Shareholder Forum for Options Policies

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Program Reference

 

Project Reference

Advisory Voting

News Reports

Marketplace Validation Processes

Shareholder Proposals to Adopt Advisory Voting
Proposed Legislation to Adopt Advisory Voting
Examples of Compensation Reports


 

Objective:

Provide views of marketplace decision-makers regarding proposed U.S. adaptations of advisory voting practices, including support of an independent “white paper” to be published in April 2007 as a comprehensive review of relevant considerations.*

*For the initiation of this project, see item #2 of Forum Report: December 6, 2006 Open Meeting.

Results:

Stephen M. Davis, Ph.D., a Fellow of Yale’s new Millstein Center for Corporate Governance, was invited to prepare the paper in February 2007.  He presented preliminary findings at the Forum's March 7, 2007 open meeting, and presented a comment draft of his "Policy Briefing" paper in June 2007 at the Second Annual Yale Governance Forum; see

Dr. Davis, together with Stephen Alogna of Deloitte & Touche LLP, presented further observations at the 2008 Yale Governance Forum and invited Forum comments:

For other subsequent observations, see

 

News Reports

 

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Marketplace Validation Processes

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Shareholder Proposals to Adopt Advisory Voting

 

The articles and correspondence records below refer to a shareholder proposal for the adoption of advisory voting submitted to AT&T.  The company's management had in December 2006 requested a "no action" letter from the SEC for an exception from the rule requiring presentation of shareholder proposals for voting at annual meetings.  The SEC staff rejected management's arguments in February 2007.

Note:  Cornish F. Hitchcock, the attorney representing the shareholder proponent in communications with the SEC, is a member of the Advisory Panel of the Options Policies Forum.

 

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Proposed Legislation to Adopt Advisory Voting

 

House Committee Hearings

* Provided by the Forum participant with permission to distribute, as prepared for submission to the House Committee on Financial Services in association with the author's requested testimony at a full Committee hearing on March 8, 2007.  Records of the hearing, including the final versions of statements submitted by these and other witnesses and Congressmen, can now be downloaded from the Committee's web site:

 

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Examples of Compensation Reports

 

 

United Kingdom

 

United States

See summaries of major companies' 2007 reports with links to SEC filings of proxy statements:

See also commentaries on corporate reporting under new SEC rules:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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