Carol Ward Governance News December 11, 2020

Going Virtual Again?

GET INFORMED, GET READY FOR YOUR 2021 VSM

This past spring, COVID hit annual meeting season hard. Companies and service providers scrambled to convert from traditional in-person annual meetings to virtual annual meetings. In the process, people worked together to address challenges, handle new situations. In the process, they learned a lot!

Now, three brain trusts have combined to produce the Report of the 2020 Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Practices for Virtual Shareholder Meetings. Those three are:

  • Rutgers Center for Corporate Law and Governance,
  • The Council of Institutional Investors, and
  • The Society for Corporate Governance.

The Report looks back at 2020 VSMs; ahead to 2021 VSMs. Given the continued uncertainty about the pandemic, many companies are planning 2021 VSMs, rather than in-person ASMs. And, it may also be that enough people have actually decided they like VSMs.

The Report captures the 2020 lessons learned. It then provides practical, actionable planning suggestions for 2021 VSMs. The Report should serve as a useful resource for those issuers planning and drafting proxies statements for 2021 ASM/VSMs in the coming weeks. And, it should also help others involved in the process – service providers, investors, and more.

Many thanks to Douglas Chia of Rutgers and a member of our own Advisory Board for facilitating this Herculean effort.

Thanks also to CII, the Society, Steve Haas (legal counsel), and numerous members of the Working Group and Steering Committee. 

Link to the Report here: https://bit.ly/377DMpA