Talk about a long and storied career! Carl Hagberg started his career as an inspector of elections before handheld calculators existed, and he – and his son Peder Hagberg – are still going strong. As the Co-Editors of The Shareholder Service OPTIMIZER newsletter and magazine – as well as partners of CT Hagberg LLC, which has provided independent inspectors of election since 1992, Carl and Peder are a great source of info on tabulation issues, annual meeting procedures, and “who’s who” in the public company space.

So, as we head into annual meetings, this 35-minute episode of the “Timely Takes” podcast is living up to its name in being especially timely. Meredith was joined by Carl and Peder to discuss:

1. How Carl and Peder came to be experts on the proxy voting process

2. Risks for companies that exclude shareholder proposals in the absence of traditional no-action relief

3. Why this is the year to consider improving your virtual shareholder meeting practices

4. Bad, good, better and best practices for virtual shareholder meetings

5. How companies typically use the option to prerecord portions of the virtual meeting

6. Tips for engaging inspectors

7. How Carl and Peder are trying to improve retail vote turnout and how you can too

As always, if you have insights on a securities law, capital markets or corporate governance issue, trend or development that you’d like to share in a podcast, we’d love to hear from you. Email Meredith and/or John at mervine@ccrcorp.com or john@thecorporatecounsel.net.

– Liz Dunshee