2011 Supplement

You deserve to have theWinning Team on your side! Victory in a thoroughbred race requires a talented jockey, an experienced trainer, a strong, sound horse and sometimes a little luck. Don’t Annual rely on luck in your proxy campaign, governance Meetings battle, tender offer, merger or restructuring. Call on MACKENZIE PARTNERS and ask us to join your team so that you too will cross the finish line first. Special Meetings With the experience, resourcefulness and tenacity of MacKenzie Partners on your side, you can be sure to get to the finish line first every time. Find out for yourself why our firm is recommended by more leading attorneys, investment bankers and Proxy public relations advisors to provide counseling Contests and solicitation services to their clients in crucial proxy campaigns, corporate governance matters, proxy fights, mergers and tender offer battles. Shareholder Vote Analysis MACKENZIE PARTNERS,INC. MACKENZIE PARTNERS (UK) LTD 105 Madison Avenue 17 Cavendish Square New York, NY 10016 London W1G 0PH Corporate (212) 929-5500 +44 (0)20 3178 8057 Governance 228 Hamilton Avenue 1875 Century Park East Consulting Palo Alto, CA 94301 Los Angeles, CA 90067 (650) 798-5206 (213) 233-9499 Daniel Burch, Chief Executive Officer Mark Harnett, President Jeanne Carr, Executive Vice President Tender and Larry Dennedy, Executive Vice President Exchange Offers Robert Marese, Executive Vice President Amy Bilbija, Senior Vice President Email: [email protected] Shareholder Service Optimizer Full Page: Live: 7.25” x 9.75” Trim: 8.5” x 11” 25921 MacKenzie Partners, Inc. Farrington & Favia (212) 685-4909 Description: Winning Team December10/MacKenzie/25921-D-01 12/7/10 jn Proof 5 4 3 2 1 GETTING YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS TO INVESTORS… Dear readers; Certainly, “infor- mation overload” This is the 15th annual Special Supplement to the Shareholder is a big part of the Service OPTIMIZER – so it is probably not the first issue you problem here. All have received. But in my own totally biased opinion, it may of us are being well be the most important issue you’ll ever get: bombarded with sponsored mes- From our very first issue, in 1997, we have tried to focus sages, and purport- intensively on the critically important issues that sur- edly urgent messages – every minute of the day, it seems. round the investor relations and investor communications space – and on ways to communicate more effectively – And most of us confess to being frequently “distracted” and more cost-effectively as well. these days – not just by the array of incoming messages, and their sheer numbers – but by the need they create for And yes, since then – when the Internet was in its infancy us to “multi-task” – both at work and at home. And here, – as was telephone voting, for only recently, science has been that matter – and when tel- finding that this is not a skill to ephonic quarterly reports (!) brag about, as once we thought, were all the rage – and where but a contributor to lower pro- public companies were liter- ductivity – and to a host of ally papering the streets with potentially dangerous missed- almost a billion sets of paper communications issues. proxy materials each year – there have been truly amazing Meanwhile, both the commu- technological advances that nications issues – and the com- make communicating with munications challenges facing investors easier, and cheaper, publicly traded companies and, theoretically, more con- have exploded exponentially venient to access and use since the late 1990s, when the than ever before. Corporate Governance movement was not even on the But I’m betting big in radar screen. Couple this with this issue that you share the truly stupefying increase in my frustration: Clearly, corporate regulations – thanks the corporate commu- to Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd- nity is sending more mes- Frank, and to SEC rules and sages out to investors regs that have caused a typi- than ever before – and in dozens more ways than cal proxy statement to grow from a dozen or so pages in we even HAD in the old 20th century. But fewer and the ‘90s to 100+ at many companies today – and it really fewer of these messages seem to be “getting across” is no wonder that companies have trouble getting their to them. messages across. t ©December, 2011 Getting your Message ACROSS to Investors: The Fifteenth Special Supplement To The Shareholder Service Optimizer 3 DFkingAd_CMYK_Dec_2011.pdf 1 12/12/2011 11:45:11 AM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K And, oh yes, let’s please not forget that thanks in large most up-to-date suppliers of communications advice, sup- part to all the developments that LED to the governance port and delivery systems we could find. movement – and to all those new rules and regs – investors – who once may have