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New survey results show that most US public company boards have stepped up their efforts in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but shutting down businesses may have been the easy part. Boards face a growing list of urgent priorities in reopening their businesses; fixing vulnerabilities in crisis management and executive succession planning; and addressing the sharp divide in corporate America over the pandemic’s impact on corporate sustainability efforts. Smaller companies face the greatest challenges of all. 

The Conference Board, Debevoise & Plimpton, Russell Reynolds Associates, and ESG analytics firm ESGAUGE surveyed corporate secretaries, general counsel, and investor relations officers at more than 230 US public companies from April 9^th through May 8^th. Respondents weighed in on the various corporate governance challenges amid COVID-19, and how their organizations have responded. Insights from the new report – based on the survey results – include the following:

After ramping up their efforts in the “shutdown” phase, boards now need to expand and shift priorities.
Survey Results

• 59% of companies held special board meetings, 53% communicated with their board at least weekly, and 81% designated a director to serve as the key liaison with management, on COVID-19.

• The issues identified most frequently as the top three for the board’s attention at companies of all sizes and across industries were: liquidity, employees, and operations.

• The issues mentioned least frequently among the top three: customers, cybersecurity, and corporate social responsibility.

Next Steps

• The least-cited issues will likely become greater priorities for boards in the next stage of this pandemic:

• As businesses plan to reopen, consumer-facing companies will need to ensure their customers feel comfortable.

• As companies collect more medical and other personal information to ensure employees can return to work, protecting that data requires proper cybersecurity.

• Amid the fallout, a shift in the priorities of many companies will cause investors, customers, and employees to more intensely scrutinize their corporate social responsibility efforts.

“Boards stepped up in the ‘shutdown’ phase of the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on the health and safety of employees,” said Paul Washington, Executive Director of The Conference Board’s ESG Center. “As companies reopen, boards face an even longer list of issues – while providing sustained transparency about their efforts to investors, employees, customers, regulators, and others during an unprecedented and uncertain time.”    

Boards need to update their executive succession plans and strengthen emergency planning efforts.
Survey Results

• 63% of respondents considered their business continuity plans inadequate (and only about half have updated them thus far); 60% stated that they had not reviewed or updated their CEO and executive succession plans; 28% did not have a C-Suite-level crisis management team.

• Of those that do have crisis management teams, two functions are often nonexistent:

• Just 47% include someone from human resources.

• Only 34% have the risk management function represented.

Next Steps

• “During this crisis, some CEOs and leaders have demonstrated strong leadership skills while others have not performed well,” said Rusty O Kelley, Co-leader of the Board and CEO Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates. “Boards must begin reviewing emergency, medium- and long-term succession plans and determine where the executive leadership needs to be strengthened.”

Survey respondents are sharply divided over COVID-19’s impact on sustainability.
Survey Results

• 30% see the pandemic as having a negative impact on sustainability efforts.

• 12% think it will decrease the overall emphasis on sustainability; 10% think it will increase the overall emphasis.

• 19% think it will put sustainability efforts on hold.

• 38% expect a shift in the priorities of those programs.

Next Steps

• “To avoid a collision with institutional investors and other stakeholders, who are continuing to press forward on their ESG agenda, boards and senior management will want to carefully assess the impact of the pandemic on their sustainability initiatives, and promptly communicate any updates to their sustainability strategy to stakeholders,” said Matteo Tonello, Managing Director of ESG Research at The Conference Board.

This pandemic has made small public companies especially vulnerable.
Survey Results

• 47% of small surveyed companies didn’t have a C-Suite-level crisis management team, compared to 11% of large companies.

• 28% didn’t have a disaster preparedness plan, compared to 3% of the large surveyed public companies.

• 35% communicated with their boards about the crisis at least weekly, compared to 62% at large companies.

• 29% of small companies have had to postpone their annual meeting to prepare for a virtual meeting, compared to fewer than 16% of large companies that have faced that dilemma.

• 77% of small companies haven’t discussed managing – and possibly closing – insider trading windows, nearly twice the rate of 40% of larger companies that haven’t addressed the topic.

Next Steps

• “Left unaddressed, these vulnerabilities may increase the risk of smaller companies, in particular, becoming the target of shareholder activism,” said Paul Rodel, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. “Preventing that will require promptly addressing the governance challenges posed by this pandemic.”

