Proxy voting
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‘We believe many ESG-driven decisions lack objectivity’: NLPC director Paul Chesser on why companies should shun culture-war activism
For more than two decades, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has positioned itself as a prominent conservative watchdog challenging what it sees as the growing politicization of corporate America. As director of the organization’s Corporate Integrity Project – an initiative that uses shareholder proposals and public campaigns to target corporations it believes are adopting excessively progressive policies – Paul Chesser embodies that mission.
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‘You sit down with tax collectors and prostitutes’: How Bowyer Research is reshaping proxy voting on the right
Bowyer Research first came to the attention of IR Impact – and many on the mainstream governance scene – when the firm’s ESG-skeptic voting policies were picked up by ISS. Today, those policies are available through all the major proxy voting advisory firms and Bowyer Research, which is essentially a mom-and-pop (plus kids) shop run out of Pennsylvania, advises many millions of dollars, including the $57 bn Texas Permanent School Fund. Jerry Bowyer, co-founded Bowyer Research with Susan, his wife of 31 years, , feels the right is playing catch up when it comes to equities and proxy voting –…
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IR for video games and AI for engagement: The biggest stories from 2025
In this January edition of the IR Voice podcast, host Laurie Havelock highlights the stories that defined 2025 for IR professionals: from CD Projekt’s Karolina Gnas bringing video‑game immersion into investor relations, to David Grunfeld’s insights on how AI is transforming engagement.
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Tesla: How do you get support for a $1 trn pay package? Give shareholders a slice of the pie
ISS is recommending against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $1 tn compensation package. Glass Lewis too. CalPERS and NBIM, manager of the world’s most valuable sovereign wealth fund, have each come out publicly against. But with the Tesla AGM happening today online and at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas, one small, family-run proxy advisory firm – whose ESG-skeptic voting guidelines are offered by ISS, and which boasted the $57 bn Texas Permanent School Fund as the first state fund to sign up – is backing Musk’s compensation. ‘We’re strongly focused on the alignment of incentives,’ says Jerry Bowyer, CEO of Bowyer Research, who…