PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Six private company boards will be honored for their business governance
excellence at the upcoming 2019 Private Company Governance Summit on
June 6, 2019 in Washington, D.C.
The boards of these companies were selected for recognition:
- Gold Eagle Co.
- Southworth International Group, Inc.
- Herschend Enterprises
- DAI Global, LLC
- Vermeer Corporation
- Graybar Electric Company, Inc.
Six private companies are being honored for governance excellence
demonstrated by their fiduciary or advisory boards. The awards — to be
presented at the upcoming 2019 Private Company Governance Summit on June
6th in Washington, D.C., honor private company boards that
best serve their stakeholders — owners, shareholders, employees and
community — with best practices in their structure and performance.
The awards were created to recognize private companies that go above and
beyond legal governance requirements and commit to the highest levels of
governance, whether through fiduciary or advisory boards. The awards
honor the performance of the board as a whole.
The six award-winning boards represent: Gold Eagle Co., Southworth
International Group, Inc., Herschend Enterprises, DAI Global, LLC,
Vermeer Corporation and Graybar Electric Company, Inc.
The fourth annual Private Company Board of the Year awards are presented
by Private Company Director, Directors and Boards and Family
Business magazines. The awards recognize fiduciary boards (those
tasked with protecting shareholders, with the authority to vote on
decisions that are binding for company management) as well as advisory
boards (more informal boards that have no binding regulatory role, but
often a significant strategic role). Fiduciary board awards were broken
down by company revenues and ownership type.
The Private Company Governance Summit — now in its seventh year, is the
only national conference focused on the unique governance challenges for
owners, shareholders, directors and advisory board members of closely
held, family-owned and private equity-owned companies.
Dozens of private boards of directors were nominated for the 2019
Private Boards of the Year award, but six stood out for their diligence,
standards and outcomes.
Gold Eagle Co.
Chicago, IL
Type of Private
Board: Advisory
Approximate Annual Company Revenues: under
$100 million
Company Ownership: Family-owned
Governance
highlights include:
-
Board advised owners to bring in a third-party consultant to help with
succession, and actively assisted with the succession. -
Seven independent members from all disciplines, including marketing,
consumer products, science and manufacturing consultants. - Board mediates differences of opinions between G2 and G3.
-
NextGen advisory board with seven to eight members 20- to 30-year-olds
recruited from local colleges. Board members are not paid but have
opted to meet four times a year. The NextGen board is used to keep the
business leaders up to date on fast changes in business while giving
the members experience in sitting on a board.
Southworth International Group, Inc.
Portland, ME
Type
of Private Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company
Revenues: $100 million-$350 million
Company Ownership: Family-owned
Governance
highlights include:
- Majority independent board with increasing gender diversity.
-
Four standing committees (audit and risk, human resources oversight,
innovation and technology, and governance) which are all chaired by
independent directors with formal charters. -
In-depth onboarding process for directors, including orientation, a
full day of training with management to orient the board to
Southworth’s products, processes, financial status and more. -
Annual review of the strategic plan facilitated by an outside
consulted and led by the executive management team. -
Guided, both quantitatively and qualitatively, by shareholder
objectives the board requested.
Herschend Enterprises
Peachtree Corners, GA
Type
of Private Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company
Revenues: $350 million-$1 billion
Company Ownership:
Family-owned
Governance highlights include:
- Majority independent board.
-
An “evergreen” search for quality board members rather than waiting
for a director to announce they are stepping down. -
Three committees (governance, compensation and audit) that are able to
pivot when issues change e.g. shifting from ride safety at parks to
active shooter drills and possible terror threats. -
Multifaceted self-evaluations that allow directors to rate themselves
and other directors. Also, 360 evaluations every few years that allow
shareholders and management to weigh in. -
Deliberate director onboarding, giving new directors a chance to get
“the lay of the land” before being put on the spot at a meeting.
DAI Global, LLC
Bethesda, MD
Type of Private
Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues:
$350 million-$1 billion
Company Ownership: Closely held or
Employee-owned
Governance highlights include:
-
The “Board of the Future” initiative launched shortly after Boomgard
became CEO in 2009 culminated in an action plan that includes
refreshing the board more routinely and bringing in fresh leadership. - Six of the seven board members are independent.
- Formally chartered committees are chaired by independent members.
-
The board holds “brown bags” with employees to answer any questions
they may have.
Vermeer Corporation
Pella, IA
Type of Private
Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company Revenues:
More than $1 billion
Company Ownership: Family-owned
Governance
highlights include:
- Majority independent board.
-
Attention to enterprise risk management that predicts and plans for
challenges the company may face. - Mandatory retirement from the board at age 70.
- A chair that is encouraged to challenge the board’s agenda.
-
A detailed, written shareholder director qualification and development
process for potential interested shareholders.
Graybar Electric Company, Inc.
Philadelphia, PA
Type
of Private Board: Fiduciary
Approximate Annual Company
Revenues: More than $1 billion
Company Ownership:
Closely held or Employee-owned
Governance highlights include:
-
An annual board evaluation with assistance of third-party consultant
that evaluates the board as a whole as well as individual members. -
Board members must complete continuing education outside the
organization (e.g., Harvard, Kellogg, KMPG, American Management
Association, NYSE) at least every other year. -
The board adopted part of the New York statute called the constituency
statute. The board must take into consideration what’s in the best
interest of five constituencies: employees, shareholders, customers,
suppliers and the communities in which the company operates. -
Each director is expected to visit at least 10 of the company’s
branches each year to stay in touch with operations and understand the
scope of the business.
About MLR Media
MLR Media publishes Directors & Boards, Family Business
and Private Company Director magazines, and produces the Private
Company Governance Summit, along with the Transitions Conferences
(Spring and Fall) and Family Business Generational Wealth.
mlrmedia.com @privatecodir, @directorsboards, @fambizmagazine.
Contacts
David Shaw, Publishing Director
301.963.6162
[email protected]
