Just What Is the Corporate Director's Job? Activist Hedge Fund Perspectives on the Board Member's Job Description

The perspectives of activist hedge investors differ from the stakeholders in the previous five installments of this series—proxy advisors, directors, active investors, passive investors, and corporate secretaries. Activist hedge funds are the one class of stakeholders who actually seat people on the board of portfolio companies. Unlike the directors, they bring in a truly outside, independent point of view that tends to affect all aspects of the corporate director’s job description. One insight: trust can become an issue when an activist hedge fund representative is placed on a board. This is highlighted when such directors and the funds that nominated them are asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.