What do an environmentally-minded activist investor and an anti-ESG activist investor have in common? More than you would think, if Bluebell and Strive are examples to go by...
Fossil Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) (the "Company" or "Fossil Group") today announced the addition of respected beauty and fashion executive Suzanne (Susie) Coulter to the Company's Board of Directors, effective immediately...
The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal just issued an urgent call for corporate boards to re-examine their exposure in China: “The news over the weekend that Apple plans to move much of its iPhone supply chain out of China is the most important signal to date that Western CEOs are wising up about business risks in the People’s Republic. Any corporate board that isn’t doing the same is doing a disservice to shareholders.” ...
An analysis by MSCI ESG Research noted 32 factors and risks that institutional investors and companies should consider for 2023 and beyond when evaluating the space.The risk considerations were split into seven different categories: changing corporate governance, responses to regulation, supply chain innovation, work life changes, turning points for ESG assets, expansions in emissions tracking and new types of investments in ESG...
FTX’s collapse reiterates the need for comprehensive U.S. regulation of crypto markets. This regulation must have a solid legal foundation, a key pillar of which is a workable framework to distinguish cryptoassets[1] that are securities from those that are not. A new paper provides this framework, by showing why fungible cryptoassets are not themselves securities under existing U.S. federal securities laws. But also why ICOs and similar token sales should be regulated as securities offerings...
Bob Iger has a knack for head-faking his way out the door. Last month he returned to lead Walt Disney (DIS.N) with a primary task: find a replacement. Keeping him on point is going to require a stronger board. Iger served as chief executive of the $175 billion media giant from 2005 until 2020. He, like all CEOs, was meant to groom a successor. Instead, he postponed his exit four times as potential replacements Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer left the building...
In the last few months, there has been an organized effort to falsely argue that companies and institutional investors are inappropriately prioritizing social and environmental responsibility over financial returns. The effort includes state treasurers from Texas, West Virginia, and Florida, as well as anti-ESG activist and fund manager Vivek Ramaswamy...
Egon Zehnder gathered a group of 18 CEOs and board directors from large U.S.-based public companies for a discussion focused on the question of what makes a great board. These leaders shared with us their experiences, challenges, and lessons on board governance best practices...
On November 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule (Final Rule) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that empowers retirement plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions and exercising shareholder rights, such as proxy voting...
Facing legal consequences will ensure advisory boards do not just sell their name, but take an active role in the businesses they advise.
The founder of Patagonia, American brand of techno clothing, has recently donated 98% of the company shares to a newly founded non-profit organization which aims to save the Earth, deciding to make the Planet the chief shareholder of the Company whose worth is estimated in three billion dollars...
Bob Iger has a lot on his to do list in his second round as Disney’s CEO. The 71 year-old newly unretired executive has to make the company’s costly streaming business profitable, jump start its floundering stock price and restore the magic in Disney’s culture after Bob Chapek’s tumultuous tenure. And he’s got to do it in just two years...
New mental health challenges are impacting our organizations now daily - And it is not easing up any time soon. Mental health since COVID has been deteriorating by 25% from Pre-COVID statistics. I was on a call yesterday with a former CEO of a major securities firm, and he simply said, everyone I know is depressed or have children feeling sad...
Organizations of every size and in every industry are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks — a dynamic landscape of threats and vulnerabilities and a corresponding overload of possible mitigating controls. MIT Senior Lecturer Keri Pearlson, who is also the executive director of the research consortium Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS) and an instructor for the new MIT Sloan Executive Education course Cybersecurity Governance for the Board of Directors, knows how business can get ahead of this risk...
Corporate share buybacks are under attack, mainly from the political left (e.g., Senators Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren and President Joe Biden), but also to some degree from the right (e.g., Senator Marco Rubio). Critics decry the large sums distributed to shareholders via buybacks because that cash could have been used to fund greater investment and, especially, investment that would make workers better off...
In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules that would require public companies to make standardized disclosures on cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident reporting...
It’s fair to say that during times of economic turmoil, so many of us, whether individuals or businesses, go into survival mode by focusing only on the immediate challenges at hand. Yet, leaders must not lose sight of longer-term business goals and commitments. Don't let a state of crisis become a distraction from ongoing efforts to do business in a more ethical and sustainable way...
Making business decisions that are both ethically and strategically sound has always been incredibly tricky. Leaders are called upon to act in a manner that is consistent with their personal values, builds solidarity and trust among diverse stakeholders, enhances their company’s reputation, and prevents scandals, while also being mindful of the bottom line...
Social justice joins discounted cash flows on the syllabus as essential knowledge for aspiring corporate leaders...
As companies address two fundamental and related shifts—the intensified focus on environmental,
social & governance (ESG) issues driven by investors, employees, consumers, business partners, ESG rating agencies, and regulators, [1] and the shift to a multistakeholder form of capitalism [2] —corporate boards are not only incorporating nonfinancial matters into discussions of company strategy and business plans, but also increasingly considering ESG performance measures in incentive plans...
“She is respected and well regarded by the board, so she has pull. She has the weight and the influence and the history with the board...
If there is a company that awakens people’s imaginations in every corner of the globe then that company is Disney. No other company on the planet has contributed more to nurturing the fantasy and imagination of both young and old...
The Morgan Stanley executive and Walmart director overcame numerous hurdles during her career. Advisers offered guidance on good relationships and seeing the big picture...
In June, the comment period closed on the SEC’s proposed rulemaking on “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Financial Disclosures” (the Proposal). The SEC received more than 5,000 comments on the Proposal...