Thought Capital

On September 27, 2016, Hugessen Consulting and Steven Hall & Partners hosted a Director-Shareholder Roundtable in Chicago, bringing together experienced corporate directors and representatives from institutional shareholders for a day of unfiltered discussion on a variety of executive compensation and governance topics.

The approach to long-term incentives among small- and mid-cap TSX companies tends to vary, in some cases quite significantly, from those of large-cap issuers.

Establishing performance standards and setting and managing executive pay is never easy. But what happens in a period of structural change? How do boards measure a moving target?

The role and influence of the shareholder community has been steadily evolving in the areas of governance and executive compensation and assessment of corporate performance. To gather some insight on a wide range of compensation and governance-related topics, Steve Chan, Michelle Tan and Sandra Pace turned to two governance leaders at prominent institutional shareholders: Bess Joffe, managing director, head of corporate governance at TIAA-CREF and Drew Hambly, executive director, corporate governance at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Global Equity Group.

The Council of Institutional Investors, an association of U.S. and global investors representing over US$3 trillion in assets, published a letter responding to proposed regulation of proxy advisors in the U.S.

On June 1, 2016, Hugessen Consulting hosted a Director-Shareholder Roundtable in Calgary, Alberta. This session brought together experienced corporate directors and representatives from large CND and US institutional shareholders for a day of interactive dialogue on board leadership on compensation and related governance. The discussions that took place were open and engaging, with participants freely sharing their views and experiences on a wide range of compensation and governance matters.

While relative TSR is clearly an important measure for shareholders, it is important to assess how well it fits as a performance measure for your company. With an understanding of the measure’s strengths and weaknesses, Boards and management are in a better position to incorporate relative TSR in a thoughtful and effective manner.

We are the advisor of choice in shareholder engagement and potentially contentious situations

Hugessen & Hall are offering an independent “fresh set of eyes” on critical compensation issues to board members making tough pay decisions

On June 7, 2016, Hugessen hosted breakfast events in Toronto and Calgary to review the key compensation topics and issues from this past proxy. The events featured notable research findings from an analysis of the information circulars of the TSX 60 and a panel discussion to share insights and experiences from corporate directors and governance experts.