The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Thu, 07 May 2026 11:32:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Planning for the Possibility that the CEO Tests Positive for COVID-19 – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Planning for the Possibility that the CEO Tests Positive for COVID-19 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/04/14/planning-for-the-possibility-that-the-ceo-tests-positive-for-covid-19/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=planning-for-the-possibility-that-the-ceo-tests-positive-for-covid-19 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/04/14/planning-for-the-possibility-that-the-ceo-tests-positive-for-covid-19/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2020 13:21:29 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=128570?d=20200414092129EDT Posted by Lex Suvanto, Serena Saitto, Laurie Hays, Edelman, on Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Editor's Note:

Serena Saitto is Vice President Financial Communications and Capital Markets, and Laurie Hays is managing director at Edelman. This post is based on their Edelman memorandum.

At least a dozen CEO’s and CFO’s have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past few weeks. Many have chosen to post or email letters to their employees explaining how they are doing, whether they feel well enough to be running the company and if not, who is in charge. The president of Harvard Larry Bacow posted one of the most memorable of these last month in a letter to students, professors and employees of the University.

It’s not known how many C-suite executives might have tested positive and decided not to tell their employees and investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t require disclosures around the health of a CEO, and so far that includes Covid-19 illness.

The spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic is forcing companies into making quick decisions about disclosure. Some key issues for the CEO and his team and boards of directors to consider:

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