RBC Global Asset Management VP & Head, Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment Melanie Adams provides instructive insights on the asset manager's new board gender diversity proxy voting policy and its climate change disclosure expectations in this recent interview with IR Magazine. As discussed in the article, this is the first year that RBC GAM's Proxy Voting Guidelines generally provide for a vote against directors on boards with fewer than two women directors:
If a company’s board has less than two women directors,we will vote against directors who sit on the nominating or corporate governance committees of the board. Exceptions may be warranted based on company commitments and/or the adequacy of the company’s board gender diversity policy.An adequate policy should include:
- A commitment to increase board gender diversity
- Measurable goals or targets to increase board gender diversity within a reasonable period of time
Consideration will be given to a board’s approach to gender diversity in executive officer positions and any related goals, targets, programs or processes for advancing women in executive roles.We expect issuers to disclose progress on reaching board gender diversity targets and the strategies or plans employed to achieve them.
Access these and other institutional investor proxy voting guidelines on our Institutional Investors page. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!