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Say on Pay A debut meeting taking place at TIAA-CREF this morning in New York is further evidence of the unprecedented outbreak of governance dialogue between investors and corporates in the US. The unpoetically-titled “Working Group on the Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation Disclosure” is bringing Pfizer, American International Group, Schering-Plough and at least six other leading firms together with activist funds including AFSCME, Walden Asset Management, the retirement systems of four US states, and two big UK funds. The aim: exploring whether common ground might exist on ways to adapt UK-style votes of confidence on corporate pay policies. Funds this year are joining a bandwagon behind the measure as a means to stop huge payouts for failure. Corporates are exploring advisory votes as a tool to channel investor dissent over pay into a targeted vote—and away from board elections. The Working Group will find out if an investor-corporate deal is within reach. Congress is watching. Expect a compromise to help shape legislation due this summer. But if the Working Group deadlocks, lawmakers will write their own “say on pay” bill.

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This Forum program is open, free of charge, to all shareholders of the invited corporate participants, and to any fiduciaries or professionals concerned with the investment decisions of those shareholders, according to the posted Conditions of Participation.  The Forum's purpose is to provide shareholders with access to information and a free exchange of views on issues relating to their investment interests described in the Forum Summary.  As stated in the Conditions, all Forum participants are expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants.  It is a Forum rule that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.

This Forum program has been organized with the support of Hermes Equity Ownership Services, Ltd.  It is the first in an expected series that will be managed by a not-for-profit “Institute” to be established for the purpose of continuing the Forum programs conducted by Gary Lutin.