Archive
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SASB and IIRC launch new reporting organization
Foundation will more closely align the integrated reporting framework and the SASB standards Boston Scientific has promoted Vance Brown to become senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary and a member of the company’s executive committee. He succeeds Desiree Ralls-Morrison, who became general counsel and corporate secretary at McDonald’s Corporation in April. She had been general counsel and corporate secretary at Boston Scientific since 2017. Brown has worked at Boston Scientific for more than two decades, during which time he has supported almost every business, region and function across the company. He has led a number of groups within…
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Elanco hires new general counsel
Marcela Kirberger to join animal health company on June 22 NYSE-listed Elanco Animal Health has recruited Marcela Kirberger as general counsel and corporate secretary. Kirberger will join Elanco’s executive committee at the company’s Greenfield, Indiana headquarters on June 22. She is moving to Elanco from Roche Diagnostics where she has been general counsel and corporate secretary in the company’s North American headquarters overseeing legal matters regarding compliance, litigation, legal regulatory risk, privacy, operations and labor and employment. As a member of the company’s leadership team she was also part of Roche Diagnostics’ Covid-19 crisis management efforts. Before Roche in 2019,…
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Group sets 2023 deadline for reporting framework on nature-related risks
‘Critical differences’ between reporting on nature and climate, newly appointed TNFD co-chairs say The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has set a deadline of 2023 for the creation of a new reporting framework to address risks connected to the natural world. The organization, which officially launched last week, has also announced the appointment of two co-chairs: David Craig, CEO of Refinitiv, and Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In recent years, investors and regulators have upped their focus on biodiversity, calling for more disclosure from companies about how their activities impact nature, such…
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Boeing general counsel to join Activision Blizzard
Grant Dixton to succeed Chris Walther, who retires this month Activision Blizzard has announced in an SEC filing that Grant Dixton will be joining the company as its chief legal officer (CLO) from The Boeing Company, where he is senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary and a member of the executive council. Dixton will succeed Chris Walther, who is retiring as Activision Blizzard’s CLO on June 14. Walther has been CLO with the interactive entertainment company, which produces games such as Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo and King’s Candy Crush, since November 2009…
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The week in GRC: SEC to review proxy adviser stance and more companies link exec pay to diversity goals
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon is bucking the trend of companies requiring arbitration in disputes with customers and employees. The company recently changed its terms of service to allow customers to file lawsuits. Amazon’s decision to drop its arbitration requirement is an example of how companies are responding to plaintiffs’ lawyers pushing the arbitration system to its limits. The company made the change after plaintiffs’ lawyers flooded it with more than 75,000 individual arbitration demands on behalf of Echo users, triggering a bill for tens of…
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Issuers exploring ‘other avenues’ of communication in activism defense, advisers say
After a quiet year for shareholder activist campaigns globally, the volume of campaigns could be returning As activist activity shows signs of picking up relative to last year, there’s scope for issuers to learn lessons from the forced adoption of one-to-many digital communications, advisers say. In 2020, shareholder activists pulled back from planned campaigns, with the fewest number of campaigns waged against public companies since 2015, according to data from Activist Insight. But that pent-up energy has been put toward campaigns this season, advisers say. ‘A number of activist campaigns that had been initiated were abandoned or settled last year…
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Amazon sees significant support for racial equity audit proposal
Forty-four percent of votes cast at AGM back request Amazon has joined the ranks of companies whose shareholders this proxy season have given significant – though not majority – support for proposals regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). At Amazon’s AGM on May 26, 44 percent of the votes cast supported a request that the company’s board commission ‘a racial equity audit analyzing Amazon’s impacts on civil rights, equity, diversity and inclusion, and the impacts of those issues on Amazon’s business. The audit may, in the board’s discretion, be conducted by an independent third party with input from civil rights…
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WWE names general counsel
Samira Shah was most recently with Moda Operandi NYSE-listed wrestling media company WWE has hired Samira Shah as general counsel and corporate secretary. In her new role, Shah’s areas of responsibility include corporate governance, compliance, litigation, intellectual property, government relations, risk management and talent contracts. She was most recently general counsel and corporate secretary at Moda Operandi, advising the company and board on all legal matters. Before working at Moda Operandi, she spent 20 years as a senior attorney at law firms Cravath Swaine & Moore and O’Melveny & Myers. According to the company, WWE broadcasts to more than 180…
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Athira hires general counsel
Mark Worthington was previously a partner with Summit Law Group Nasdaq-listed Athira Pharma has appointed Mark Worthington as the company’s general counsel, effective June 1. Worthington joins Athira having been a partner with Summit Law Group for 24 years. According to his law firm biography, Worthington has focused his practice on corporate and securities law, advising start-ups, emerging growth companies and public companies. During his time with Summit Law Group he has worked on M&A and other corporate transactions including angel, venture capital and private equity financings as well as initial, secondary and follow-on public offerings. He has also advised…
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Index investors continue to expand ESG focus, survey finds
Large institutional investors increase integration of ESG factors into engagement, investment decisions and proxy voting ESG integration continues to rise at large asset managers, with the vast majority saying it played a greater role in engagement, proxy voting and investment decisions during the last year. Ninety-eight percent of institutional investors say ESG opportunities and risks – excluding the impact of Covid-19 – were given more consideration during shareholder engagement this year compared with last year, according to new research from Morrow Sodali. Ninety-five percent say ESG played a greater role in investment decisions, while 85 percent say they were taking…