Shareholder democracy enters its Disney-princess-BuzzFeed-quiz era

The Big Three investment firms have rolled out programs over the past three years that let individual investors vote their own shares in corporate elections, rather than governance experts at HQ. Clients can choose “archetypes” — pro-environment, deferential to management, socially-minded — that distill their stances, and then automatically vote accordingly on ballot measures.

Giant money managers catch Washington heat

"BlackRock’s extensive voting guidelines are all about governance. I’m not sure there’s a way to be a truly passive investor if you’re voting on director independence, over-boarding, etc,” said Alex Thaler, CEO of Iconik, which makes software that helps shareholders vote their shares. “Every vote expresses a preference about how to create value or align with values. You can’t get away from that.”

Proxy Voting’s Hidden Influence on Corporate Takeovers and Activist Campaigns

Alex Thaler of iconik, who at the Stigler Center’s shareholder democracy event in summer 2023 lamented that 88 percent of retail shareholders don’t vote, noting that institutional investors have voting technologies but retail investors don’t. To solve for this, he launched an automated personal shareholder voting platform to empower retail investors to make their voices heard.

Fed Up with Proxy Voting Pitfalls: New Tech May Help

“More sophisticated technology, plus investors’ expectations for proxy voting transparency, "are opening new questions fund directors are going to need to address," J. Alan Reid, co-founder of proxy voting software provider iconik and former Investment Company Institute board member, said in an interview following his panel discussion."Being early versus late would be my recommendation.”

Tech Talk: Empowering Shareholders: Startup Helps Fiduciaries Redefine Corporate Governance for Public Equities

Alan Reid, Co-Founder of iconik, talks with EisnerAmper’s TechTalk host Janina Teoxon about how his startup is advancing shareholder influence in the world of institutional investors. In this episode, Alan shares how his leading-edge technology is not only helping to redistribute decision-making influence from corporate managers to shareholders through values-aligned voting... but transform markets entirely.

Vote for Climate Action Rock Your Prox

As You Sow and iconik offer free, set-it-and-forget-it, ESG-aligned proxy voting to enable shareholder democracy for millions of individual investors.

Sierra Club Foundation & iconik Give Proxy Voting Huge Upgrade

"It’s now possible, with essentially the click of a button, to vote all your proxies alongside the Sierra Club Foundation, for free. The idea of this collaboration is to offer a much simpler pathway for individuals and institutions alike to shape a more sustainable and just future for the companies they own." Pedro Henriques da Silva, director of Shifting Trillions at the Sierra Club Foundation, explains, "The landscape is changing, and this partnership is part of a movement of investors reclaiming their voice as shareholders to build a better future."

Here's Why You Should Retain Envestnet (ENV) Stock for Now

Recently, Envestnet collaborated with iconik, a voting technology provider, to enhance proxy voting for Sustainable Quantitative Portfolios. This empowers investors to express their views effectively. Driven by the demand for choice, the partnership aids advisors in boosting retention, thus fostering long-term capital stewardship and personalizing client interactions. This helps to enhance the company’s competitive edge.

New Hollywood blockbuster depicts a triumph for savvy retail investors but it's just the beginning

in recent years, several startups have developed aimed at providing tools to enhance retail investor engagement. For example, iconik allows retail investors to link their brokerage accounts and submit a profile reflecting their stances on a variety of issues. Iconik will vote shares on the investors’ behalf based on these profiles, thus eliminating the need to remember to vote in each specific corporation’s annual meeting.

Envestnet partnership brings personalized proxy voting to advisors and clients

Envestnet is teaming up with voting technology provider iconik to help advisors give their clients access to personalized and automated shareholder voting.

Envestnet partners with iconik for personalized proxy voting

Envestnet and iconik, a voting technology provider, announced Monday they’re teaming up to provide enhanced proxy voting solutions for those using Envestnet’s Sustainable Quantitative Portfolios

Anyone Can Be an Activist Investor

Put corporate voting on autopilot with As You Sow’s Vote Your Values. That page directs you to the iconik platform where you create a login to get started. Once you are connected to iconik, their system will automatically vote your shares at your companies’ annual meetings in accordance with the pro-social and decarbonization-focused As You Sow ESG-aligned proxy voting guidelines.