Most companies have withdrawn or revised their earnings guidance, creating a potential investor relations vacuum.
Survey Results

• More than 60% reported their decision to withdraw their earnings guidance since the start of the crisis.

• 6% have done so for their quarterly guidance.

• 24% have so for their annual guidance.

• 40% have done so for both.

Next Steps

• “This situation could offer an opportunity for companies to engage with their investors on a wider array of firm performance indicators,” said Paul Hodgson, Senior Adviser at ESGAUGE. “Such metrics could include timely areas of concern, including employee health and safety, customer satisfaction, and investment in R&D and innovation.

While a growing number of companies are cutting executive salaries and expect bonus amounts to be impacted, most companies are moving cautiously in changing the performance metrics used for executive bonuses and performance-based equity grants.
Survey Results

• To date, 12% of companies have reported cuts to base salaries, and 39% expect the crisis to affect their executives’ bonuses.

• But 70% are not planning changes to equity grants, and nearly two-thirds are not expecting changes to cash incentive programs.

Next steps

• Compensation committees will want to make sure they have a full picture of the impact of the crisis on the company, and to gauge the potential reaction from investors and other stakeholders, before adjusting performance metrics or equity grants. Doing so would help avoid a backlash from investors in next year’s say-on-pay votes and prevent damage to the company’s reputation.

Note: Survey findings were analyzed by the 11 business sectors of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) and three company size groups: small companies (with annual revenue under $1 billion), mid-sized companies (reporting revenue between $1 billion and $9.9 billion) and large companies (with annual turnover exceeding $10 billion). The size of the participating companies in the financial services and real estate sectors was also separately analyzed by the reported value of their assets.

View the online visualization of the survey findings and the report here.

As we navigate through these unprecedented times, I continue to be so impressed by the leadership and dedication of our city officials.

Our cities and those who lead them have adapted quickly and successfully and uncovered new ways of conducting business, delivering services and protecting the public and employees. This is a credit to you and an example of how city leaders are innovative and will­ing to adapt to whatever circumstances they face. I am not surprised that national polling shows the public has the highest level of trust and confidence in their local elected officials over all others. You know best the unique needs of the citizens of your city and its circumstances.
 
We at GMA are proud to stand with you and sup­port you during this time. I hope you have found our communications to be helpful and informative and our legal guidance, webinars, documents, best practices, dedicated website and other avenues to be a trusted resource to assist you. I am also proud of how well our member cities help and support one another and free­ly share information with each other.
 
I want to update you on several important efforts. First, we continue to work closely and cooperatively with Gov. Kemp and his team. We are also working as partners with ACCG, and together we have made a proposal to Gov. Kemp for sharing of the CARES Act funding. Hopefully by the time you read this, an an­nouncement will have been made to provide funding to all 538 cities and 159 counties in Georgia, with the exception of four counties and one city who received direct funding from the CARES Act. GMA’s Advisory Committee has met at least weekly to provide lead­ership and guidance on the CARES Act proposal as well as input on Executive Orders. We continue to ad­vocate for federal funding to support you and remain hopeful that a fourth stimulus bill will provide direct funding to all cities.
 
Our building project continues to move forward and has avoided negative impacts or delays. The struc­tural steel for the new building is going up fast and we recently began construction of the parking deck. This completed parking deck will have nearly 150 spac­es and allow us to serve our member cities in excit­ing new ways. Upon completion, this new four story, 29,000-square-foot building will be connected to our existing building by a 2,500-square-foot courtyard. Our project is on-time and within budget with an antic­ipated December 2020 ribbon cutting. We can’t wait to share it with all of you!
 
In closing, I again want to express my admiration to each of you for your leadership during these trying times. Please know we are here to serve you, support you and be a trusted resource for you. Please stay healthy, stay safe and stay kind.

Attorney General Chris Carr, along with all other state attorneys general, is encouraging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to facilitate continued collaboration among state attorneys general and telecom companies to coordinate tracing back illegal robocalls to their source. 

“We are continuing to work with our partners to combat illegal robocalls,” says Attorney General Chris Carr. “The ability to trace these calls back to their source will be a vital tool to stop the scams that are harming our citizens.”  