welcomed the Annual Report, We hope that you will spend some quality-time with the or a friendly letter from the management – have become authors here, and also, to investigate the many new ser- highly skeptical about corporate messages…and not totally vices and service providers that are available these days without reason. to help with the daunting communications tasks we face. We can do better – and we really must do better – when it All of this, please note, is no small issue: In comes to getting our messages across. fact, it is a big-money issue – not just in terms of the wastefully ineffective spending that takes With all my best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous place when the message does not get across; it’s and peaceful new year... an issue that can become a true survival issue for public company directors – and for public Sincerely companies themselves: Look for example at the precipitous decline we’re seeing in individual investor voting at public company meetings. Carl Hagberg, Look too at the simultaneous increase in ‘unfriendly votes’ Publisher and editor in chief of from this same source. And look what has been happening The Shareholder Service OPTIMIZER when the corporate message does not come across right to investors of every description: The old idea, that long-term THIS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT investors wouldn’t – or couldn’t “vote with their feet” no TO THE longer hold water, we say. SHAREHOLDER SERVICE OPTIMIZER Let’s note too, that public skepticism about corporate pro- is published by CARL T. HAGBERG & ASSOCIATES grams and corporate behaviors is not confined only to pub- P.O. Box 531 lic companies – or to “investors” for that matter: Non-public Jackson, New Jersey 08527-0531 and non-profit companies – thanks to pressures from their ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduction or regulators – and from clients, donors, and other stakehold- transmission of this publication, in part or whole, by any means whatsoever, is prohibited ers – have exactly the same kinds of issues these days…and unless the permission of the publisher is first the same kinds of problems when it comes to getting their obtained. Such requests are welcome and permission will be liberally granted. messages across. Questions, comments or letters to the editors about material in this supplement So what is a smart corporate citizen to do these days, are also most welcome. to actually get the corporate messages across…and Carl Hagberg, Publisher and Editor in a way that stands a better chance of actually Telephone: (732) 928-6133 Fax: (732) 928-6136 achieving a meeting of the minds…and, ideally, the e-mail: [email protected] action you are hoping the recipients of your messages WEBSITE: www.optimizeronline.com will take? Co Editor, Rhoda Anderson Telephone: (609) 371-5631 Fax: (609) 371-5632 As usual, we have scoured our “virtual rolodex” (the old one e-mail: [email protected] is still lying, we must admit, all dust-covered in a corner of Cover: Illustration by Guy Dorian the desk, and totally useless and out-of-date in today’s fast (732) 833-0136 moving world) to get some fresh ideas from some of the Art Direction: Christian Arendt (856) 296-9972 smartest people we know – and from of the savviest and ©December, 2011 Getting your Message ACROSS to Investors: The Fifteenth Special Supplement To The Shareholder Service Optimizer 5 The Activist Investor Conference 2012 A DealFlow Media Event JANUARY 23 & 24 ~ THE WESTIN TIMES SQUARE ~ NEW YORK Updates on Activist Campaigns, Corporate Defenses, Case Studies & Regulatory Issues The Activist Investor Conference is your opportunity to network with the most important group of activist investors, corporate governance specialists, advisory firms, proxy solicitors, and corporate board members. This two-day event features a complete view of activist investment strategies and their impact on corporate performance and returns. WHO ATTENDS REGISTRATION • Hedge Funds When: January 23 & 24 • Corporate Law Firms Where: The Westin Times Square, New York • Private Equity Firms Register by Dec. 16: $995 • Corporate Governance Specialists Register after Dec. 16: $1,195 • Advisory Firms Call: (516) 876-8006 • Securities Litigation Firms www.dealflow.com/activist • Investment Banks • Asset Managers The Activist Investor Alert • Proxy Solicitors The Activist Investor Conference is • Corporate Board Members produced by DealFlow • Public Pension Funds Media, publisher of The Activist Investor Alert. This weekly news alert PROMOTIONAL SPONSORS covers activist campaigns, corporate defenses, and regulatory updates. www.dealflow.com/activist IN THIS ISSUE: Getting Your Message ACROSS to Investors…Practical tips from some of the smartest and savviest people around; Ken Bertsch, President of the Society of Corporate Secretaries

Load more