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What’s Coming from the 2023 Proxy Season in Workplace Equity?
Aired on March 14, 2023 | 1 hour
Katie LaVoy
Counsel at Sidley Austin, LLP
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Katie LaVoy
Counsel at Sidley Austin, LLP
Katie LaVoy is Counsel in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP, regularly advising on matters of corporate governance, SEC disclosure requirements, and executive compensation. Her practice includes board and committee governance, leadership and policies, composition and structure, best practices and fiduciary duties, board evaluations, shareholder engagement, executive and director compensation, and disclosure and compliance with corporate and securities laws, regulations and listing rules, including “beyond compliance” disclosure in proxy statements and other regulatory documents.
Katie is a former general counsel and chief compliance officer of a publicly traded maritime company and a former general counsel of a private, international electric vehicle manufacturer. Katie began her legal practice in litigation at another U.S. based international law firm. Katie earned an Executive MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, graduated cum laude from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, and holds an undergraduate degree with distinction in business administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Ashley Marchand Orme
Director, Corporate Equity at JUST Capital
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Ashley Marchand Orme
Director, Corporate Equity at JUST Capital
Ashley Marchand Orme is the Director, Corporate Equity, at JUST Capital. She is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and strategy of the organization’s equity programs. Through JUST Capital’s participation in the Corporate Racial Equity Alliance, Ashley is part of a team of specialists working to develop voluntary corporate performance standards on racial equity. Prior to joining JUST Capital, she served most recently as Associate Director, Governance Content, at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), leading education and research on board oversight of diversity, equity, and inclusion, among other topics. While at NACD, she also launched the Future Fluency podcast, hosting conversations with business leaders about emerging topics in DE&I, the future of work, and organizational culture. Ashley earned her master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Georgetown University, with a certificate in cause consulting. Her thought leadership has been featured by several news outlets, including Fortune, MarketWatch, and CNBC.
Maria Colacurcio
CEO at Syndio
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Maria Colacurcio
CEO at Syndio
Maria Colacurcio is passionate about helping companies build equitable workplaces where every worker is valued for who they are and their contributions. Prior to Syndio, she co-founded Smartsheet.com, which went public in 2018, and spent three years at Starbucks, one of the first Fortune 50 companies to go public with pay equity results. Having started her career working on congressional campaigns, she has a long history of mission-driven work, and a compassionate and competitive attitude to spur change. Maria serves on the board of the nonprofit Fair Pay Workplace and has been named one of the 100 most exceptional entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Summit for two consecutive years.
Find out if workplace equity will again play a key role in shareholder proposals.
The 2022 proxy season included an unprecedented number of shareholder proposals around pay equity and racial equity audits, increasing from 99 to 215 year over year. Will a tougher economic environment cause a slowdown in these social reporting proposals? Or are companies planning to continue based on seeing a financial benefit to the ‘S’ in ESG, as JUST Capital has demonstrated?
Hear insights from Katie LaVoy, Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, Ashley Marchand Orme, Director of Corporate Equity at JUST Capital, and Maria Colacurcio, CEO of Syndio.
Watch this webinar to learn:
- What indicators are we are seeing in the market about the impact workplace equity will have on shareholder proposals in 2023?
- How much of a backlash to ESG efforts is there, and how should organizations should prepare to address it?
- What should companies do to align their workplace equity strategies with shareholder requests?
Watch the full webinar