Under the TRACED Act, which became law in December 2019, the FCC will select a single registered association to manage the work to trace back illegal robocalls. Because a call can pass through the networks of many telecom companies before reaching its final destination, tracing that call—which is key to enforcing our laws against illegal robocallers—requires collaboration among telecom companies and state attorneys general. In their comments, the states note that traceback investigations are necessary for law enforcement to more efficiently identify and investigate illegal robocallers and expose voice service providers that assist and facilitate illegal robocallers.

For the last few years, state attorneys general have encouraged the telecom industry to increase the number and speed of traceback investigations each month. Many telecom companies have joined this effort and are working hard to stop illegal robocallers. Traceback investigations are more urgent than ever because of coronavirus-related robocall scams, including scams related to coronavirus relief checks, pitches for coronavirus test kits, health plans offering coronavirus testing, work-from-home offers preying on job-seekers, and scams offering relief on utility bills, student loans, taxes, or other debt.  

Since 2018, Georgia has been a member of a coalition of states working with the telecom industry to attack the scourge of robocalls in a comprehensive way by implementing common-sense business practices to minimize illegal robocalls and trace these calls back to their source. This coalition of 45 states includes Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Attorney General Carr is joined in submitting comments by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

A copy of the comments is available HERE.

• Allow parents and guardians to pick up meals to bring home to their kids;

• Temporarily waive meal times requirements to make it easier to pick up multiple-days’ worth of meals at once;

• Allow meals be served in non-congregate settings to support social distancing;

• Waive the requirement that afterschool meals and snacks served through certain programs be accompanied by educational activities to minimize exposure to the novel coronavirus; and

• Allow states, on an individual state-by-state basis, to serve free meals to children in all areas, rather than only those in areas where at least half of students receive free or reduced-price meals.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of actions that USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has taken to uphold the USDA’s commitment to “Do Right and Feed Everyone” during this national emergency. Other actions include:

• Launching a new coronavirus webpage to proactively inform the public about USDA’s efforts to keep children and families fed;

• Providing more than five million meals a week through public-private partnership Meals to You;

• Increasing access to online purchasing by expanding the online purchasing pilot to more than half of all SNAP households;

• Debuting “Meals for Kids” interactive site finder – to help families find meals for children while schools are closed across more than 50,000 locations;

• Allowing states to issue emergency supplemental SNAP benefits totaling more than $2 billion per month to increase recipients’ purchasing power;

• Collecting solutions to feeding children impacted through feedingkids@usda.gov; and

• Providing more than 2,800 administrative flexibilities across programs to feed children and help families.

The Atlanta Artist Solidarity March was held June 8 at Theatrical Outfit (Photos by Asep Mawardi)

For a 10th consecutive day, thousands of protesters marched through the streets calling for an end to racial injustice and in memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

The Atlanta Police Department (APD) reported at 10:30 p.m. on June 7 that it had made no arrests for a third ay in a row. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms lifted the weekend curfew, which had been in place since May 30 after a night of looting, arson, and vandalism rocked the city.

On Sunday, protests and marches took place at the Governor’s Mansion in Buckhead, in the Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta BeltLine, Woodruff Park, Piedmont Park, Grant Park, and Centennial Park.

The city’s arts community gathered outside Theatrical Outfit on Luckie Street for The Atlanta Artist Solidarity March. The event was organized by B.L.A.C.T., an acronym for Black Leaders Advocating for Cultural Theater, founded in 2019 to create an artistic work environment for today’s black theater artist that is safe, nurturing and an accurate representation of our community.

The city had been criticized for its heavy-handedness with protesters last week, when APD was bolstered by the Georgia State Patrol and National Guard. Tear gas, rubber bullets and mass arrests were hallmarks of the first few days of the protest.

The protests show no signs of letting up. On Monday, June 8, protests are planned at Centennial Park (with a march to Fulton County Jail at 3 p.m.), the State Capitol at 6 p.m, Ebenezer Church at 5:30 p.m., an Election Awareness event at Rialto Theatre at 5 p.m. To see a full list of places where protest events are taking place visit @WhereProtest on Twitter.

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Emory University will install over 15,000 solar panels across 16 buildings on its Druid Hills campus, which will generate approximately 10 percent of Emory’s peak energy requirements and reduce Emory’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 4,300 metric tons.
The University has awarded Cherry Street Energy with a 20-year agreement to install 5.5. megawatts (MW) of solar generation across campus.

