shareholder proposal · 2020
Office of the New York City Comptroller and the New York City pension funds at 17 companies for the spring 2020 season, and Lamb Weston for the autumn. Activision Blizzard, Dover, Expedia Group, Fastenal, Genuine Parts, Hilton Worldwide, L Brands, MarketAxess, Nektar Therapeutics, Robert Half, Ross Stores, UDR, VeriSign and Lamb Weston adopted the policy; the proposal went to a vote at Expeditors International, Arthur J. Gallagher and Berkshire Hathaway.
Adopt a search policy requiring that women and racially or ethnically diverse candidates be considered for every open board seat and for the chief executive role, building on the National Football League's Rooney Rule and extending it, for the first time at a public company, to external chief executive searches.
What happened
Result: Proposals went to 17 companies for the spring 2020 season and were withdrawn where the company adopted the policy. Thirteen did so, and Lamb Weston adopted after a further proposal for its autumn 2020 meeting, making fourteen in all. Three went to a vote. At Expeditors International on May 5, 2020 the proposal drew 74,009,398 votes for, 65,978,415 against, 399,882 abstaining and 10,729,918 broker non-votes, which is 52.87 percent counting only votes for and against. At Arthur J. Gallagher on May 12, 2020 it drew 36,723,783 for, 113,546,604 against, 987,789 abstaining and 14,912,210 broker non-votes, or 24.44 percent. At Berkshire Hathaway on May 2, 2020 it drew 69,076 for, 490,884 against and 3,789 abstaining, or 12.34 percent.
Fourteen companies adopted and publicly disclosed board and chief executive diversity search policies. Every one of them did so in response to a shareholder proposal rather than to the letter that preceded it, which the filer reads as evidence that a proposal, not a letter, is what prompts engagement.
Who is involved
- Office of the New York City Comptroller and the New York City pension funds filer
- Dover Corporation company
- Expedia Group company
- Fastenal company
- Genuine Parts Company company
- Hilton Worldwide company
- Ross Stores company
- UDR, Inc. company
- Verisign company
- Expeditors International company
- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. company
- Berkshire Hathaway company
What this campaign is about
- Supports strong governance Pivotal · JUST Capital