Bureau of Asset Management
Advisor to New York City Pension Funds
Shareowner Initiatives
April 2013
Comptroller Liu’s Letter to Cablevision Directors, April 4
Comptroller Liu’s Letter to Fellow Cablevision Shareowners: Vote No on Cablevision Directors, April 24
2012 SHAREOWNER INITIATIVES OF THE NEW YORK CITY PENSION FUNDS
Fall 2012
New York City Comptroller John C. Liu, as investment adviser to the five New York City pension funds (collectively “the NYC Funds”), is responsible for voting the funds’ domestic proxies and developing and implementing the funds’ shareowner initiatives. The NYC Funds are:
• New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS)
• New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS)
• New York City Fire Department Pension Fund (Fire)
• New York City Police Pension Fund (Police)
• New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS)
Consistent with the fiduciary obligations of the funds’ boards of trustees, the proxy voting and shareowner initiatives programs actively promote sustainable business practices at portfolio companies in order to protect and enhance the long-term value of the funds’ investments.
The NYC Funds were active participants in a dynamic 2012 shareowner season, submitting 61 shareowner proposals that advanced various Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reforms at 58 companies and sought similar reforms from more companies via letters to management or directors, sometimes in collaboration with other institutional investors. To improve accountability, Comptroller Liu and the Funds also led “vote no” campaigns against directors at Wal-Mart Stores and Chesapeake Energy after recent scandals heightened concerns with the directors’ ability to protect our investments. Apple, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Intel, and Oracle agreed to the Funds’ request for greater transparency of their suppliers’ compliance with internationally recognized standards on workplace safety, human and worker rights. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley agreed to clarify that their clawback policies empower the board of directors to recover compensation not only from executives who take excessive risks or engage in improper conduct that causes significant financial or reputational harm to the firm, but also from their supervisors. Goldman Sachs and MetLife agreed to provide annual disclosure detailing the composition of their workforce by race and gender across major job categories, including senior management. Constellation Brands and Dick’s Sporting Goods adopted policies prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
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