“Various Emory rooftops and parking decks will soon be home to an array of solar photovoltaic panels, converting our campus into a significant site for clean energy supporting Emory’s carbon commitment,” said Robin Morey, vice president of Campus Services and chief planning officer at Emory University. “This transformational project upholds Emory’s commitment to addressing climate change and building a resilient and sustainable future.”

Cherry Street will install more than 15,000 solar photovoltaic panels on building rooftops and parking structures across Emory as part of a Solar Energy Procurement Agreement (SEPA), an arrangement made legal in Georgia in 2015 that allows a private investor to install, own, and maintain solar panels with Emory buying the power at rates lower than charged by the utility. Under SEPA, there are no upfront costs to Emory.

The investment supports Emory’s newly revised greenhouse gas emissions goals, which now mirror the latest science articulated by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that requires a 45 percent reduction by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. Additionally, through innovative financing methods, there is no capital commitments as a result of leveraging Emory’s future energy spend.

For more information on Emory’s sustainability efforts, visit sustainability.emory.edu.

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The American Red Cross, in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asks those who have fully recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma. This antibody-rich product is a potentially lifesaving treatment for critically ill COVID-19 patients.

“This need is going to be continual and persistent for quite some time. There are projections that as a health care system and as a global community, we may perhaps be dealing with this virus and its effects for 18 months to two years. Since the virus in new to us, our understanding of its behavior is limited. I want to encourage everyone if they think they qualify to continue to sign up and get the word out that we are still actively looking for donors,” said Dr. Baia Lasky, American Red Cross Regional Medical Director.

This effort has presented an “interesting challenge” for the nonprofit, which supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood and provides supports after disasters, because it has to wait for people to recover to collect their convalescent plasma, while more and more people are getting ill.

“We have collected and shipped probably close to 1,700 units of convalescent plasma (nationally); 44 of those units have come from Georgia donors,” Dr. Lasky said in early May.

Frank Papola, a recovered COVID-19 patient from DeKalb County, answered the call to donate his plasma at the American Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Atlanta.

“It meant the world to me,” Papola said. “Going into the hospital, I left my wife at the door. With my condition, I just didn’t know how it was going to turn out. Fortunately, it turned out great.”

Married with two daughters and five grandchildren, Papola is a retired carpenter by trade who worked as a homebuilder for many years. On March 17, he felt fine when he went to bed.

“March 18, I woke up and had the classic signs – chills, very high fever, cough, tight chest. I knew I was very sick, so I called my health care provider and he said go to the hospital,” Papola said.

Papola stayed in Piedmont Hospital for about a week.“It was a pretty scary event, but thank God I pulled through it,” Papola said.

Initially hospitals were helping identify potential donors, but that proved to be a manual and non-scalable process. So, the Red Cross turned to the community. But, until recently, only a small percentage of individuals, like Papola, met FDA’s eligibility criteria, of verified COVID-19 diagnosis, as well as being symptom free for at least 28 days prior to donation (or at least 14 days with a negative COVID-19 test result).

“As of April 27, the Red Cross has initiated antibody testing – so we no longer require that initial positive test. It’s really opened up the donor pool for us,” Dr. Lasky said.

So those who were symptomatic or received presumptive diagnosis from their physician, can now prequalify as a convalescent plasma donor, since the Red Cross can verify on the backend through its own antibody testing. Note the Red Cross is not offering COVID-19 antibody testing for the general public nor to its routine blood, platelet or plasma donors.

Once Papola became aware of the convalescent plasma program, he signed up to help.

“There’s a lot of people doing a lot of good and I wanted to do something.  So, how simple is it to sit in a chair and donate my plasma. It’s basically like giving blood. To know that I could possibly be helping someone survive this awful disease. I don’t think anything was more rewarding, other than having my kids and grandkids,” Papola said.

At the end of May, Papola donated his convalescent plasma for a second time. He urges others to follow his lead.

“Donate and not just plasma, donate blood. There’s a real need. Donations are down, from what I was told. They make it very easy. It takes just about an hour of your time. There was no after effective. Just go and do it,” Papola said.

Learn more at RedCrossBlood.org/plasma4covid.

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