In the News–Corporate Governance
Investor Focus Shifts to Gender Pay Equity
Lindsay Frost, Agenda, January 29, 2018
The World Economic Forum kicked off last week in Davos, Switzerland, bringing together corporate heads and political titans to discuss, among other things, how the “Me Too” movement, pressure to provide equal opportunities for women and regulations in the U.S. and abroad are driving gender pay equity further into the spotlight.
“As discussions around women and the workplace and having a harassment-free, gender-neutral kind of presence in the workplace at the highest level gets raised over and over again, hopefully every time some fixes come with that,” says Davia Temin, CEO of strategy and communications consulting firm Temin and Company. “Extinguishing sexual harassment in organizations is here to stay, so with that comes a host of other issues [being addressed] — pay being one of them.” […read more]
How boards and CEOs can prevent workplace sexual harassment
Jon Erlichman, BNN, January 24, 2018
Davia Temin, president and CEO of Temin and Company, joined BNN’s Business Day AM to discuss how companies can fix and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
To watch the interview on BNN, CLICK HERE.
Don’t Be Weinstein Co. 2.0
Mary Lowengard, Institutional Investor, January 8, 2018
Davia Temin, president & CEO of Temin and Co., shares ten simple steps for corporate executives.
1. Sexual harassment is a C-suite and board-level issue. As an ounce of prevention, order an audit of every case currently under investigation and every case that’s been reported over the previous five to ten years.
2. Review previously disposed cases under the lens of today’s news. Hand over ongoing cases to a law firm for investigation, and secure crisis management counseling.
3. Any time it is determined that real offenses have taken place, fire the perpetrator immediately — or put him on leave, then fire him. Act swiftly and definitively. Actions speak louder than words. […read more]
Nightmare on Investor Relations Street
Mary Lowengard, Institutional Investor, January 5, 2018
A specter is haunting corporate America: sexual harassment. Forget being miffed over MiFID II, daunted by data security, or panicked over product liability. The next Big Crisis that will be keeping investor relations officers awake at night is sexual harassment, and it’s coming fast.
As sexual harassment has been prevalent in corporate life for decades, why would it surface now? It all started with Bill — Cosby, that is — says crisis management consultant Davia Temin, founder and head of Temin and Co. The Cosby affair demonstrated the powerful effect of victims breaking out of their “silos of silence and shame,: despite the risk of wrecking their careers. She describes what’s coming for corporate America as a “tsunami,” fortified by years of suffering and accelerated by social media. […read more]
Dying on the job: CEOs’ ages forces investors to reckon with succession
Jeff Green, The Financial Post, January 2, 2018
The same-day deaths of two aging chief executive officers show why some investors and governance experts want companies to disclose more about succession plans and the health of their executives.
CSX Corp.’s Hunter Harrison, 73, died Dec. 16, a day after news of his medical leave pushed the railroad’s shares down the most in six years. M&T Bank Corp. said Robert Wilmers passed away “suddenly and unexpectedly” at age 83 — just months after the death of his own heir apparent.
These earthly departures underscore the privacy, governance and legal issues entangled in one fact of shifting demographics: As the U.S. population ages, so too do corporate chieftains. The average age of a CEO has risen four per cent in the past decade and there has been at least one health-related change atop Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies in each of the past three years, according to executive recruiter Spencer Stuart.
“What we’re facing is the new paradigm of work,” said Davia Temin, head of the New York-based crisis-management firm Temin & Co. “When people are in the zone of what they love to do, most of them are not going to voluntarily give that up. That means that people will work later, and maybe with a little bit more of an illusion that death won’t apply to them.” […read more]
CEOs’ Advancing Age Forces Investors to Reckon With Succession
Jeff Green, Bloomberg, December 19, 2017
The same-day deaths of two aging chief executive officers — industry icons in railroading and banking — show why some investors and governance experts want companies to disclose more about succession plans and the health of their executives.
