| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 31, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| MANAGEMENT
Putting the Squeeze on Directors The world's largest pension fund, TIAA-CREF has quietly become the most influential player in the field of corporate governance. But its recent prominence owes much to its decades-long involvement in prodding boards for change. 1970s Chairman William C. Greenough urges major investors to vote their proxies to influence boardroom behavior. TIAA-CREF backs a proposal to require General Motors to disclose each year its progress on minority hiring. 1980s The fund demands shareholder votes on antitakeover defense plans such as poison pills at International Paper and others. EARLY 1990s Urges companies, with mixed results, to add women and minorities to the boardroom. 1995 Leads successful effort to reshape board at W.R. Grace. 1997 Attacks Disney and Heinz over the independence of their boards of directors. Both companies later make important boardroom changes. 1998 Becomes first institutional investor to unseat an entire board at troubled cafeteria chain Furr's/Bishop's. 1999 Wins shareholder support against ''dead-hand'' pills at Lubrizol and Bergen Brunswig. Gains agreement from Advanced Micro Devices to appoint more independent directors. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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``The Teddy Roosevelts of Corporate Governance'' TABLE: Putting the Squeeze on Directors INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
