Andrew MacDougall
May 30, 2016
In the Spring 2016 issue of Listed magazine, Paul Brent’s article “Taking back the dialogue” discusses the evolution of director-shareholder engagement in the context of the recent publication of guidelines on the subject by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). Recognizing the need for enhanced dialogue between directors and shareholders, the ICD appointed a six-person committee to come up with recommendations to assist Canadian boards in initiating dialogue with investors. Andrew MacDougall, partner in Osler’s Corporate Governance practice group, sat in as a consultant to the committee’s discussions. In the article, Andrew explains that the group agreed on the level of appropriate disclosure for directors, but goes on to say that “there was much debate about the scope of what directors could say to investors … what was operational and for management, and what was governance and fair game for directors.”
The article includes a summary of the six guiding principles for developing and maintaining effective director-shareholder engagement that form the centerpiece of the IDC publication: know your significant investors; recognize the benefits of engagement; tailor a process to you; set topics of discussion; invite the right board participants; and review and consider what you learn.
Read Paul Brent’s full article “Taking back the dialogue” in the Spring 2016 issue of Listed magazine.