Morrow Sodali: corporate governance, what’s next

Interview in IR Magazine with John Wilcox, chairman of the newly formed Morrow Sodali Global, billed as the largest independent corporate governance, proxy solicitation, investor relations, capital markets and shareholder services firm in the world.

“Sodali’s structure always emphasized the global nature of the company, but with a local expertise in every market we serve,’ says Wilcox. So it would not have been appropriate for the firm to open an office in the States ‘and suddenly have people working in different parts of the world acting as experts on the US.”

Talking about what does Wilcox see as the biggest corporate governance issues today, he cites executive compensation as the perennial issue. This issue, he notes, is more subdued in emerging markets only because of the general lack of transparency around compensation.”

He also points to a number of ongoing shareholder rights issues such as proxy access in the US and multiple voting rights in France, and advises companies to take an integrated approach when responding to any criticisms. Finally, companies need to be more courageous. “My strong conviction is that a company that makes a persuasive case for long-term value creation will always prevail over a short-termer,” he concludes.