Mobile Voting Surges Among Retail Investors

“Companies that build deeper, more enduring relationships with their retail shareholder base will have an easier time when these investors have a stronger voice and are not afraid to use it,” said [iconik CEO Alex] Thaler. The company’s VoteForge mobile voting app has had a growth rate of more than 300% month over month on average since launching in February, according to Thaler.

Powerful Ways Everyday People Can Counter 'Anti-ESG' Campaigns That Target Sustainable Investing

Technology advancements mean that individual mutual fund investors can vote their own proxies, with the fund manager voting in alignment with the aggregated results at a company's annual shareholders meeting. This is known as pass-through voting. In April, As You Sow linked up with the proxy technology company iconik to make this option available to investors in an S&P 500 mutual fund (ONEFUND).

Shareholder Democracy - ProMarket

The Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the State of Illinois hosted with the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, in partnership with the Financial Times, a virtual event discussing shareholder democracy with Lisa Fairfax, Alex Thaler, and Luigi Zingales.

Proxy Season's Big Chill

iconik allows individual investors to forward their proxy statements to be voted according to their choices by the company’s automated system, removing much of the complexity that has hindered participation by retail investors. About one-quarter of all public equities are held by individual retail investors. As You Sow says institutional investors with about $10 billion in assets already use its As You Vote proxy services.

Calls for Transparency Prompt Big Proxy-Voting Tech

Pressure from regulators and retail investors has pushed asset managers and technology companies to roll out new types of tools aimed at making the proxy-voting process more seamless....The low voting rate is “due to fundamental challenges in our corporate democracy,” said Alex Thaler, founder of Iconik, a startup that helps retail investors automatically submit proxy votes. “Tech is part of that change.”

Morningstar Investment Conference 2023 - Podcast featuring Co-Founders Alex Thaler and Alan Reid

Co-founders Alex Thaler and Alan Reid discuss trends in personalization and proxy voting in this podcast excerpt from Morningstar's Investment Conference.

New ESG+ Proxy Voting Web-App to Empower Retail Investors for Proxy Season 2023

As You Sow and iconik offer free, set-it-and-forget-it, ESG-aligned proxy voting to enable shareholder democracy for millions of individual investors.

Vote for Climate Action Rock Your Prox

As You Sow and iconik offer free, set-it-and-forget-it, ESG-aligned proxy voting to enable shareholder democracy for millions of individual investors.

Whose Vote? Whose Values? iconik Fixes ESG Controversy

For the first time ever, all fund shareholders will have direct control of how all of their shares are voted specific to their personal value sets. iconik’s VoteThru™ technology will enable ONEFUND managers to vote proportionally to reflect the preferences of their investors on the full range of governance, social and environmental issues.

Corporate Democracy and the Intermediary Voting Dilemma

Law Reviewed article by Jill Fisch, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School & Jeff Schwartz, University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law, they write, “Corporate governance is changing. The new focus is more about values than value. Goes on to conclude “iconik .. is perhaps the most promising new effort to engage investors.”

Beyond ESG

Alex Thaler, the CEO of the software platform iconik, and iconik advisor Adam Cummings discuss how the platform helps shareholders create personalized voting profiles for shareholder meetings, allowing them to increase their influence over companies and give management a clearer awareness of investor goals without abrupt and embarrassing conflict.

iconik Launches Innovative Proxy Voting Platform with Impact Investing Lead Green Alpha Investments

iconik announces a partnership with Green Alpha Investments to empower investors with personalized, automated shareholder voting and impact reporting.

Retail Investors Get An App For ESG Activism

The new "iconik" app...is intended to encourage users - everyday retail investors - to crowdsource their stockholder voting power

CalPERS Investments: Smart Beta Not Secret Private Equity

Public pension funds like Calpers can enhance returns through "beta activism" using iconik.

iconik: Intelligent Proxy Voting

Jim McRitchie of Corpgov discusses iconik's customizable voting policy features.