Administration June 6, 2002

TIAA-CREF Praises NYSE Corporate Governance Move

June 6, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - TIAA-CREF expressed its support for a series of corporate governance reforms recommended by a panel of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in a bid to shore up investor confidence.
Reported by

John Biggs, TIAA-CREF Chairman, CEO, and President also called on the NYSE Board of Directors to approve the proposals.

In a statement, TIAA-CREF officials praised:

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  • the recommendations that corporate boards be composed of independent directors under improved definitions of “independence”.
  • the NYSE panel’s provisions as to the role of directors and details on how the key committees should function,
  • the panel’s call for shareholder voting on all equity-based compensation plans that dilute shareholder ownership.

TIAA-CREF also called on Nasdaq to take similar action, rather than allow companies to insulate such equity compensation plans from shareholder vote, and urged other institutional investors, trade associations and shareholder organizations to focus on the reform proposals.

TIAA-CREF, with approximately $275 billion in assets under management, is apension system for those employed in education and research in the US, serving over two million participants at more than 11,000 institutions.

In other news today, Nasdaq submitted its first round of corporate governance rule changes the to the SEC.

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