GENERAL ELECTRIC
NYSE:  GE          Meeting Date: 4/22/2015

Despite being one of the oldest companies trading on the NYSE, General Electric is taking a cutting edge approach to corporate governance. The 137 year old company amended its bylaws earlier this year to provide shareholders with the ability to nominate their own director candidates on the company’s ballot (otherwise known as “proxy access”). Under the provisions, a single shareholder, or a group of up to 20 shareholders, who have owned at least 3% of the company’s common stock for at least three years may submit director nominees (up to 20% of the board) for inclusion in the proxy statement if the shareholder and the nominees satisfy the requirements specified in the company’s bylaws.

General Electric is one of only a handful of blue-chip companies that have voluntarily adopted proxy access provisions. Proxy access is generally requested via the shareholder proposal process and can be met with lengthy delays or opposition from the board and management. Given the importance of the director nomination process, Glass Lewis believes that proxy access provisions should have sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse by agenda-driven shareholders. However, when properly implemented, Glass Lewis believes that proxy access provisions provide an effective method for allowing significant, long-term shareholders the ability to have a greater say in a board’s composition. For detailed information on the topic of proxy access, including a brief history of proxy access in the United States and empirical evidence on the impact of proxy access on shareholder value and corporate governance, please see Glass Lewis’ In-Depth: Proxy Access.

The company decided to implement the change after engaging with its shareholders, some of whom have reportedly expressed frustration with the company’s stagnant stock price (GE hasn’t broken $30 per share since prior to the financial crisis). The Company is currently in the process of acquiring the energy business of France’s Alstom SA for $17 billion (in what is being called the Company’s biggest deal to date) as well as spinning off its North American Retail Finance Business into a new company known as Synchrony Financial.

DOMINO’S PIZZA
NYSE:  DPZ          Meeting Date: 4/21/2015

JOHNSON & JOHNSON
NYSE:  JNJ          Meeting Date: 4/23/2015

HERBALIFE
NYSE:  HLF          Meeting Date: 4/23/2015

HSBC HOLDINGS INC.
LSE:  HSBA          Meeting Date: 4/24/2015