CC&L has a customized proxy voting policy that reflects our views on best practices for corporate governance and guides all of our voting decisions. Our Voting Rights Policy includes a focus on several key governance themes, specifically board independence, insiders on key committees, gender diversity, tenure and over-boarding.
Proxy Voting
The central tenet of CC&L’s proxy voting policy is that good corporate governance enhances long-term shareholder value. CC&L has a fiduciary duty to vote proxies both in a timely manner and in the best interests of its clients. CC&L has a customized proxy voting policy that reflects its views on best practices for corporate governance and guides all of CC&L’s voting decisions. This policy was updated in 2018, and subsequently reviewed in 2019, to increase focus on some key governance themes, specifically board independence, insiders on key committees, gender diversity, tenure and over-boarding. CC&L makes a concerted effort to ensure all votes reflect the firm’s views on these issues. The trend in these voting outcomes is tracked so that CC&L can continue to improve and report on its progress as advocates for strong corporate governance.
The global proxy research and voting services of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) is employed to help analyze and vote proxies on behalf of CC&L’s clients. ISS prepares the voting recommendations in accordance with CC&L’s customized guidelines for all items for which it is entitled to vote. Two portfolio managers have direct responsibility for proxy voting and they rely on input from the other portfolio managers when assessing certain proposals. CC&L’s stewardship and engagement team assists the portfolio managers in the execution and tracking of proxies voted.
Proxy Voting Track Record
CC&L’s focus on continuous improvement of corporate governance includes engagements as well as proxy voting. In support of our policies, CC&L often votes against management recommendations. Following the changes to our proxy voting policy in 2018, as an example, we began voting against the chair of the nomination committee on boards with no female directors. This resulted in CC&L voting against 108 nomination committee chairs in 2018, increasing to 196 in 2019. In addition, there has also been a substantial increase in our support for shareholder proposals encouraging companies to increase disclosure on the gender pay gap.
View our Voting Rights Policy here.