The Conference Board Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement

11 March 2014
From accounting scandals to the global financial crisis, events of the past decade have damaged the reputation of business, contributing to a public distrust of business in general. In February 2013, The Conference Board Governance Center formed the Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement to examine the facts, the issues, and the policy implications of the current state of US corporate governance. These are the recommendations of the task force for creating a stronger corporate governance system.

11 March 2014
Direct engagement between companies and their investors is in early stages, but is likely to become a permanent, although less formal, part of governance of US public companies. In order for such partnerships to be successful, both parties should focus on the quality of the communications and the outcome of those communications, not the quantity, and be mindful of the other party’s resource constraints. Based on the work of The Conference Board Governance Center Advisory Board on Corporate/Investor Engagement, this report offers insights and action plans on how companies and their investors can make the most of these new partnerships.

11 March 2014
American economic success depends on establishing an effective system of corporate governance. Collaboration between the three traditional actors in corporate governance—boards of directors, management, and shareholders—is fundamental to identifying the corporate governance policies and practices that will be most conducive to producing economic growth while reducing attendant financial and legal risk. This white paper was developed to assist the Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement in achieving its objectives by providing an overview of the evolution of US corporate governance and describing the principal issues in corporate governance today.

11 March 2014
The Conference Board Governance Center today announced the publication of the recommendations of The Conference Board Governance Center Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement. The Task Force concluded that fixing corporate governance — and, ultimately, restoring trust in business — calls for an open, yet purpose-driven process of reestablishing alignment between corporate strategy and investor interests. For more, please read the press release.

06 November 2013
Download the latest Director Notes, The Separation of Ownership from Ownership: Concerns Arising from Institutional Investors as Intermediaries, based on the second Task Force Briefing paper prepared by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

09 October 2013
A new Director Notes, Global Trends in Board-Shareholder Engagement, looks at potential benefits and complexities of the board-shareholder engagement process, reviews global trends in engagement practices, provides insights into engagement activities at U.S. companies, and highlights developments in the use of technology to facilitate engagement. The Conference Board Governance Center has convened a Task Force on Corporate/Investor Engagement to look at the opportunities and issues in increasing engagement.

24 July 2013
A new Director Notes, The Underpinnings of Corporate Governance Approaches and the Shareholder Value Model, based on the first Task Force Briefing paper prepared by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, is now available for download.