Portland Press Herald Op-Ed: Getting Out of Fossil Fuel Investing a Wise Approach for State
On January 9, 2014, Maine’s Portland Press Herald published an Op-Ed column, written by Trillium’s Senior Vice President Stephanie Leighton, in which she makes the arguement that fossil fuel free investing is an investment approach worth exploring. Stephanie’s column is reprinted, in full, below: “On Thursday, Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs will hear testimony on whether the state of Maine should divest itself from the fossil fuel industry. I have 31 years of investment experience, and I will testify in support of the bill, L.D. 1461. Bill McKibben, the co-founder of 350.org, says, quite succinctly, “If …
Los Angeles Times: Apple Pledges to Consider Adding More Women, Minorities to Board
Trillium and Sustainability Group’s engagement with Apple, Inc., regarding board and executive diversity, continues to receive wide media coverage. Jessica Guynn, technology reporter for the Los Angeles Times, writes: “[The] company added new language to the board charter to say it plans to consider women and minorities as board candidates. Apple made the move after shareholders Trillium Asset Management and the Sustainability Group expressed disappointment that Apple has only one woman on its eight-member board and only one woman on its executive team reporting to Chief Executive Tim Cook. ‘This is going to be a multiyear process. It is not …
Bloomberg News: Apple, Facing Criticism About Diversity, Changes Bylaws
Bloomberg News recently published a story about Trillium and Sustainability Group’s engagement with Apple, Inc., regarding board and executive diversity. Adam Satariano writes: “Apple Inc., facing behind-the-scenes pressure from some shareholders to add more female directors and executives, has taken a step to address the criticism and diversify its board. The world’s most valuable company recently added language to its corporate charter vowing to diversify its board. The move follows objections from shareholders Trillium Asset Management LLC and the Sustainability Group, who said they’re disappointed that the iPhone maker has only one woman on its eight-member board, and one incoming …
Trillium’s Jonas Kron Appears on Fox Business News to Discuss Transparency Reporting at Verizon and AT&T
Jonas Kron, Trillium’s Director of Shareholder Advocacy, recently appeared on Fox Business News with host Connell McShane to discuss our firm’s shareholder engagement with Verizon Communications and AT&T regarding the disclosure of requests for customer information by U.S. and foreign governments. On December 19, 2013, Verizon announced that it would publish transparency reports comparable to those requested in Trillium’s shareholder resolution. Verizon’s announcement was followed a day later by a similar announcement by AT&T. Trillium was the lead filer on the Verizon resolution. The lead filer at AT&T is The New York State Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli – with Trillium co-filing. …
Washington Post: Tech Executives to Obama: NSA Spying Revelations are Hurting Business
Trillium recently filed a shareholder with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) which asks the company to publish a semi-annual report detailing how often they have shared information with U.S. or foreign governments and what type of customer information has been shared. In collaboration with New York State Common Retirement Fund, Trillium also co-filed a resolution a similar resolution with AT&T (NYSE: T). The Washington Post is one of many media outlets that are reporting on the technology and telecommunication industries’ response to wide-spread and seemingly indiscriminate data collection by the U.S. and other governments. Cecilia Kang and Ellen Nakashima write: …
Apple Updates Charter of Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee to Clarify Diversity Commitment
Recently, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) updated its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter to include strong language on the importance of diversity in its candidate selection for the Board of Directors. The document makes clear that the committee actively seeks “highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which Board nominees are chosen.” The Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge and Trillium Asset Management engaged Apple on this subject and commend the company for this important step. With this move, Apple has further institutionalized its commitment to addressing gender and racial diversity at …
Reuters: Verizon Takes Hard Line on Surveillance Vote
On December 12, 2013, Reuters published a story about the response from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) to a shareholder proposal that Trillium recently filed which asks the company to publish a semi-annual report detailing how often they have shared information with U.S. or foreign governments and what type of customer information has been shared. Ross Kerber writes: “Verizon Communications Inc told activist investors on Wednesday that it might skip a vote on a shareholder proposal that seeks details on the company’s cooperation with government surveillance efforts. Verizon’s law firm Jones Day said in a Nov. 25 letter that the …
Trillium Joins Investor Group Urging Olympic Corporate Sponsors to Speak Out for Russian LGBT Rights
DECEMBER 5, 2013: New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today that the $160.7 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, leading a coalition of investors with $327 billion of assets under management, has sent letters to ten major corporate sponsors of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia urging the sponsors to use their influence to ensure the human rights of Russian citizens, as well as athletes and visitors to the Olympics. The investors, including New York City Comptroller John C. Liu and a coalition of 19 investment firms, acted in response to Russia’s recently enacted laws …
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