Today ISS issued its 2021 Policy updates.
Overall, for US companies, ISS did not make any compensation policy changes (other than the gem hidden in ISS’s COVID FAQs concerning its Equity Plan Scorecard thresholds for S&P 500 and Russell 3000 companies during the 2021 proxy season, see my prior post for details: http://edwardhauder.com/2020/10/22/iss-guidance-on-covid-19-compensation-issues/).
ISS made a change regarding racial/ethnic board diversity. Starting in 2022, for Russell 3000 and S&P 1500 companies where a board has no apparent racially or ethnically diverse members, ISS will recommend voting against or withhold from the chair of the nominating committee (or other directors on a case-by-case basis). ISS will make an exception where a board had such diversity at the preceding annual shareholder meeting and makes a firm commitment to appoint at least one racially and/or ethnically diverse member to the board within 1 year.
The ISS Press Release announcing the 2021 Policy Updates is at: https://www.issgovernance.com/iss-announces-2021-benchmark-policy-updates/
The executive summary for the ISS 2021 Policy Updates is at: https://www.issgovernance.com/file/policy/latest/updates/Executive-Summary-of-ISS-Policy-Updates-and-Process.pdf