With companies and investors increasingly talking about governance, IROs should add these names to their contact list
Rakhi Kumar, managing director and head of corporate governance, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
The passive index strategies at SSgA don’t mean governance doesn’t matter. In fact, Rakhi Kumar emphasizes that ‘while we may have passive strategies, we’re active owners.’ She works to create long-term collaboration through ‘stewardship’ – an important principle given that selling a company with problematic governance practices isn’t an option at an index fund.
Because of the number of companies SSgA must engage with each year, Kumar chooses two or three sectors of focus in the coming year. In 2016, for instance, she will pay close attention to IT and automotive.
Factfile
• Important governance themes for 2016 include board composition and leadership, supply chain management, climate change, the environment (specifically, water), and compensation and wage strategies.
• A chartered accountant born in India, Kumar moved to the US in 2000 to get her MBA at Yale School of Management.
• She is mother of a toddler and an amateur potter and painter.
