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. Sun, 05 Apr 2026 11:30:09 +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 A Proxy Odyssey: What Will 2030 U.S. Proxy Season Look Like? – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 A Proxy Odyssey: What Will 2030 U.S. Proxy Season Look Like? https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/14/a-proxy-odyssey-what-will-2030-u-s-proxy-season-look-like/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-proxy-odyssey-what-will-2030-u-s-proxy-season-look-like https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/14/a-proxy-odyssey-what-will-2030-u-s-proxy-season-look-like/#respond Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:30:41 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=179203?d=20260213164153EST Posted by Sean Quinn, Matt Filosa, and Sydney Carlock, Teneo, on Saturday, February 14, 2026
Editor's Note:

Sean Quinn and Matt Filosa are Senior Managing Directors, and Sydney Carlock is a Managing Director at Teneo. This post is based on a Teneo memorandum by Mr. Quinn, Mr. Filosa, Ms. Carlock, Martha Carter, and Diana Lee.

The Current Landscape

For decades, corporate governance operated on relatively stable ground, even amid backlash against proxy advisors and the proxy voting system itself. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) controlled ballot access, research and recommendations from proxy advisors like ISS and Glass Lewis influenced voting outcomes, voting power was concentrated among a handful of large asset managers expected to vote every share, and engagement was a straightforward exchange between investors and issuers.

That stability has recently unraveled with unprecedented speed and intensity. In 2025, a wave of regulatory actions, driven in part by political backlash against ESG, began to significantly reshape the corporate governance landscape. As companies prepare for the 2026 proxy season, investor engagement has grown less candid, proxy advisory firms face existential pressure from regulators and AIdriven competitors, and the shareholder proposal process has been fundamentally, if temporarily, altered. In short order, proxy seasons have become much harder for companies to manage and predict, and that trend is likely to continue.

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