Author Archive | pelliott

According to my old friend Robert A.G. Monks — at 80 years of age still the sharpest thinking corporate governance guru in the world– Carl Icahn, the 77 year old summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University (the wealthiest man on Wall Street), should get the Nobel for leading America’s hedge fund community to the [...]

…If GMI Ratings’ annual global study of women presence on boards identified a teeny bit of progress last year, then this year’s survey charts just a teeny bit more. The bottom line: “The survey finds extremely slow progress, largely due to countries without legal mandates for the representation of women on corporate boards,” according to [...]

…GMI Ratings, a corporate-governance research firm, looked at the impact of splitting the top jobs on shareholder returns and other considerations in a study published last June.  The research found total shareholder return at companies where CEO and chairman posts were combined outperformed those where the positions had been separated after one year (returns of [...]

…To avoid bias, I’ve used fundamental screens, such as stocks overvalued on PEG  (price/earnings/growth) basis, and stocks predicted to substantially underperform the market by forensic accounting research firm GMI Ratings….

…Canada ranks tenth among 20 major industrialized nations in terms of its progress on gender diversity among corporate directors.  Research firm GMI Ratings found the proportion of female directors on Canadian boards is 13.1%, which is unchanged from a year ago.  Given that number has increased by less than 1% since 2009, the report serves [...]

…According to a recent study conducted by GMI Ratings, the median summed cost of employing both a CEO and an independent, non-executive chair is only about 57% of the cost of the combined roles.  GMI Ratings’ study also points out that companies with dual CEO/chair roles pose greater risks in two categories. First, their accounting [...]

…on May 1, GMI Ratings issued its annual report on women on boards that suggests all these studies and feel-good missives haven’t done much. Its survey of 5,977 companies in 45 countries found that quotas and legislative pressure have helped Europe post double-digit gains in women directors over the past decade. In the U.S. , [...]

Former Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) sales chief Dan Concannon has been named as the new chief executive of US-based governance research firm GMI Ratings, replacing James Kaplan…  “We see Dan’s appointment as a major step toward accelerating GMI Ratings’ sales growth and reinforcing the firm’s competitive distinctions,” (GMI Chairman Richard) Bennett added….

A recent report from global research firm GMI Ratings found the percentage of female directors in S&P 500 companies rose only one-half of a percentage point since December 2011.  Smaller companies have even lower representation on boards by women, despite reports that a diverse board is good for business…  

A global increase in women on corporate boards is due largely to progress by countries in Europe, while boards in Canada and many other countries have shown little change, according to a new global report tracking progress on board gender diversity.  A study by New York-based GMI Ratings shows women accounted for 11 per cent [...]

CEO pay rose a median 11% in 2012 among a group of 149 banks. Here are some of the most highly paid bank bosses of the year. Ratings of pay practices, on a scale from A to F, are provided by GMI Ratings, which analyzes corporate governance practices. Figures are for 2012; GMI assessments are [...]

…“We don’t like any element of this pay package,” said Nell Minow, a corporate-governance consultant at GMI Ratings and frequent critic of executive pay. “In the past we have expressed concern about this company and its compensation practices….” “The lack of information provided by the compensation committee is a red flag,” Minow said. “It’s very [...]

…”The whole purpose of the meeting obviously is to allow shareholders to raise questions and to give the company an opportunity to respond,” said Lev Janashvili, managing director at research firm GMI Ratings. “The decision not to take questions and respond fully because you’re in the quiet period certainly doesn’t add up…”

…Other experts caution that it’s far too early to celebrate any significant  progress, let alone herald a new era of accountability in executive  compensation. “We have seen some changes, but we’ve got a long way to go,” says  Nell Minow, an expert on corporate governance and co-founder of GMI Ratings,  which analyzes shareholder risks. “The [...]

…“It’s appalling,” Nell Minow, a co-founder of GMI Ratings, which rates companies based on risk to shareholders, including corporate governance issues, told me this week. “It’s the No. 1 issue in corporate governance.” She noted that the reason such a thing is possible is that many companies operate under a “plurality” voting system, in which [...]