TheCorporateCounsel.net

Now that virtual meetings have taken hold at many companies, I’ve feared that annual meeting fanboys (and fangirls) would disappear. But there is at least one teen out there who seems ready to carry on the tradition at her favorite company – even virtually. The WSJ reported on this feel-good story for all the AGM superfans out there:

Cori Borgstadt, the young fan, has become a regular at annual shareholder meetings. In fact, she has attended every annual Disney shareholder confab since 2008, when she was 3 years old. She has asked Mr. Iger a question on all but three occasions, including in 2015, when she wondered what advice he would give to “a kid who wants your job some day.”

Mr. Iger responded, “Well, one thing you can do is keep coming to our shareholders’ meeting.”

Monday will mark Ms. Borgstadt’s 16th straight appearance — this year’s meeting is virtual-only — a streak longer than nearly all of Disney’s directors have been on the company’s board. The shareholder events have allowed Ms. Borgstadt to tap into her obsession with Disney and her interest in corporate governance, while also providing an annual vacation for her family.

While I’m disappointed that it took a WSJ article for me to identify this as a potential hobby to share with my own young kids, I’m going to put an AGM tour on the “family vacation” bucket list. If there are sugary snacks or cartoon-like characters involved, a corporate governance adventure may even be able to top our 2022 visit to the world’s largest ball of twine.

– Liz Dunshee