Originally posted October 2009 There has been much written about the challenges and problems associated with conflicted executive compensation consultants. The SEC has proposed wide disclosure of most services provided to fees paid by publicly traded companies for consulting services in the hopes that this transparency will limit both real and apparent conflicts of interest...
The September 17, 2010 article in Financial Times (CEO/employee pay ratios) again addresses the nagging question of the seemingly outrageous difference between CEO pay and that of the average worker but raises the question as to whether a larger or smaller differential is “better”. The author writes: “Would you work harder if the ratio [between the...
Originally posted November 2010 For companies facing bankruptcy, there is usually plenty of blame to go around and plenty of individuals on whom it should be smeared. The Tribune Company, however, seems to have more than its share of reprehensible characters in its executive ranks, coupled with a Board of Directors that seems unwilling or...
Originally posted May 2013 According to a March 31, 2013 article in the New York Times by Susanne Craig: “Since the financial crisis, compensation for the directors of the nation’s biggest banks has continued to rise even as the banks themselves, facing difficult markets and regulatory pressures, are reining in bonuses and pay.” Well, “reining in”...
Originally Posted February 2010 In a long article published in Board Member on February 09, 2010 (Hang On- Say on Pay Heads Your Way) author John Greenwald says: “Rules flowing from the Securities and Exchange Commission and included in the enormous financial-reform bills before Congress could subject your board to the most intense scrutiny yet...
Originally published December 2014 This article, which is an excerpt from a forthcoming book on board governance co-authored by Michael Dennis Graham of Grahall, LLC and Nancy May of BoardBench Companies, LLC is reprinted with permission from the November/December issue of PSX: The Exchange for People Strategy, an eMagazine that brings you cutting edge views and...
Originally posted April 2015 The Board of Directors is accountable to shareholders and is expected to keep shareholders’ interests in the forefront. Michael Graham explores why certain boards are resistant when shareholders want to nominate their own directors via proxy access. Although it is no longer GE’s advertising slogan (retired in 2003), it did paint...
Originally published November 2010. For companies facing bankruptcy, there is usually plenty of blame to go around and plenty of individuals on whom it should be smeared. The Tribune Company, however, seems to have more than its share of reprehensible characters in its executive ranks, coupled with a Board of Directors that seems unwilling or...
Originally posted February 2011. In his January 14, 2011 article for the New York Times Deal Book (Community Health Seeks to Oust Tenet’s Board) Michael J. De La Merced quotes Community Health Care’s chairman and chief executive, Wayne T. Smith, as saying: “Tenet’s highly paid board has clearly demonstrated its entrenchment” when Tenet’s board rejected...
