• Program 2006-07

How Can Shareholder Activism & Engagement Influence Corporate Behavior?

Date: 

February 13, 2007

Venue: 

NYU Stern School of Business; The Commons, Ground Floor; Kaufman Management Center

Aligning one's investments and values can be very challenging - even for Bill Gates. In a recent series in the LA Times, the $35 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was criticized for holding companies in its investment portfolio with business activities directly at odds with the foundation's charitable mission. In our panel discussion, we will review the experience of investors who seek to combine their investment and mission goals:

  • What are the current social and environmental issues for shareholders?
  • What is the relationship between corporation responsibility issues such as the environment and corporate governance issues such as board compensation?
  • What obligations do institutional investors such as foundations and universities have to align their investments with their missions?
  • How can mutual fund investors influence the actions of mutual fund managers?
  • What are the range of tools open to shareholders such as resolutions and proxy votes?

Moderator: 

Steve Godeke, Godeke Consulting N. Gregory Pettit, Senior Vice President, Financial Communications, Hill & Knowlton

Panelists: 

Victor De Luca, President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation; Daniel E. Rosan, Director of Public Health and Access to Capital Programs, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility;