GPW: Stars of '07

Global ProxyWatch recently named Eric Jackson as one of its "Stars '07"...

Stars ‘07

Each December GPW names 10 people who did most to advance international corporate governance and shareowner value in the previous year. Here is the 2007 ‘GPW 10’:

Phil Armstrong, executive director of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, has kicked the World Bank-based group into high gear, producing a fleet of practical resources to fuel governance change in emerging markets.

Peggy Foran, Pfizer’s senior VP for corporate governance, associate general counsel and corporate secretary, engineered a successful format for board-shareowner communication. Kudos also to her boss, CEO Jeff Kindler, and lead director Constance Horner.

Barney Frank, Massachusetts congressman and chair of the US House Financial Services Committee, shepherded ‘say on pay’ legislation and kept pressure on reluctant regulators to protect shareowner rights.

Eric Jackson, a Florida-based consultant, pioneered a strikingly potent new form of grassroots Internet activism at Yahoo and Motorola. Expect the model to spread.

Yuji Kage, managing director of Japan’s Pension Fund Association, has worked against the odds to strengthen the group’s voice for corporate and fund accountability, both at home and abroad.

Claude Lamoureux, before retiring as CEO of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, led a bold purchase of global proxy advisor Glass Lewis. The takeover has the potential to alter the governance industry.

Peter Montagnon, investment affairs chief at the Association of British Insurers, led the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)’s drive to produce first-ever global fund governance guidelines. Montagnon now chairs the ICGN.

Annette Nazareth, as a commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, fought a losing, last-stand battle for shareowner rights to nominate directors to corporate boards. Her valedictory speech may become a rallying cry for investors.

Anita Skipper, corporate governance chief at Morley Fund Management, has taken the chair of the Global Investors Governance Network and leads an influential Morley team.

Sir David Tweedie, chair of the International Accounting Standards Board, spent the year steering capital markets closer than ever to common International Financial Reporting Standards.

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