Archive
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The week in GRC: CCOs take bigger role on ESG and Tegna defeats activist in proxy vote
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – According to The Wall Street Journal, Warren Buffett said Greg Abel will succeed him as Berkshire Hathaway CEO if he leaves the role in the short term. ‘The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,’ Buffett said. A 2018 decision to name to the board Ajit Jain, who runs the company’s insurance business, and Abel, who heads its other operations, indicated they were the top choices as Berkshire’s next CEO. Abel’s remit includes…
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Owens Corning picks next general counsel
Gina Beredo to join company from Nordson Corporation Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning has appointed Gina Beredo as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective June 9. Beredo will join Owens Corning from Nordson Corporation, which designs and produces dispensing equipment for consumer and industrial adhesives, sealants and coatings. She has spent eight years at Nordson, most recently as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. In that role she oversees the company’s legal function in terms of corporate governance, M&A, ethics and compliance, litigation and other general corporate legal matters. Before joining Nordson in 2013, she was…
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GE shareholders back plans for GHG report
Board supports the proposal brought by As You Sow An overwhelming percentage of General Electric (GE) shareholders have – with the backing of the company’s board – voted to approve a proposal seeking a report on its efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the resolution’s proponent. As You Sow, which submitted the proposal on behalf of Amalgamated Bank, says in a statement that preliminary numbers indicate the measure received 98 percent support. At the time of writing the company has not yet released formal results of voting on proposals at its AGM, which took place on…
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Millennials most likely to vote their proxy, survey finds
New retail investors particularly want to voice concerns around ESG and diversity issues, Broadridge says Among the boom in new retail investors, millennials are the group most likely to vote their proxy in the 2021 season, according to a new survey from Broadridge Financial. Almost half (46 percent) of retail investors aged 25-40 say they plan to vote their proxy in 2021, a figure that researchers say is the highest for any generation. Overall, 39 percent of investors with two years’ investing experience or less say they will definitely vote their proxy, with many (42 percent) saying they want to…
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DuPont shareholders back plastic pollution report proposal
Eight in 10 votes cast support measure brought by As You Sow Shareholders in DuPont de Nemours have overwhelmingly backed a shareholder proposal asking the company to disclose its role in plastic pollution. The proposal, filed by As You Sow, received 81 percent support among the votes cast. It requests that DuPont’s board release a report each year that discloses ‘trends in the amount of plastic in various forms released to the environment by the company annually, and concisely assess[es] the effectiveness of the company’s policies and actions to reduce the volume of the company’s plastic materials contaminating the environment.’…
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Coca-Cola appoints new general counsel
Monica Howard Douglas has been with the company for 17 years The Coca-Cola Company has appointed Monica Howard Douglas as senior vice president and general counsel. Douglas has been with the company for 17 years, most recently as chief compliance officer and associate general counsel for the North America operating unit. In her new role, she oversees Coca-Cola’s global legal function and reports to chair and CEO James Quincey. Douglas joined the company in 2004 as senior managing counsel and has held roles such as legal director for Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa before being named general counsel for Coca-Cola…
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The week in GRC: NYC alleges Chipotle violated labor law and BlackRock backs more ESG proposals
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – The Wall Street Journal reported that some of the companies that are once again hosting virtual AGMs this year hope to improve the experience for investors, many of whom felt muted last year after the sudden shift to remote technology. This year 346 companies – 86 percent of a total of 403 in the S&P 500 that filed their proxy statement up to April 22 – said they would hold their AGM remotely as large physical gatherings remain restricted, according to MyLogIQ. Some companies are working to increase…
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Read all about it! How ESG hit the headlines last summer
The media’s concerted coverage of ESG issues last Summer could be a bellwether of things to come, write Sally J. Curley and Carol Nolan Drake, with research by Molly Higgins A recent report on the voting practices and engagement approaches of the world’s 30 largest asset managers around climate change finds that although support for proposals on the issue varies hugely, ‘investors are increasingly becoming transparent on climate change.’ Just one of the 30 asset managers in the list supported no shareholder proposals on climate change (researchers looked at proposals that came to a vote between 2018 and 2020), according…
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How the world’s largest asset managers support climate proposals
Just one of 30 asset managers studied supported no shareholder proposals on climate change As colleagues, we are true believers that ESG frameworks can help companies address risk, increase transparency in reporting and strengthen relationships with investors, employees, customers, suppliers, regulators and communities. Given the explosive growth in ESG investing and reporting, media reporting naturally followed. The first tranche of media stories focused on the financial or business perspectives, including whether there was a link to materiality and risk. As Covid-19 tightened its grip around the world, it seemed a shift began to occur in media accounts during summer 2020.…
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CITGO hires new compliance and ethics chief
Steven Scarpino previously worked at BP CITGO Petroleum Corporation has hired Steven Scarpino as the company’s new chief compliance and ethics officer. Scarpino joins CITGO from BP, where he had been director for ethics and compliance in global programs since 2009. Before working at BP, he held director and managerial posts in the fields of compliance, privacy, CSR, business development and financial services, among others, at NCR Corporation, AT&T GIS and Greyhound Lines. He reports directly to CITGO president and CEO Carlos Jordá and has direct reporting access to the board’s audit committee. The position of chief compliance and ethics…