Patrick McGurn Quotes (17 Quotes)

We felt the primary problem at this company was with the cash bonus program.

Boards, frankly, are just getting up to speed in many instances on what they've done in the past and are really just starting to exhibit some control over the pay practices. It's going to be a gradual process.

When Warren is gone, the market will start demanding coverage. People will want a lot deeper level of analysis.

Very few educational institutions have filed corporate governance or social responsibility proxy proposals at publicly traded companies in recent years. The reason for this is not clearalthough the general decline in campus protest efforts is sometimes cited as the cause.

A lot of corporate boards felt it was a good idea for public companies to have standards limiting board service in place.

This is not a right-left, Republican-Democrat, man-woman, old-young issue. Everybody thinks, with some very limited exceptions, that CEOs are overpaid, and because of that, shareholders aren't getting adequate bang for their buck.

If they were going to fill it from inside, I would have thought it would be done already. I wouldn't be surprised if they go out and recruit a new director.

I think it's a morale killer when you see it disclosed at some of these companies.

Time Warner is pulling out the heavy guns, there's no doubt they are taking this seriously. This counter-point situation is quite similar to a political campaign, where both sides have a war room. One side is lining out a strategy and the other is responding.

So many stock-option grants were made at the peak of the market that we'll be working our way through these sales for some time.

This is particularly the case if a dissident is seeking control of the board or a substantial number of seats - an alternative strategy and plan for creating value at the company is going to be a key element of our evaluation.

There were definitely some that went closer to saying, 'Don't blame me,' as opposed to saying, 'This is the process,' ... I think that probably should set off more red flags as the language got stronger.

While these payments may seem eye-popping, it seems more closely aligned with the company's performance and is less likely to raise the ire of shareholders than in years past.

It's always so sad because you love those Horatio Alger stories, and then someone rises up that high and falls so far. Ultimately, this is about ethics, and no amount of drive is going to save you if your ethics are so bad and you're not going to abide by the law.

It's ridiculous. Part of being a citizen is paying taxes.

There is still a lot of anger out there, but people have taken notice of what the board has already been doing.

Sovereign has a lot of bridges to build with institutional investors. It's going to take time to repair their image.