Good governance is timeless…

…but our winners have changed with the times

This year marks the 12th annual Corporate Governance Awards, and my fourth. When I joined the Corporate Secretary editorial team back in the fall of 2016, it was during the week of the awards. One of my first tasks for the publication was to interview Bob Lamm, who had just been presented with the lifetime achievement award in recognition of his distinguished career at Pfizer, Gunster, Deloitte, WR Grace, CA Technologies and other companies.

Lamm, who is a mentor to many readers and a friend to many more, left a strong impression on me about the role corporate secretaries and general counsel play in being strong custodians of a company’s corporate governance standards. In 2016 he told me: ‘The notion of living life in a fishbowl and needing some degree of transparency is something some people have trouble understanding emotionally.’

This year’s nominees embody the governance standards required for life in the fishbowl of the public markets. And yet, as custodians of good governance, they are faced with a myriad of challenges they have dealt with adeptly. In the profiles of this year’s award winners you will read about shareholder activism, proxy contests, mergers and acquisitions, data security and innovative uses of technology. Every year there are many high-profile examples of what happens when public companies have governance lapses, but not as much time spent on the good news stories. We’re thrilled to celebrate the biggest success stories of the year.

And in the spirit of recognizing significant achievements, I would like to congratulate Carol Ward for winning this year’s lifetime achievement award. Ward has had a distinguished career at Cigna Corporation and Mondelez International: later in this issue she reflects on her career highlights.

As is customary in the Corporate Governance Yearbook, we also review this year’s proxy season and take a look at the trends that may emerge around the world next year. Rounding out this issue, we have a Q&A with Jonas Kron, senior vice president of shareholder advocacy at Trillium Asset Management, about how the firm views ESG and issuer engagement. Lastly, Joseph Moreno, partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, looks at the impact the California Consumer Privacy Act may have on companies across the US.

As ever, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future issues, please do get in touch.

Ben Ashwell
Editor, Corporate Secretary
+1 212 430 6869
ben.ashwell@corporatesecretary.com

Editor Ben Ashwell
Editor-at-large Ben Maiden
Managing editor & chief copy editor Kathleen Hennessy
Contributor Joseph Moreno
Design and production executive James Noden
Head of marketing Marie Paul

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