The Voice of Corporate Governance

In this episode, CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney interviews John C. Coates IV, Professor of Law and Economics, Harvard Law School. Professor Coates discusses corporate governance legislation under consideration by the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney discusses CII's advocacy efforts and regulatory/legislative updates of importance to CII members for the period of August 15 through September 17.

In this episode, CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney interviews Professor Salman Arif, assistant professor of accounting at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Professor Arif discusses his recent research paper that examines the effects of the frequency of corporate financial reporting on investors and the capital markets. The paper is timely given President’s Trump’s August 17 tweet announcing that he has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to study whether public companies should be allowed to publish semi-annual, rather than quarterly, financial reports. 

In this episode, CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney interviews Chris Hayes, Director, Industry Affairs, Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA). Mr. Hayes discusses ILPA’s views on private equity fund governance.

CII General Counsel Jeff Mahoney discusses CII's advocacy efforts and legislative updates of importance to CII members for the period of July 11 through August 15

Clay Lowery, a former assistant secretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department, talks with CII’s Brandon Whitehill about the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, its pending reforms, and what investors need to know about its investment review process.

Cristiano Guerra, executive director of M&A and contested elections at ISS, talks to CII's Glenn Davis about the work that precedes his team's reports.

Charles Elson of the University of Delaware discusses whether Delaware courts will provide “business judgment rule” deference to directors of companies that offer public shareholders only non-voting shares. Judges do not second-guess board decisions under the business judgment rule, which is based in part on the shareholder franchise.

On May 31, CII sent its final batch of majority-vote letters, wrapping up a year-long effort that urged 984 Russell 3000 companies to adopt majority voting standards in the election of uncontested directors. With the campaign’s completion, CII Deputy Director Amy Borrus and Research Analyst Gabriel Morey discuss the methods, results, and takeaways from the majority voting campaign. 

In a new research paper, CII finds that multi-class common stock with differentiated voting rights has no meaningful effect on long-term performance, as measured by return on invested capital.