The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi) announced on Wednesday, July 18 that it has selected the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance (Weinberg Center) at the University of Delaware as its successor organization.

The Weinberg Center will receive a grant from IRRCi in excess of $1 million as part of the successor transition. With these funds, the Weinberg Center will materially expand its environmental, social, corporate governance and capital market research, and also maintain the full IRRCi research library so that more than 75 research reports remain publicly available at no cost. The Weinberg Center also will continue to fund and manage the annual IRRCi Investor Research Award that recognizes outstanding practitioner and academic research.

“The University of Delaware and the Weinberg Center share the IRRCi’s mission to provide the highest quality research that informs and empowers decision-makers in the complex arena of corporate governance,” UD President Dennis Assanis said. “This announcement is a testimony to the thought leadership and recognized excellence of the Weinberg Center in the field of corporate governance and social responsibility.  We are proud that the Weinberg Center will carry on IRRCi’s important work.”

The selection of the Weinberg Center culminates a planned multi-year succession process undertaken by the IRRCi board that included consideration of more than 25 organizations.

“The IRRCi has become the preeminent source of objective and relevant research examining the intersection of investments with environmental, social and governance issues,” said Linda E. Scott, the IRRCi board chairwoman. “From day one, our plan was to fund innovative research with our seed money, and then transition the remaining assets to another well-respected organization aligned with our mission. We selected the Weinberg Center because it is a highly respected corporate governance thought leader, will sustain IRRCi’s important work, and will take our vision to the next level by further expanding unbiased and objective investor research. The IRRCi Board is confident that combining the strengths of the Weinberg Center and the IRRCi will provide investors, corporate boards, executives, regulators, academics, finance experts,  attorneys, and other interested parties with fact-based information and data on how to best improve our capital markets and govern public companies.”

The grant and the transfer of IRRCi’s intellectual property to the Weinberg Center is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2018.  Until then, the IRRCi will continue to publish research, including studies that benchmark microcap public companies and examine the governance of data privacy. IRRCi also anticipates announcing the winners of the 2018 Investor Research Award prior to the transition.

“The Weinberg Center is honored to have been selected as the successor organization to the IRRCi,” said Charles M. Elson, Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chair in Corporate Governance, Professor of Finance and Director of the Weinberg Center at UD.“The center looks forward to continuing the outstanding work and legacy of the IRRCi.”

IRRCi was formed following the 2005 sale of IRRC to Institutional Shareholder Services (now MSCI) to act as a catalyst for thought leaders, and to sponsor research on corporate governance and corporate responsibility issues that are important to the linkage of broad societal issues to investment performance. Since that time, IRRCi has issued 75 research reports, is in the seventh year of its Investor Research Award, and has become a trusted source of objective and impactful investor research. Its research has been cited by regulators, lawmakers, academics and leading investors.

The IRRC Institute

The IRRC Institute is a nonprofit research organization that funds academic and practitioner research that enables investors, policymakers and other stakeholders to make data-driven decisions. IRRCi research covers a wide range of topics of interest to investors, is objective, unbiased and disseminated widely. More information is available at www.irrcinstitute.org. Follow IRRCi on Twitter at @IRRCResearch.

John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance

The Weinberg Center 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 at https://www.weinberg.udel.edu.