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Program on Corporate Governance Advisory Board
- Peter Atkins
- David Bell
- Kerry E. Berchem
- Richard Brand
- Daniel Burch
- Paul Choi
- Jesse Cohn
- Arthur B. Crozier
- Renata J. Ferrari
- Andrew Freedman
- Ray Garcia
- Joseph Hall
- Jason M. Halper William P. Mills
- David Millstone
- Theodore Mirvis
- Philip Richter
- Elina Tetelbaum
- Sebastian Tiller
- Marc Trevino
- Steven J. Williams
Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues
A growing number of investors are now engaging companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, in addition to traditional executive compensation, shareholder rights, and board of directors’ topics. In 2013, nearly 40 percent of all shareholder proposals submitted to Russell 3000 companies related to ESG issues, representing a 60 percent increase since 2003 (Proxy […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation, Corporate Elections & Voting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Empirical Research
Tagged Corporate Social Responsibility, Engagement, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Firm performance, Firm valuation, ISS, Management, Shareholder activism, Shareholder proposals, Sustainability
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Present at the Creation: Reflections on the Early Years of the NACD
Effective corporate governance is critical to the productive operation of the global economy and preservation of our way of life. Excellent governance execution is also required to achieve economic growth and robust job creation. In the United States, the premier corporate director membership organization is the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). NACD plays a […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Boards of Directors, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation
Tagged Audit committee, Board composition, Board dynamics, Boards of Directors, Corporate governance, Engagement, Financial reporting, Management, NACD, SEC, Securities regulation
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AML Monitoring: New York Regulator Gets Prescriptive
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued its final rule on June 30, 2016 requiring either senior officers or the board of directors to certify the effectiveness of anti-money laundering (AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) transaction monitoring and filtering programs. [1] The rule (Part 504 of the NYDFS Superintendent’s […]
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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Regulation, Legislative & Regulatory Developments, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Banks, Disclosure, Financial institutions, Financial regulation, Financial technology, Money laundering, New York, Oversight, State law
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Commonsense Principles of Corporate Governance
The following is a series of corporate governance principles for public companies, their boards of directors and their shareholders. These principles are intended to provide a basic framework for sound, long-term-oriented governance. But given the differences among our many public companies—including their size, their products and services, their history and their leadership—not every principle (or […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Boards of Directors, Corporate Elections & Voting, Executive Compensation, Institutional Investors, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Board independence, Board leadership, Boards of Directors, Commonsense Principles, Director qualifications, Executive Compensation, Financial reporting, Fund managers, Institutional Investors, Long-Term value, Management, Shareholder elections, Shareholder rights, Succession, Transparency
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Bail-in and Market Stabilization
The concept of “bailing in” a distressed bank’s creditors to avoid a taxpayer-financed public rescue is commonly accepted as one of the most significant regulatory achievements in the post-crisis efforts to end the problem of “Too Big To Fail”. Yet behind the political slogan, surprising uncertainties remain as to the precise regulatory objective of bail-in, […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Banking & Financial Institutions, Bankruptcy & Financial Distress, Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation
Tagged Bailouts, Banks, Central banking, Failed banks, Financial crisis, Financial institutions, Financial regulation, Liquidity, Market reaction, Resolution authority, SIFIs, Too big to fail
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Weekly Roundup: July 15–July 21, 2016
The Impact of Merger Legislation on Bank Mergers Posted by Jan-Peter Siedlarek, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, on Friday, July 15, 2016 Tags: Antitrust, Banks, Europe, Financial institutions, Financial regulation, International governance, Market efficiency, Market reaction, Mergers & acquisitions, Systemic risk The Investor-Savvy Board Posted by Anthony Goodman, Russell Reynolds Associates, on Friday, July 15, […]
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Posted in Weekly Roundup
Tagged Weekly Roundup
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Berkshire’s Blemishes: Lessons for Buffett’s Successors, Peers, and Policy
While people routinely laud the value of Warren Buffett’s unique governance of Berkshire Hathaway, I have tallied the costs, highlighting lessons for Buffett’s successors, Berkshire’s peers, and public policy. The most visible—and measurable—costs of the Berkshire model appear in capital allocation, principally acquisitions and investments. Buffett relies on himself in making these decisions, without board […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation
Tagged Berkshire Hathaway, Capital allocation, Corporate culture, Decision-making, Management, Managerial style, Public perception, Reputation, Succession, Warren Buffet
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Institutional Investors and Corporate Political Activism
There is increasing evidence that state public pension funds preferentially direct their investments towards local corporations, creating a bias which cannot be justified by subsequent returns. In our paper, Institutional Investors and Corporate Political Activism, we investigate the political activism of firms and how it is influenced by the presence of state public pension fund ownership. […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Empirical Research, Institutional Investors
Tagged Agency costs, Citizens United v. FEC, Conflicts of interest, Institutional Investors, Pension funds, Political spending, Social capital, State law, Supreme Court
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Yet Another Congressional Proposed Corporate Reform: Proxy Advisory Firms in the Crosshairs
Over the past six months, U.S. legislators have engaged in an unusual burst of energy to introduce three separate bills regulating various areas affecting U.S. public company corporate governance: The Cybersecurity Disclosure Act of 2015 would require disclosure of whether public company boards contained a cyber-security “expert” or, if not, why not. The bill, introduced […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Corporate Elections & Voting, Institutional Investors, Legislative & Regulatory Developments, Practitioner Publications, Private Equity, Securities Regulation
Tagged Brokaw Act, Cybersecurity, Disclosure, Glass Lewis, Hedge funds, Institutional Investors, ISS, Mutual funds, Private equity, Proxy advisors, Proxy Advisory Reform Act, Proxy voting, Securities regulation, Shareholder voting
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