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Are SPAC Board Structures a ‘Conflict-Laden’ Invitation to Fiduciary Misconduct?Without a doubt, the trendiest transactions on Wall Street during 2020 and the first half of 2021 were the formation of special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACs) and the follow-on mergers (known as “de-SPAC” transactions) that enable private companies to achieve public company status without ...
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SASB and IIRC Merge to Create Consistent ESG ReportingAs shareholders, employees and other stakeholders bring ESG to the fore, directors and management have lamented that there are no consistent, measurable standards by which to measure corporate efforts and advancements.The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the International Integra...
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What Management Really Thinks About the Board and What to Do About ItFor many companies, 2020 was a transformative year and while that was positive for some boards and management teams, some fault lines were also exposed. A survey of more than 500 C-suite executives by PwC and The Conference Board found stresses that could, if left unaddressed, lead to big problems d...
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Climate Governance at an ‘Inflection Point’ for Big OilIn the matter of 24 hours, ExxonMobil lost at least two board seats (UPDATE: Engine No.1 gained three seats) to activist investors, Chevron shareholders pushed for that company to reduce its emissions and a district court in The Hague ordered Royal Dutch Shell to reduce its emissions by nearly half ...
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What Directors Can Learn From IPOsAfter a lull during the financial crisis that started in 2008, initial public offerings (IPOs) have made a resurgence. While the pandemic slowed down most economic and financial activity, 2020 was the best year for IPOs in over a decade: 165 IPOs raised $61.9 billion in the U.S. Remarkably, we find ...
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My Board Journey: Merrie Frankel: Director, Agree Realty Corporation; President, Minerva Realty ConsultantsIssue: 2021 First QuarterWhat was the first board you joined?Agree Realty Corporation was the first public board I joined. I was introduced to Joey Agree, the CEO, by a former board member who had known both Joey and me for about 25 years. Agree Realty was looking for a real estate capital markets person, which is my niche....
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The Path to Defining DiversityThe movement against racial inequality, coupled with ESG principles, has intensified pressure on boards to refresh with “diversity” candidates. Political agitation is also intensifying, as states like California and exchanges such as NASDAQ propose stricter issuer compliance for diverse board compos...
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Latino Board Appointments Up 331% In First QuarterThe needle is starting to move for Latinos on corporate boards.After a major push from both legislators in a number of states and organizations including Nasdaq that petitioned to add board diversity reporting as a requirement of being listed on the exchange, 82 Latino directors were appointed to pu...
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Board of the Past Won’t Take Your Company into the FutureWe’re in a new world — one that requires a new paradigm of management leadership and board oversight. With tension finally starting to ease on the heels of 2020’s prospect for unparalleled economic collapse, escalating social and political turmoil, and catastrophic climatic shifts, ...
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Red Corporation, Blue Corporation? Corporate political speech becomes a board issueIssue: 2021 Second QuarterAfter the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, many companies announced that they would halt political contributions, either permanently or for a defined period. Some discontinuations involved a particular political party, some individual legislators and some were complete stops on all contribution...
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US Politics and Corporate Speech: A Two-Edged SwordIssue: 2021 Second QuarterIn its 2010 Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court gave corporations relatively unlimited free-speech rights to spend corporate funds for political causes and candidates. A part of the majority’s reasoning was that if corporate media entities — for example, The New York Times, The Wall Street J...
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Two Views: Government-Corporate Partnerships: Yea or Nay? "The Social Side of Teaming Up"Issue: 2021 Second QuarterIf boards of directors and senior managers have not already examined their relationships with government entities from a “big picture” perspective, now is the time to get serious about the endeavor, and I don’t just mean laws and regulations that might fall under a compliance rubric. In an environme...
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Two Views: Government-Corporate Partnerships: Yea or Nay? "The World's Stage"Issue: 2021 Second QuarterMy three careers have been in business, government and academia. I have found each to be populated with many extremely talented and dedicated individuals. But these key elements of America’s economy seem to have evolved a relationship that resides somewhere between disconnected and adversarial. As a...
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Taking a Stand: How and When Should Companies Speak Out on Political Issues?Issue: 2021 Second QuarterWhen the nation was riveted by protests over police killings, should companies have added their voices to the discussion? Should every company have an official and public position on sustainability?Questions like these are arising with increasing frequency, as companies find themselves under pressur...
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The ‘Elephant in the Room’ is Getting Bigger: Short-Term Bias in a Post-COVID WorldIssue: 2021 Second QuarterShort-term bias in corporate thinking is still the “elephant in the boardroom.” Everyone knows it is there. And everyone knows that, in the post-COVID world, short-termism in corporate decision making is as problematic as relying on a 3-mile radar for a supertanker. Yet most corporations have a stra...
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Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: What Directors Should Know and WhyIssue: 2021 Second QuarterThe use of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) has become an increasingly popular route to the public markets, and there appears to be no sign this will slow down. In 2020, SPACs netted record-breaking IPO proceeds of over $50 billion, and the more than 60 completed and announced SPAC merg...
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Supporting Your CEO Through Challenging TimesIssue: 2021 Second QuarterThe position of CEO has always been stressful. However, today (and tomorrow and tomorrow and…) that stress is compounded by a seemingly endless pandemic and social unrest. Directors and boards would do well to pay attention and check in with their top executives.Researchers from a variety of fields ...
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Chairman's Letter: The American ExperimentIssue: 2021 Second QuarterThe American national anthem is the only one that begins with a question: “Oh, say can you see…?” Other anthems are more assertive and less enquiring. For example, “La Marseillaise” is a call to arms, without any questions asked. The American anthem also ends with a question: “Oh say does that star-...
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Corporate Political InvolvementIssue: 2021 Second QuarterOur current issue is themed on the important topic of corporate political involvement. As a divided nation has become much more politically aware and vocal, there are increasing demands from certain quarters for corporations to take political positions on the varied social issues of our day. For boa...
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When Conflicts of Interest Can WorkIssue: 2021 Second QuarterIn recent years, a persistent theme in corporate governance has been the board’s role in protecting the corporation from the predations of management or significant shareholders. Ever since the creation of the corporate form, which facilitated the separation of management from investment capital, th...