Learning from phase one of Covid-19
For many of us, the last few months have been a blur. The Corporate Secretary team has talked to countless governance professionals about the whirlwind spring months when proxy statements were filed, annual meetings were converted to a virtual format, and investors and the media probed companies on their employee health and safety protocols.
As I write this note in mid-June, it feels as though we’re entering phase two of Covid-19. The reported cases aren’t falling, but there’s a desire to relax the shelter-in-place measures that many of us have been living under. This will pose new challenges and risks, as well as exacerbate the challenges companies already face around employee safety.
While you all navigate phase two of Covid-19, we hope this issue – which documents the governance changes during phase one of the virus – helps you to identify and implement best practices from your peers. In the first couple of articles, we hear from Chevron and Regions Financial about their virtual annual meetings.
Our lead feature covers the role boards must play in monitoring human capital management, an issue that threatened to become a major proxy season talking point even before Covid-19. Later in the issue we cover highlights from Corporate Secretary's virtual conference on Covid-19, and our friends at Sullivan & Cromwell provide tips for how boards can prepare for post-pandemic activism.
And while Covid-19 provides the backdrop for most of our reporting in this issue, there are – of course – other issues worth exploring, including employee-shareholder activism, what the SEC’s proposed 14a-8 rule change could mean for SRI investors, and a look at how a couple of different investors are integrating ESG into their stewardship priorities.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Corporate Secretary. But more importantly, we hope you are staying safe and sane. The last few months have posed tremendous personal and professional challenges for all of us, and I fear we’re not out of the woods yet. Thank you for reading and for your support of Corporate Secretary, and please take care this summer.
Ben Ashwell Editor ben.ashwell@corporatesecretary.com +1 212 430 6869
Editor Ben Ashwell Editor-at-large Ben Maiden Managing editor & chief copy editor Kathleen Hennessy Contributors Frank Aquila, Jeff Cossette, Melissa Sawyer, Mike Schnitzel Design and production executive James Noden Head of marketing Marie Paul
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