed commitments Google made to settle the case, including promises to make it easier for competitors to use its online-ad tools. Google’s commitments will be binding for three years, the authority said. ‘We have agreed on a set of commitments to make…
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Boston Scientific appoints new general counsel
Vance Brown has been with the company for more than 20 years SASB and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) today launched their new merged organization – the Value Reporting Foundation – as the latest step aimed at developing a comprehensive corporate reporting framework covering global sustainability performance. The foundation intends to help companies and investors through three resources: integrated thinking principles to improve understanding of how value is created in the short, medium and long term; the integrated reporting framework to aid reporting on strategy, governance, performance, prospects and business models; and the SASB standards to offer investors consistent,…