Individual investors lead sponsorships of proxy proposals

Individual investors continue to be the leading sponsor of proxy proposals against U.S. companies with 358 individual investors sponsoring or co-sponsoring 330 total 14a-8 proxy proposals.

Activist John Chevedden led the way with 70 of these proposals. Religious organizations, which generally focus on social and environmental issues, submitted the second most proposals, followed by labor unions. Chevedden, a Los Angeles-based retired engineer who has been sponsoring shareholder proposals for over a decade, is part of a network of retail investors seeking corporate governance reform and using the shareholder resolution process as the primary means of furthering this goal. Chevedden has said over the years in the press and through filings that he personally considers the proxy process to be a vital tool in communicating with the board and for creating a forum for shareholders. In 2011, Chevedden sponsored proposals on a variety of governance issues including eliminating classified board structures and supermajority vote requirements, allowing shareholders to call special meetings or take action by written consent, requiring an independent board chairman and restricting executive compensation.

Rounding out the top five sponsors of proposals were well known individual activists Kenneth Steiner, Gerald R. Armstrong, and Evelyn Y. Davis, as well as New York City Pension Funds, which sponsored 30 proposals.
 

FactSet's corporate activism database, SharkWatch, was used to compile the data for this article.