Company type | Nonprofit organization |
---|---|
Industry | Investment management |
Founded | 1985 |
Council of Institutional Investors is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of U.S. pension funds and other employee benefit funds, foundations and endowments that "promotes the interests of institutional investors in the United States". [1]
The association describes its mission as to "educate its members, policymakers and the public about corporate governance, shareholder rights and related investment issues, and to advocate on members' behalf." [2] It maintains its headquarters in Washington, D.C.. [1]
The CII was founded in 1985 by 21 public pension fund officials and has grown to include over 140 institutional investors (public, union and corporate employee benefit plans and foundations and endowments) with combined assets of $5 trillion as of October 2023. [3]
The primary function of the CII is to develop and advocate for best practices in the field of corporate governance. [4] These policies may relate to matters such as shareholder rights, executive compensation, CEO succession, and board refreshment. The CII explicitly advocates for equal shareholder voting rights under the "one share, one vote" principle of shareholder democracy. As such, the CII is strongly against dual-class stock structures, [5] [6] which create significant imbalances in corporate control. The Council also engages with proxy advisory firms, which advise most institutional investors on shareholder voting matters.
The CII itself has a 15-person board of directors that comprises 6 officer and 9 non-officer members. [7] As of November 2022, Scott Zdrazil serves as chair of the board, along with co-chairs Margaret Foran, Thomas McIntyre, and Aiesha Mastagni.
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
Corporate governance are mechanisms, processes and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated ("governed").
Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full takeover bid is a much more costly and difficult undertaking. The goals of shareholder activism range from financial to non-financial. Shareholder activists can address self-dealing by corporate insiders, although large stockholders can also engage in self-dealing to themselves at the expense of smaller minority shareholders.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families". In fiscal year 2020–21, CalPERS paid over $27.4 billion in retirement benefits, and over $9.74 billion in health benefits.
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked companies, insurers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charities, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments. In 2019, the world's top 500 asset managers collectively managed $104.4 trillion in Assets under Management (AuM).
Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts/mandates or via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or REITs.
A proxy statement is a statement required of a firm when soliciting shareholder votes. This statement is filed in advance of the annual meeting. The firm needs to file a proxy statement, otherwise known as a Form DEF 14A, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This statement is useful in assessing how management is paid and potential conflict of interest issues with auditors.
Socially responsible investing (SRI), social investment, sustainable socially conscious, "green" or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good to bring about social change regarded as positive by proponents. Socially responsible investments often constitute a small percentage of total funds invested by corporations and are riddled with obstacles.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is an association advocating for corporate social responsibility. Its 300 member organizations comprise faith communities, asset managers, unions, pensions, NGOs and other investors. ICCR members engage hundreds of corporations annually in an effort to foster greater corporate accountability. ICCR's members file shareholder resolutions on issues such as climate change, human rights, corporate governance, financial practices, and other social and environmental concerns. The organization was founded in 1971.
Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is a Canadian Crown corporation and institutional investor established to manage several public funds and pensions headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. AIMCo was established by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 2008 under the government of Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach.
The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California's 965,000 prekindergarten through community college educators and their families. CalSTRS was established by law in 1913 and is part of the State of California's Government Operations Agency. As of September 2020, CalSTRS is the largest teachers' retirement fund in the United States. CalSTRS is also currently the eleventh largest public pension fund in the world. As of October 31, 2020, CalSTRS managed a portfolio worth $254.7 billion.
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association is a trade association for those involved in designing, operating, advising and investing in all aspects of workplace pensions.
Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Tom Steyer in 1986, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
The statutory and fiduciary mandate of the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA) is to invest, manage and safeguard assets of the Florida Retirement System (FRS) Trust Fund as well as the assets of a variety of other funds. The SBA manages 25 different investment funds and trust clients.
Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) is a set of considerations, including environmental issues, social issues and corporate governance that can be considered in investing.
ShareAction is a registered charity that promotes Responsible Investment.
Shareholders in the United Kingdom are people and organisations who buy shares in UK companies. In large companies, such as those on the FTSE100, shareholders are overwhelmingly large institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds or similar foreign organisations. UK shareholders have the most favourable set of rights in the world in their ability to control directors of corporations. UK company law gives shareholders the ability to,
IFM Investors is a provider of investment services, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
David H. Webber is the author of The Rise of the Working Class Shareholder: Labor's Last Best Weapon and Associate Dean for Intellectual Life at Boston University School of Law, where he writes about shareholder activism and litigation.