Pax World Announces Results of Shareholder and Public Policy Advocacy Work During 2011 Proxy Season

Pax World Management LLC, investment adviser to Pax World Funds (Pax World), ESG Shares^®; and ESG Managers^®; Portfolios, and a leader in the field of Sustainable Investing, announced today the results of its shareowner and public policy advocacy work during the 2011 proxy season.

Pax World focused on many issues this proxy season, including:

• Governance
• Environmental
• Gender and Human Rights
• Financial Reform
• Workplace Practices

Pax worked with shareholders to advocate for improved public policies, protocols and disclosures. They also co-filed five shareholder resolutions (two of which were successfully withdrawn). Pax signed on to 18 environmental initiatives, many of which focused on the oil and gas industry. They also worked with investors on initiatives regarding executive compensation, disclosure on expenditures for lobbying and political contributions, reducing dissonance between corporate policies and trade association lobbying, and increasing shareholder rights.

Regarding Gender and Human Rights, Pax continues to work with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), Calvert and other institutional investors to push for greater gender equality on boards of directors and in senior management, and to further promote improved disclosure.

To read more about Pax’s initiatives during the 2011 proxy season please click here.

Al Gore to speak at Social Investment Forum Conference next week

Next week, Barb Brown and Margie Flynn are attending the Social Investment Forum 2011 Conference: “Responsible Investing: Impact & Innovation” at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Al Gore, Chairman and Co-founder of Generation Investment Management, is the keynote speaker at the Conference Kickoff dinner on June 9. GIM is a partnership focused on a new approach to sustainable investing. Mr. Gore has many accolades and credits to his name, and no doubt will be interesting to listen to.

BrownFlynn is proud to be a sponsor of this year’s SIF Conference, and feels it will be a worthwhile and informative event. UBS is the lead sponsor, with other sponsors such as Bloomberg, PAX, MSCI, Calvert, Boston Common Asset Management, TIAA-CREF, Towers Watson, Walden Asset Management, Campbell’s, Nasdaq OMX and more.  Some speakers include:

• Elizabeth Warren, Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Luis Aguilar, Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• Janet Cowell, State Treasurer, North Carolina
• Michael Jantzi, CEO, Sustainalytics
• Roger Urwin, Global Head of Investment Content, Towers Watson
• Dave Stangis, Vice President of CSR and Sustainability, Campbell Soup Company

For more information about the conference and to register (there’s still time!) please click here. Hope to see you there!

Women directors improve performance, but remain underrepresented

SocialFunds.com reported in late December that women are underrepresented on corporate boards in 51 countries, as surveyed by Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI).

“Very simply,” the report states, “Studies all echo the same principle: the greater the percentage of women on boards and in senior management, the better the company’s financial performance.”

The report, entitled “Accelerating Board Diversity Globally”, cites several reports published in the last decade that find a correlation between female directors and improved corporate profitability (more notably reports by McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs).

A recently published study of the diversity practices of the US S&P 100  by Calvert found that more than half of these companies have no female or minority representation in the highest paid executive positions.

CWDI’s report analyzes a number of strategies to increase women representation on boards and in senior management, and found that quota legislation is effective. Many European countries, as well as Israel and South Africa, have passed legislation that requires a certain percentage of director positions be allocated to women. Recently Italy has come on board with similar legislation.

Because passage of quota legislation would be unlikely in the US, investors and other shareholder activists are issuing resolutions to pressure companies to improve board diversity.

To read the full article please click here.

What do you think of this issue? Do you think the statistics for corporate performance under female leadership are true? Do you think shareholders should continue to lobby for board diversity? Discuss!