ISS and Glass Lewis Proxy Voting Policy Updates for the 2023 Proxy Season

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis) have updated their proxy voting policies for shareholder meetings held on or after February 1, 2023 (ISS) or January 1, 2023 (Glass Lewis). This Sidley Update summarizes the changes in proxy voting policies that apply to U.S. companies and provides some practical considerations. The key policy updates relate to:

• board diversity and related disclosures
• officer exculpation charter amendment proposals
• board accountability for climate-related issues and problematic governance and capital structures
• board oversight of environmental and social issues and cyber risk
• director overboarding
• shareholder proposals requesting racial equity audits or disclosure about political spending and lobbying congruency.

Appendix A summarizes the various circumstances in which ISS and Glass Lewis may recommend votes against directors in an uncontested election.

Please click here to read the Sidley Update without the appendix.

Please click here to read the Sidley Update with the appendix.