In this new article: "Demand for off-season meetings 'highest ever,' says SSGA's Kumar," State Street Global's Rakhi Kumar describes the influential investor's proactive off-season (September - November) engagement approach in a way that should help inform companies' engagement expectations and strategy currently and for future years. Notably, notwithstanding increasing requests by companies for off-season engagement meetings, SSGA's overall engagement calendar and agenda are fairly well-scripted in advance, with little opportunity for companies to engage in the off-season unless they are either already among SSGA's targeted engagement sectors or themes, or are encountering special circumstances (e.g., shareholder activism, performance issues, new shareholder proposals) that SSGA believes may warrant a special meeting.
When off-season engagement meetings do occur, Kumar notes that directors are increasingly, willingly participating, and that they are doing so in a favorable manner:
Engagement culture is getting more sophisticated. Directors understand that we're giving them a totally different view from what they would get talking to an active portfolio manager who is only going to ask them questions about what the next quarter looks like. Because we're pretty transparent on our positions once we have them, we've had directors come and say they've shared our thought-leadership inside the boardroom and it prompted a good debate…Many of the directors coming out are comfortable doing so. Years ago, when engagement was new, it was not unusual for me to be yelled at by directors. I haven't been yelled at in a couple of years.