Friends Fiduciary featured in annual Proxy Preview report

Senior Shareholder Advocate, Amy Carr is featured in the 2023 Proxy Preview report, an annual resource for shareholders to better understand the issues going to vote this proxy season. Friends Fiduciary’s feature explains the rationale behind filing a proposal at Texas Instruments requesting the company’s Board of Directors commission an independent third-party report on Texas Instruments’ due diligence process to determine whether its customers’ use of its products or services contribute or are linked to violations of international law. There is increasing investor concern around dual-use products (software semi-conductors and other technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications) in Russian military weapons recovered in Ukraine.

According to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, Texas Instruments and Analog Devices were the original manufacturers of approximately 25 percent of the dual-use items found in 27 Russian offensive weapons systems, including cruise and ballistic missiles, precision munitions and electronic warfare. Friends Fiduciary is asking that Texas Instruments establish a heightened human rights and Know Your Customer due diligence process to address the risks of the use of the company’s products across conflict-affected and high-risk areas in order to assess the potential legal, regulatory, and reputational risks to shareholder value. More information about risk to shareholder value can be found in a letter Friends Fiduciary filed in support of the proposal.

Friends Fiduciary’s proposals at Norfolk Southern, Nucor, and AbbVie were also noted in the report.