In an activist shareholder's busy week, the CEO of Coca-Cola becomes the first target
The National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog and activist shareholder, is scheduled to speak before the boards of many large U.S. firms this week, promoting a slew of resolutions the organization has sponsored in an attempt to encourage the corporations to stay out of politics.
Their initial target was James Quincey, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola.
The NLPC proposed a resolution that would make the post of board chairman an independent one, meaning that if accepted, Quincey would be unable to maintain that position while still acting as CEO, as he does now.
Quincey's "leadership has earned the business the sarcastic moniker, 'Woke-a-Cola,'" according to NLPC's Corporate Integrity Project director Paul Chesser, who spoke at Coke's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday morning.
Quincey "caved to progressive political activists" when he made a statement last year opposing Georgia's election integrity bill, according to Chesser, who also accused Quincey of hypocrisy for sitting quiet when voter ID legislation was being debated in his native country, the United Kingdom. Quincey has also been chastised by Chesser for a number of other decisions made by Coca-Cola during his tenure.
"We perceive the entire board/CEO structure in the nation as too cosy," Chesser told FOX Business. "We see the overall board/CEO structure as unwilling in too many situations to undertake serious scrutiny of corporate management." "Separating Chairs and CEOs is a starting step toward appropriately separating these responsibilities, but there is still more work to be done."
Chesser went on to say, "Coca-Cola is the best illustration of this." "James Quincey's actions on the Georgia election law, employee critical race theory training, sponsoring the Communist Chinese Olympics, maintaining a factory in Xinjiang, and tolerating [Activision Blizzard CEO] Bobby Kotick's presence on the board of directors — to name a few examples — have not been in the best interests of the company, its customers, or its shareholders."
Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FOX Business.
The resolution was rejected by Coca-Cola shareholders, but the NLPC will propose a similar proposal at Goldman Sachs' annual shareholder meeting on Thursday and a third at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting on Saturday.
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