CorpGov hosted a fireside chat with Bruce Goldfarb, President and CEO of Okapi Partners at the 36th Annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. The in-person interview was joined by Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and the two discussed how macro forces like inflation and high interest rates can impact activist campaigns – in subtle ways.
They also talked about ESG-driven campaigns, particularly those driven by the letter “S” such as Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX) and its proxy fight related to human capital management. While Starbucks was historically known for excellent employee benefits, it became a target as performance weakened.
Mr. Goldfarb also emphasized the rising importance of retail investors, who became very active during Covid lockdowns. With nearly 60% of households owning stock, they cannot be ignored but are often hard for companies to reach. A salient example this year is The Walt Disney Co.(NYSE: DIS) which literally has millions of shareholders around the world and retail investors account for 25% of the shareholder base.
Watch the full recording below:
About Okapi Partners
Okapi Partners is a strategic proxy solicitation and investor response firm providing a full range of solicitation and information agent services, as well as related consultation and advice to our clients. With professionals from a variety of backgrounds, Okapi prides itself on having unrivaled insight into how investors respond and make voting decisions. We represent corporations, mutual funds, hedge funds, shareholder activists and other investors in campaigns requiring an investor response. We offer clients superior intellectual capital, extensive industry relationships and unmatched execution capabilities.
About Bruce Goldfarb
Bruce H. Goldfarb is President and Chief Executive Officer of Okapi Partners, the proxy solicitation and investor response firm. Mr. Goldfarb works extensively with corporations and investors focusing on investor response strategy and execution for contested election campaigns, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance matters, ESG engagement and other extraordinary situations.
Prior to establishing Okapi Partners, Mr. Goldfarb was the Senior Managing Director and General Counsel of Georgeson Inc. (now a subsidiary of Computershare Limited), where he headed the Global M&A Advisory Group. Before entering the proxy solicitation business, Mr. Goldfarb was a Senior Vice President of the investment management firm, Scudder, Stevens & Clark, which is now a part of DWS Group. At Scudder, he was a member of the Legal Department and served as Chairman of the Firm’s Proxy Review Committee. Mr. Goldfarb practiced corporate law with Cravath, Swaine & Moore for more than six years, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, securities transactions and international matters.
Mr. Goldfarb is a current member of the Board of Visitors of the Columbia University School of Law, the Advisory Board of the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance, and the Board of Advisors of the NYU Law School Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. He was previously a member of the Council of Institutional Investors Market Advisory Council.
Mr. Goldfarb also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the not-for-profit Signature Theatre Company. Mr. Goldfarb earned a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law.
Mr. Goldfarb received a B.A. in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania concurrently with a B.S. Econ., concentration in Finance, from its Wharton School.
Contact:
Editor@CorpGov.com