CSX Corp.’s Hunter Harrison, 73, died Saturday, one day after news of his medical leave pushed the railroad’s shares down the most in six years. M&T Bank Corp. said Robert Wilmers passed away “suddenly and unexpectedly” at age 83 — just months after the death of his own heir apparent.
These earthly departures underscore the privacy, governance and legal issues entangled in one fact of shifting demographics: As the U.S. population ages, so too do the chieftains of Corporate America.
“What we’re facing is the new paradigm of work,” said Davia Temin, head of the New York-based crisis-management firm Temin & Co. “When people are in the zone of what they love to do, most of them are not going to voluntarily give that up. That means that people will work later, and maybe with a little bit more of an illusion that death won’t apply to them.” […read more]
Liberty Tax Sex Scandal Draws Investor Suit Targeting Hewitt
Jef Feeley and Anders Melin, Bloomberg, December 13, 2017
Some Liberty Tax Inc. investors have lost patience with founder John Hewitt. A pension fund is asking a judge to order Hewitt to relinquish his controlling stake in the national tax-preparation service after an internal review found that while running the company, he had sex in his office and hired relatives of female employees with whom he’d had romantic relationships.
The Liberty case is just the latest in a string of firings of prominent men as sexual harassment accusations shake public figures in fields as diverse as the media, the U.S. Congress and restaurant chains. Even company founders such as Uber’s Travis Kalanick and the Weinstein Co.’s Harvey Weinstein have lost their jobs following harassment allegations.
Company boards are increasingly being drawn into the fray. “This is opening up a whole new area of liability for corporations,” said Davia Temin, president and CEO of Temin & Co., a New York-based crisis management company. “They have to seriously look at the risks this behavior poses to the company.” […read more]
Johnson Makes Rare Speech as Fidelity Deals With Harassment
Charles Stein, Laura Colby and Miles Weiss, Bloomberg, October 24, 2017
Fidelity Investments’ Abigail Johnson took center stage on Tuesday and counseled money managers gathering in Washington about charting their future in the digital world. But the chief executive, a featured speaker at one of the industry’s biggest conferences, is also struggling with a stubborn legacy of the past: the treatment of women in the world of finance.
Over the last two months, Fidelity, one of the largest investment companies, has dismissed two portfolio managers — one over allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and another over claims of sexually harassing a female junior employee.
Fidelity and other money managers may face a flood of complaints “now that the lid is off,” said Davia Temin, president and CEO of Temin & Co., a New York based crisis-management company.
Going forward, Johnson has to continue to “set the tone” that the organization will take every case that comes to light seriously and emphasize there’s also a business case for doing so, said Temin. While Fidelity is a closely held company without public shareholders, its customer base cares about these issues, she said. Some public pension funds already demand that women be included on teams that manage their money. […read more]
Faber, Weinstein Put Boards on Notice: You’re the Adults Now
Jeff Green and Jordyn Holman, Bloomberg, October 17, 2017
Corporate directors should now be on notice: bad behavior isn’t so easily swept under the rug. As a parade of executives has been outed as sexist, racist or both, boards have been called on to set — and enforce — standards of decent behavior.
On Tuesday, veteran investor and ubiquitous pundit Marc Faber agreed to leave the boards of three companies after he published racist commentary in his subscription newsletter. The week before, five Weinstein Co. directors quit in the wake of revelations about Harvey Weinstein and his history of alleged sexual assault and harassment made public by the New York Times and the New Yorker.
At this point, “CEOs and boards have to be the adults in the room,” said Davia Temin, head of the New York-based crisis-management firm Temin & Co. “Boards’ voices are getting strengthened, to some degree, because of the need of a counterpoint.” […read more]
Davia Temin Says Trump Had No Choice But to End Councils
Scarlet Fu and Julie Hyman, Bloomberg, August 16, 2017
In today’s “Walk the Talk,” Davia Temin, head of the crisis-management firm Temin & Co., reacts to President Donald Trump’s decision to disband two advisory groups of U.S. business leaders. She speaks with Bloomberg’s Scarlet Fu and Julie Hyman on “Bloomberg Markets.”
To watch the interview on Bloomberg, CLICK HERE.
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