CIRI and the TMX will be co-hosting our fourth annual event to prepare issuers and their advisors for the 2019 proxy season. During this interactive discussion with proxy advisory firms and institutional investors, we will discuss the top issues for the 2019 proxy season; new ISS and Glass Lewis policies; the growing importance of environmental disclosure; institutional investors’ processes for proxy voting and best practices for engaging shareholders.
Speakers:
Kern McPherson, Senior Director, North American Research, Glass Lewis & Co.
Kern McPherson joined Glass Lewis in 2009 and leads the North American research teams covering corporate governance, executive compensation and environmental & social issues at over 6,500 companies traded in the U.S. and Canada. Kern specializes in issuer and stakeholder engagement, corporate governance analysis, research operations, and is an active participant in Glass Lewis’ policy and product development. Prior to joining Glass Lewis, Kern served as a senior account manager and business analyst for large corporate retailers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and History of Art & Architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Paul Schneider, Head of Corporate Governance, Public Equities, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Paul Schneider joined Ontario Teachers' Public Equities team in 2010, and has close to 15 years of corporate governance experience. He represents the organization's corporate governance interests globally with responsibility for policy development, proxy voting and the public company governance engagement program.
Paul currently serves on the board of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', he worked at the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, helping establish the organization as a respected and influential voice in corporate governance.
Paul holds degrees from the University of Toronto (MBA), Western University (BEd) and Wilfrid Laurier University (Honours BBA) and also has the ICD.D designation.
John Vizikas, Associate Vice President, Canadian Research, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)
John joined ISS in 2014 and has over 12 years of experience in corporate governance and ESG research. He is responsible for providing corporate governance and proxy research on some of Canada's largest companies and is involved in ISS' policy development and formulation process. John also specializes in contested M&A situations and proxy contests. Prior to joining ISS, he worked as a senior research analyst at GMI Ratings, a corporate governance and ESG ratings and research provider, where he led a group of international research analysts. John holds a Master of Business Administration (Financial Management) and a Master of Science (Investment Management) from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University.
Cost:
Free for CIRI members and non-members.
This event will be offered by webcast as well. To register for the webcast, click here.