ISS Updates for 2019 Spotlight Gender Diversity
View Debevoise Update
Key takeaways:
- On November 19, 2018, ISS released updates to its proxy voting guidelines. These updates are applicable to shareholder meetings held on or after February 1, 2019.
- The most significant update is a revised policy promoting gender diversity on boards of directors of U.S. companies. Under the new policy, ISS will generally issue recommendations to vote against or withhold from the chair of the nominating committee if there are no women on the company’s board.
- ISS also made technical updates regarding director performance and shareholder ratifications and left for a later date changes related to multiclass voting structures, director track records and non-GAAP (EVA) pay-for-performance metrics.