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Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting

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How You Can Make An Impact: 

Get involved. Sign up for the Civex email and access for the forthcoming app. As a shareholder you can ensure the companies you’re invested in hear your voice. We now see unions, state comptroller’s, retirement fund managers, foundations, and even religious organizations using the power of their shares to tell corporations what’s important to them.

What Is Corporate Governance?

Corporate governance is the rules and processes used to manage a company. The CEO, Executive Team, and Board of Directors decide on many topics including accountability, fairness, and responsibility.

How Does Corporate Governance Appear In Proxy Voting?

Corporate Governance topics include Chairman independence, whistleblower policies, the right for shareholder written consent, simple majority voting, and the diversity of the board.

Recent Corporate Governance Examples

  • Thermo Fisher shareholders voted to give themselves the Right to Call Special Meetings. A meaningful shareholder Right to Call Special Meeting is a way to bring an important matter to the attention of both management and shareholders outside the annual meeting cycle (5/21).

Shareholder action by written consent refers to corporate shareholders’ right to act by written consent instead of a formalized  meeting.

Shareholder Impact On Corporate Governance

In 2021 Centene Corp shareholders overwhelmingly voted to elect each director annually opposed to voting on a three-year rotation. It has been found that a classified board is an entrenching mechanism negatively related to company performance.