Farient Briefings March 2025 | New Tools Track Proxy Season Voting
March 18, 2025
New Tools to Track Proxy Season Voting
As Proxy Season 2025 gets into full swing, Farient Advisors is refreshing the design of its Say on Pay Tracker™ on the firm’s US website. In addition, the Farient UK website will inaugurate its first Tracker on voting for Remuneration Policy and Remuneration Reports.
Farient’s publicly available Trackers give visitors the ability to quickly slice and dice results by vote type, year, and stock index. The US Tracker will continue to provide data on Russell 3000 companies. When released next month, both Trackers will feature easy-to-read infographics that summarize voting data.
Surge Seen in CEO Exits
It’s being called the “great CEO exodus.” More chief executives left their posts in January than in any previous month. When acknowledged publicly, the reasons range from planned retirements to behavioral issues. The number of CEO changes at US companies was up 14 percent from 194 CEO exits recorded in the first month of 2024, according to a recent report by global outplacement and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
For the last two years, Farient Advisors and Corporate Board Member have researched how boards prepare for Turnover at the Top. Public board members who participated in the Turnover at the Top research, reported that higher rates of CEO turnover had spurred greater discussion among their full boards. The pros and cons of retention mechanisms and one-time awards were cited as among the top issues.
ICYMI
T. Rowe Price’s Head of Governance Donna Anderson to Retire at Year-end—Reuters
Donna Anderson, who heads global corporate governance at T. Rowe Price and a powerful voice on a range of hot-button topics in the investment world, intends to retire at the end of this year, the asset manager told Reuters. A successor has not been named. Reuters broke the news last week.
Skyrocketing CEO Pay Can Lead to Huge Corporate Culture Problems and Whistleblowing Employees—Fortune
An increase in incidents of whistleblowers turning on their employers may be the result of rising CEO pay. CEO-employee pay disparities erode employee loyalty and lead to greater worker “willingness” to inform on their companies, according to a recent study from researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Six Flags, Dendur Strike Deal for Four Board Seats—Semafor Business
Six Flags will add four new directors to its board at its upcoming June 25th shareholder meeting in a settlement that ends months of private discussions with one of its largest investors, reports Semafor Business. Standing for election — two designated by Six Flags and two by Dendur Capital, which owns roughly 3% of Six Flags — are Felipe Dutra, former CFO of AB Inbev; Sandy Cochran, former CEO of Cracker Barrel; Michael Colglazier, a longtime Disney executive; and Steven Hoffman, who runs a venture firm.
Tesla Files Appeal in Delaware to Reverse Musk Pay Package Decision—The Wall Street Journal
Tesla and its board of directors filed an appeal in the Delaware Supreme Court to settle an ongoing legal dispute over Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation package. On March 11, 2025, Tesla and its board argued that stockholders have twice approved the pay deal that, if nullified, would be unfair to investors, according to legal documents filed with the court. The board also contended the lower court was flawed in concluding Musk could coerce or dominate directors during compensation negotiations, noting he owned less than a quarter of Tesla’s stock at the time.
Where to Find Us
NACD Leading Minds of Governance
Buckhead Club
April 30, 2025
Atlanta, GA
The City Remuneration Summit
May 1, 2025
London, UK
For more information about these events, please email us at info@farient.com.
Understanding Climate Incentives
Exclusive: Around the globe, the heat is on to combat climate change while some political regimes denounce the veracity between greenhouse gas emissions and a warming planet. Nevertheless, large corporations are reporting Scope 1, Scope 2, and, increasingly, Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and linking reductions to executive compensation, according to Farient Advisors’ newly published 2025 Global Trends in Stakeholder Incentives: Climate Strategies and Incentives for Corporate Sustainability.
Learn more about how the world’s largest companies are setting and achieving climate goals by linking climate measures to executive incentives by sector and geography.
About Farient Advisors
Farient Advisors LLC is an independent premier executive compensation, performance, and corporate governance consultancy. Farient provides a full array of services, linking business strategy to compensation through a tailored, analytically rigorous, and collaborative approach. Farient has locations in Los Angeles, New York, and London and works with clients globally through its partnership in the Global Governance and Executive Compensation (GECN) Group. Farient is a certified diverse company and is recognized by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
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