Council of Institutional Investors

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]

Council of Institutional Investors
Company typeNonprofit organization
IndustryInvestment management
Founded1985; 39 years ago (1985)

Mission

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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]

Background

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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.

References

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  1. ^ a b Council of Institutional Investors financial definition of Council of Institutional Investors
  2. ^ "About Council of Institutional Investors". Archived from the original on 2012-08-16. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  3. ^ Croce, Brian (17 October 2023). "CII leader Amy Borrus announces retirement". Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  4. ^ "CII Policies". www.cii.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  5. ^ "Asset owners join forces against dual-class shares". Pensions & Investments. 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  6. ^ Wilkes, Tommy; Jessop, Simon (2022-06-13). "Pension investors launch campaign against dual-class share structures". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  7. ^ "Board of Directors". www.cii.org. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
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