Shareholders urge corporate boards to include more women
The lack of women on corporate boards has become a source of tension among shareholders at the annual meetings this week of two big-name companies.
The CEO of Dollarama was confronted with the issue head-on Wednesday, when a shareholder urged him to increase the number of women on the retailer’s 10-member board of directors. The board has one woman, who joined the board in February 2015.
“We are in 2016,” said Andre C. Gauthier. “I think we need to improve the presence of women on boards.”
CEO Neil Rossy defended the company’s inclusion of women in leadership positions in a news conference after the meeting.
In 2014, Dollarama hired Johanne Choiniere as its chief operating officer, its most recent upper management opening, Rossy said.
The next time a vacancy arises on the board of directors, a woman may be given more consideration.
“We all think it’s the right thing to do,” Rossy said.
The matter is also set to come up today at the annual general meeting for Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Tim Hortons and Burger King.
In a shareholder proposal, OceanRock Investments Inc., which owns more than 13,000 common shares in the company, and the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) are asking RBI to write a formal board diversity policy and inform shareholders how and when it intends to increase the number of women on its 10-member board of directors and in senior management positions.
“We believe RBI’s all-male board is a step backwards for diversity at the company,” said Fred Pinto, OceanRock Investment’s chief executive, in a statement.
Before Tim Hortons and Burger King merged and became RBI in late 2014, one-quarter of the Tim Hortons board was comprised of women.
Shareholders in BCE Inc. rejected a similar proposal in April. A shareholder and member of Mouvement d’education et de defence des actionnaires (MEDAC) asked the company to set targets to boost the number of women on its senior management team. Despite rejecting the proposal, BCE said it is committed to having women fill one-quarter of its board positions.