Form 485APOS LITMAN GREGORY FUNDS streetinsider.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from streetinsider.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As companies finalize materials for annual shareholder meetings, we recommend consideration of the following key requirements and disclosures: SEC proxy filing requirements;.
[co-author: Camille Youngblood]
Key Points:
Large asset managers like BlackRock and State Street have recently published updates to their proxy voting guidelines primarily focusing on diversity and inclusion and climate risk disclosures.
BlackRock’s key changes include updating its voting behavior to address board quality and composition issues, emphasizing its commitment to net zero emissions and climate risk disclosures, alongside other changes related to human capital management, key stakeholder interests and executive compensation.
State Street’s updates include new voting guidelines to address racial and ethnic diversity, aligning its stewardship with the goals of Climate Action 100+ and encouraging companies to improve their R-Factor scores.
the current percentage of racially/ethnically diverse directors;
whether the board’s definition of diversity explicitly includes gender, race or ethnicity;
whether the board has a “Rooney Rule” policy requiring diverse candidates to be included in the initial pool of candidates when selecting new directors; and
board skills disclosure.
Although Glass Lewis will not make voting recommendations solely on the basis of this assessment in 2021, the assessment may be a contributing factor in recommendations when other board-related concerns have been identified.
Board Refreshment/Tenure. Although investor concerns regarding a lack of board refreshment relate to staleness of director skills and erosion of independence, investors also consider a lack of board refreshment an impediment to increasing board diversity. Beginning in 2021, Glass Lewis will note as a concern instances where the average tenure of nonexecutive directors is 10 years or more and no new independent directors