Patrick McGurn
Patrick McGurn
boards companies corporate felt good limiting public service standards
A lot of corporate boards felt it was a good idea for public companies to have standards limiting board service in place.
grants market peak sales
So many stock-option grants were made at the peak of the market that we'll be working our way through these sales for some time.
earnings managing outright slippery slope
The '90s was the slippery slope from managing expectations to managing earnings to outright fraud.
board case company control creating element key number plan seats seeking strategy value
This is particularly the case if a dissident is seeking control of the board or a substantial number of seats - an alternative strategy and plan for creating value at the company is going to be a key element of our evaluation.
killer morale
I think it's a morale killer when you see it disclosed at some of these companies.
almost last policies six spread within
Just within the last six months, these policies have spread pretty quickly. It's almost a proxy now for boardroom accountability.
abide amount bad drive ethics falls high love rises sad save
It's always so sad because you love those Horatio Alger stories, and then someone rises up that high and falls so far. Ultimately, this is about ethics, and no amount of drive is going to save you if your ethics are so bad and you're not going to abide by the law.
bridges build repair sovereign time
Sovereign has a lot of bridges to build with institutional investors. It's going to take time to repair their image.
adequate bang ceos everybody limited
This is not a right-left, Republican-Democrat, man-woman, old-young issue. Everybody thinks, with some very limited exceptions, that CEOs are overpaid, and because of that, shareholders aren't getting adequate bang for their buck.
citizen paying
It's ridiculous. Part of being a citizen is paying taxes.
control exhibit gradual past pay speed starting
Boards, frankly, are just getting up to speed in many instances on what they've done in the past and are really just starting to exhibit some control over the pay practices. It's going to be a gradual process.
fill recruit surprised
If they were going to fill it from inside, I would have thought it would be done already. I wouldn't be surprised if they go out and recruit a new director.
anger board notice people taken
There is still a lot of anger out there, but people have taken notice of what the board has already been doing.
bonus cash company felt primary problem
We felt the primary problem at this company was with the cash bonus program.