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. Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:14:10 +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 Top Governance & Stewardship Trends for 2026 – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Top Governance & Stewardship Trends for 2026 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/03/09/top-governance-stewardship-trends-for-2026/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=top-governance-stewardship-trends-for-2026 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/03/09/top-governance-stewardship-trends-for-2026/#respond Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:32:00 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=179350?d=20260306165507EST Posted by Subodh Mishra, ISS, on Monday, March 9, 2026
Editor's Note:

Subodh Mishra is the Global Head of Communications at ISS STOXX. This post is based on an ISS Governance Research report.

Key Takeaways

  • Compensation and Say-on-Pay: 
    • There will be a slight increase in 2026 in the number of U.S. companies expected to demonstrate responsiveness to prior-year pay concerns. The percentage of companies with failed say-on-pay votes only slightly increased from the record low of 1.1% in 2024 to 1.2% in 2025. However, median pay support decreased from 94.9% in 2024 to 94.5% in 2025, and the percentage of companies that received between 50% and 70% support increased from 5.1% in 2024 to 5.5% in 2025. There were several high-profile failed votes in 2025 that will warrant a closer look this year.
    • U.S. companies may receive limited shareholder feedback following the SEC’s new 13G and 13D filing guidelines. Following the new SEC filing guidelines for 13G and 13D forms, some investors have been wary of providing candid feedback on executive pay, particularly after a low say-on-pay vote result, due to the possibility of being reclassified as an “active” investor. As a result, in 2025 some companies disclosed in their proxy that they had difficulty receiving investor feedback following the SEC’s updates, and it is expected that more companies will have similar disclosures in 2026.

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