Purpose & History of Services

The Shareholder Forum™

The Shareholder Forum supports investor interests in corporate enterprise value with services that require independence – and that may benefit from the Forum’s network resources and recognition for advocacy of long term investor interests – to assure a definition of relevant issues and fair access to information that can be relied upon by both corporate and investor decision-makers.

The policies that provide a foundation for the Forum’s marketplace functions have been carefully developed and tested to allow any investor to participate in its communications, either anonymously or visibly, without acting in concert. Established originally to accommodate professional fund managers, this independent moderator function has proved to be consistently effective in managing orderly processes of issue definition for rational analysis by fiduciaries who are responsible for informed decisions.

Initiated in 1999 by the CFA Society of New York (at the time known as the New York Society of Security Analysts) with lead investor and former corporate investment banker Gary Lutin as guest chairman to address the professional interests of its members, and independently supported by Mr. Lutin since 2001, Forum programs have achieved wide recognition for their effective definition of important issues and orderly exchange of the information and views needed to resolve them. The Forum's ability to convene all key decision-making constituencies and influence leaders has been applied to subjects ranging from corporate control contests to the establishment of consensus marketplace standards for fair disclosure, and has been relied upon by virtually every major U.S. fund manager and the many other investors who have participated in programs that addressed their interests.

Currently important applications of the Forum’s independent position include the support of corporate managers who wish to provide the leadership expected of them by responding to activist challenges with orderly reviews of issues relevant to long term investor interests.

Requests for Shareholder Forum consideration of support may be initiated confidentially by any investor or by the subject company, or by the professional advisors to either.  

1. Strategic alternatives:  define and evaluate alternatives suggested by management or others, determine levels of shareholder support for proposals.
2. Investor information:  assure director responsibility for provision of reliable information required by investors, correction of any misleading information.
3. Voting rights:  encourage board definition of policies for fair and open presentation of alternatives to be considered by shareholders, with equal treatment of legitimate costs (either borne by all candidates, themselves, and by volunteer contributors, or all candidates and volunteers reimbursed equally by company so that indirectly borne by all shareholders, ratably).
4. Takeover defenses:  determine requirements for deterrence of exploitive raids, without discouraging legitimate strategic initiatives or depriving shareholders of property rights.
5. Compensation:  provide executives with appropriate incentives for competitively superior management of shareholders' assets.