Marathon Petroleum
Through Trillium, Sundance engaged Marathon Petroleum (MPC) about its health and environmental impacts. For the past 2 years Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in Detroit has received negative press attention, reprimand from elected officials and criticism from local communities for air emission violations and release of noxious vapors. Trillium brought this to management’s attention through dialogue and letters but have come away dissatisfied with their responses. The company has some internal environmental health & safety metrics but those have not been adequate to capture risks to communities, particularly in MI and LA. Trillium’s advocacy team wrote the proposal which asked the board to link executive incentive compensation to metrics that address community concerns. Through Trillium, the shareholder proposal asked the company to explore incorporating its impacts on local communities in its executive compensation review process. Marathon operates in underserved communities in Detroit and Louisiana. Trillium had nearly a half dozen conversations with the company in winter and early spring. Just before the company was set to publish its proxy, it announced a new bonus compensation formula was going into effect, whereby part of it will be tied to a carbon emission reduction metric. This was a concrete step forward, but when last reviewed, the target and specifics were not very ambitious. The proposal is on the ballot and earned 7.8% for vote.
Tractor Supply Company
Through Trillium, Nancy represented Sundance by engaging with Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) to increase diversity in the executive leadership of the company, and asking the company to prepare a report assessing the current state of its executive leadership team diversity and its plans to make the leadership more diverse. The proposal was withdrawn after the new CEO Hal Lawton made a commitment from the Board to work with the executive team to expand diversity, resulting in three women being promoted to VP and SVP positions.
Through Trillium Nancy engaged IPG Photonics to increase diversity in the senior roles at the company. They asked the Board to set clear policies to attract, retain, and promote women and people of color, including reporting on gender pay equity, establishing sponsorship programs and family support programs. They also encouraged the Board to link diversity performance metrics to senior executive compensation packages.
The diversity proposal attracted a 45% vote from shareholders. This strong vote surprised the company and Trillium will continue to press them to expand opportunity and diversity throughout their firm and make clear commitments to do so.