IRRC Offloads Proxy Voting Business to ISS

A news release said the IRRC Institute for Corporate Responsibility will be funded with an initial endowment and ongoing support from ISS, but will be an independent entity focusing on conducting issues research.

“IRRC’s original mission was to serve the institutional investor community by providing objective and in-depth research on subjects that no one else covered,” said Linda Crompton, president and chief executive officer of IRRC, in the news release. “Over the years, clients’ need for integrated research and proxy voting solutions has grown dramatically, requiring large investments in technology and taking us far from our original mission. It’s time for IRRC to return to that mission and tackle the challenging issues on our industry’s horizon.”

IRRC and ISS will have almost 500 employees across 11 global offices and will be able to offer a broader range of products and services including an expanded research universe of 33,000 companies across 115 markets.

The new IRRC Institute will launch with existing IRRC board members initially, but plans are underway to establish an independent board of directors and begin a search for an executive director, according to the announcement.