The Investor Stewardship Group (ISG), a collective of some of the largest U.S.-based institutional investors and global asset managers, along with several of their international counterparts, with combined assets of more than $22 trillion, has partnered with the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, which will serve as the home of the ISG’s Investor Stewardship and Governance Principles.

The partnership was announced on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

The Center for Corporate Governance will be working with ISG on, among other things, its ongoing governance, creating a process for future revisions to the Framework, facilitating the communications strategy and hosting its website.

In January 2017, ISG launched the Framework for U.S. Stewardship and Governance, an initiative to establish a framework of basic standards of investment stewardship and corporate governance for U.S. institutional investor and boardroom conduct. The Framework goes into effect Jan. 1, 2018, to give U.S. companies time to adjust to its standards in advance of the 2018 proxy season. Taken together, these standards form a framework for promoting long-term value creation for U.S. companies and the broader U.S. economy.

“It was important for ISG to partner with an independent leader in corporate governance to establish a platform from which to grow the ISG Framework,” said Matt Filosa, vice president and director of corporate governance and proxy voting at MFS Investment Management.

“The Weinberg Center is an outstanding organization that continues to be a leader in this area. We also greatly appreciated hearing from so many terrific institutions who expressed interest in working with ISG.”

Charles Elson, who is the director of the Weinberg Center, the Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair in Corporate Governance and professor of finance at UD, said, “We are honored to have been selected to work with the ISG. The center’s mission aligns well with the stated purpose of ISG. The ultimate goal of both the Weinberg Center and the ISG is to positively improve both investor and corporate/board performance.”

Ann Mulé, associate director of the Weinberg Center, stated, “Through this partnership, the center hopes to provide opportunities to foster engagement between investors and the corporate community in an effort to promote long-term value creation for the U.S. capital markets.”

“Partnering with the Weinberg Center will enable the ISG Framework to continue to evolve as the U.S. standard for stewardship and corporate governance,” said Donna Anderson, head of corporate governance at T. Rowe Price. “It is gratifying to see ISG continue to grow in membership as we approach the 2018 proxy season.”

Organizations who invest in the U.S. equities markets can learn more about ISG membership by emailing info@isgframework.org.

About the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance

The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance was established in 2000 at the University of Delaware and is part of the College of Arts and Sciences. It is one of the longest-standing corporate governance centers in academia, and the first and only corporate governance center in the state of Delaware, the legal home for a majority of the nation’s public corporations.

For more information, visit the center’s website.