Investors For Director Accountability Organization tag:www.InvestorsForDirectorAccountability.org,2006:/blog//1 2006-03-28T17:43:20Z Movable Type 3.2 Public company directors must remember whom they work for tag:www.InvestorsForDirectorAccountability.org,2006:/blog//1.6 2006-03-25T17:53:17Z 2006-03-28T17:43:20Z Specifically, we suggest that shareholders withhold their votes for the four nominees for the Pfizer Board of Directors who are members of the Board’s compensation committee. Investor Mushrooming management compensation, unconnected to performance, is an obvious area where directors have failed the people they legally represent. Investors for Director Accountability screened the largest 1,000 American corporations in order to pinpoint the most egregious disconnects. Qualitative judgments were then applied. Long story short: Investors for Director Accountability has concluded that shareholders should withhold their votes for the four nominees for the Pfizer Board of Directors who are members of the Board’s compensation committee. This would be a first step on a long road to restore director accountability to owners.

]]> CEO Hank McKinnell has served as Pfizer’s Chief Executive Officer for five years. During that time frame his annual cash compensation has risen to $5,970,500 . Pfizer estimates the present value of Mr. McKinnell’s total compensation for 2005 at $15,880,989. The value of Mr. McKinnell’s direct holdings of Pfizer stock represents less than one month’s compensation. Pfizer’s compensation committee and its full Board have further seen fit to reward Mr. McKinnell with a $6.5 million per year retirement package for life. Average compensation for non-employee Board members has risen to approximately $200,000 per year.

At the same time, in the five years since Mr. McKinnell became CEO, Pfizer’s stock price has declined approximately 44% . A number of Pfizer’s leading drugs representing billions in sales will soon go off patent. Some investors believe Pfizer’s pipeline of new drugs is running dry and have raised serious questions about the future prosperity of the company.

Specifically, we suggest that shareholders withhold their votes for the four nominees for the Pfizer Board of Directors who are members of the Board’s compensation committee:

Robert N. Burt
Stanley O. Ikenberry
George A. Lorch
Dana G. Mead.

Public company directors must remember whom they work for and act in the best interests of their shareholder owners. As a starting point, Investors for Director Accountability suggests that Pfizer shareholders specifically withhold their votes for these four men.

]]>