Proxy access, meaning the ability of stockholders to put their nominees on management’s proxy card and create a proxy contest without having to file their own proxy statement, was the marquee issue of the 2015 proxy season. The 2015 push for proxy access was largely spearheaded by the New York City comptroller through his Boardroom Accountability Project. The comptroller, whose goal is to make proxy access universal at US companies, submitted 75 proxy access bylaw proposals to well-known companies with the following parameters: ownership of at least 3 percent of a company’s stock for at least three years and the right to nominate up to 25 percent of a company’s board. These parameters are largely based upon the proxy access rule adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010, which was subsequently struck down by a federal court. 
Continue Reading Proxy Access—the Devil Is in the Details

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it will host a roundtable on February 19 on ways to improve the proxy voting process, with a focus on universal proxy ballots and retail (non-institutional) shareholder participation in the proxy process. The roundtable will consist of the following two panels:

• The first panel will examine (1)

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