Heads Up for the 2020 Proxy Season: Tackle Director Vulnerabilities
Blog Product Liability Monitor

Taking stock of director vulnerabilities in elections is a critical component of preparing for the annual meeting, proxy statement and shareholder engagement in 2020. In 2019, shareholder support in director elections fell to its lowest level since 2011. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended voting against or withholding from individual directors over 3,000 times at Russell 3000 companies in 2019. ISS recently released updates to its proxy voting policies for the 2020 proxy season, which will apply to shareholder meetings held on or after February 1, 2020, including new and updated policies that may further impact director elections. Companies should familiarize themselves with the updated voting policies of ISS and Glass Lewis (summarized here), and in particular, policies that continue to put a spotlight on directors.