Lifting the Lid-CEO pay to dominate US annual meeting

R. Max Crane, Deputy Managing Partner of the Firm and a Member of the Firm’s Corporate Practice, was interviewed for this Reuters article by Martha Graybow on executive pay discussions at this spring’s annual stockholders’ meetings. According to the article “CEO salaries are sure to feature front and center [at annual meetings] this year.” The article continues, “Max Crane, a lawyer who counsels corporate executives, said there’s unlikely to be any repeats of last year’s Home Depot annual meeting, in which then-CEO and Chairman Nardelli — under heavy shareholder criticism for his pay package — was the only director to show up.” According to Crane, “What I tell my clients is that it’s no different than the president of the United States holding a press conference. He may not like it, but it’s his obligation. For boards, it’s an obligation to their shareholders to hear what’s on their mind.”