The boardroom Archive

The boardroom

How board diversity is shifting in Canada

Mar 23, 2020
Lisa Culbert and Ramandeep Grewal
How board diversity is shifting in Canada
Board composition continues to be a primary area of focus, particularly as it relates to diversity and gender, in addition to tenure, overboarding and director skills. Canadian reporting issuers have now completed five years following changes adopted by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) to National Instrument 58-101 Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices (NI 58-101) and Form 58-101F1 Corporate Governance Disclosure that, among other things, require ...
Read more
The boardroom

Corporate secretaries urged to stay alert on coronavirus

Feb 28, 2020
Ben Maiden
Corporate secretaries urged to stay alert on coronavirus
Corporate secretaries, general counsel and boards must stay alert to changing circumstances as they respond to the coronavirus and its potential impact on their companies, according to Alston & Bird partner David Brown. ‘They will need to be nimble in terms of disclosures and shareholder outreach’ while making sure not to be hysterical, Brown tells Corporate Secretary. He has been fielding incoming calls from clients on the coronavirus issue, with some wanti...
Read more
The boardroom

Talent is key to corporate success, investors say

Feb 20, 2020
Ben Maiden
Talent is key to corporate success, investors say
Institutional investors see talent management and climate change as the stand-out issues factoring into companies’ strategic success, according to new research. Asked which factors are critical to their portfolio issuers’ fate over the next three to five years, almost two thirds (64 percent) point to talent management – in reference to the workforce as a whole – and 56 percent cite environmental issues/climate change. Corporate culture and board composition ...
Read more
The boardroom

Dealing with activist directors with an M&A agenda

Feb 12, 2020
Melissa Sawyer and Marc Treviño, Sullivan & Cromwell
Dealing with activist directors with an M&A agenda
This past year, more than ever, activist investors called for the companies they targeted to put themselves up for sale or divest assets. A record 99 campaigns launched in 2019 pushed an M&A-related agenda, according to Lazard’s shareholder advisory group. This represents 47 percent of activism campaigns launched last year, the highest proportion since Lazard has tracked this data. According to Activism Insight, roughly 60 percent of M&A-related c...
Read more
The boardroom

Interview with Carol Ward: Lifetime achievement award winner

Feb 03, 2020
Ben Maiden
Interview with Carol Ward: Lifetime achievement award winner
One of the major projects you worked on was the 2012 spin-off of Kraft Foods’ North American grocery business. What were some of the challenges the transaction presented you with on the governance side? It was a huge company to begin with. We were splitting it in half – not just dividing it by geography but also by business, leaving the North American grocery business with Kraft and creating a global snacks company, Mondelez International. We ha...
Read more
The boardroom

A career of success in deals and mentoring

Jan 31, 2020
Ben Maiden
A career of success in deals and mentoring
Carol Ward is this year’s recipient of the lifetime achievement award as a result of her work both in guiding major firms through times of governance and corporate transformation, and in guiding young professionals on the values of good corporate governance. ‘Carol has been very active in the governance community for the 25 years I have worked in the field, and probably longer,’ says Lydia Beebe, founder of LIBB Advisors and director of Kansas City Southern, E...
Read more
The boardroom

How Atlas Air’s Kokas aims high on governance

Jan 29, 2020
Ben Maiden
How Atlas Air’s Kokas aims high on governance
Adam Kokas is a man with his hands on many governance levers. As executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Atlas Air Worldwide, he leads the company’s governance program and takes charge of initiatives ranging from year-round shareholder engagement and keeping directors up to date on the latest trends in corporate governance to board refreshment and the company’s proxy statement. Over the past three years, Kokas has led a process of board refres...
Read more
The boardroom

How Guardian targets best practices as a private company

Jan 24, 2020
Ben Maiden
How Guardian targets best practices as a private company
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is a mutual company, with policyholders instead of shareholders. ‘People count, and we want to do what’s best for our policyholders,’ says Harris Oliner, senior vice president and corporate secretary. The company puts great effort into having top-class governance, going far beyond what it is required to do. For example, Guardian publishes its corporate governance framework, essentially as a form of proxy statement...
Read more
The boardroom

Boards urged to target talent and strategy in 2020

Jan 17, 2020
Ben Maiden
Boards urged to target talent and strategy in 2020
The role of the board has shifted such that key targets for directors this year include releasing the value of human capital within the company while also focusing on strategy and innovation, according to Stephen Klemash, EY Center for Board Matters (EY CBM) Americas leader. Succession planning has traditionally been a central aspect of boards’ agendas and their most important human capital and talent-related work. But Klemash notes that a series of developments h...
Read more
Cs logo Cs logo
Loading