Soundboard Governance LLC

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“On a scale of 1 to 10, this action by federal authorities brings the Steward scandal to an 11,” said Douglas Chia, president of Soundboard Governance LLC and a senior fellow at the Center for Corporate Law and Governance at Rutgers Law School.

Quoted in this Diligent Market Intelligence piece by Miles Rogerson on support for shareholder rights proposals. “‘Many of the [shareholder] proponents go after companies that could be considered low-hanging fruit with antiquated governance provisions,’ Soundboard Governance President Doug Chia told DMI in an interview.”

"While proposals like the ones facing Nike this month have grown more common in American business, they continue to face long odds, said Douglas Chia, president of Soundboard Governance and a former corporate secretary of Johnson & Johnson. Chia, who also teaches at Rutgers Law School, said of Nike: 'Companies where founders, someone like a Phil Knight, own a huge chunk, it’s very difficult.'"

New on the soundboard governance blog: Soundboard Elegy: Five Years on My Own in Corporate Governance Land

I was quoted in an article in Newsmax entitled, “Anti-woke Backlash Is Just Getting Started.” “Doug Chia, president of Soundboard Governance LLC in Princeton, New Jersey, says despite the Supreme Court overturning affirmative action in college admissions in June 2023, corporations long have supported racial preferences involving hiring, promotion, and employee benefits dating back to more than two decades of Supreme Court decisions, and are likely to continue. ‘So, it’s more of a fixture than a trend,’ he said. ‘The recent Harvard admissions decision won’t reverse what private colleges do. The recent Harvard admissions decision won’t reverse what corporations do.’ ‘Companies will quietly adapt to preserve these practices,’ Chia continues. ‘If anything, it’s anti-DEI that could become a passing trend. The tide could be impacted by the results of this year’s elections.’ Furthermore, rather than remain true to any profitable, proven traditions, companies bend to the will of the current social climate. Chia adds: ‘Any trends in corporate America will follow the societal attitudes of the younger generation of customers and employees. This has always been the case.’” (The full version of the article is only available to Platinum level subscribers.)

The private jet, board rights and $26mn of olive oil that bind Howard Schultz to Starbucks? https://on.ft.com/4dr5exN

"The drop in support highlights a mean reversion of sorts for BlackRock, Vanguard and other big asset managers, said Douglas Chia, president of Soundboard Governance, a consultancy, and a senior fellow at the Rutgers Law School. Progressive-leaning pension funds in California and New York, as well as Norway’s oil fund, 'are essentially doing the same thing that they have always done', he said. But BlackRock and Vanguard 'are backing off. They are going back to being more passive on [ESG] when they did step up and get more active for a little bit.'"