Applied Corporate
Governance Institute

ACGI is a non-profit organization founded by CGE to advise companies on how to understand, engage, and succeed with their investors in complex and contested shareholder matters. Learn more about how you can embrace a data-driven approach to achieve your objectives.

Woman discussing important business

Our Mission

Executives hold the key to unlocking the possibilities of the future. At ACGI, we act as a trusted guide for global business leaders, using a data-driven approach to achieve tangible outcomes. By developing insightful strategies and effective tactics through proprietary methodologies and a dedicated Board of Advisors, our team creates high quality, long-term results for all shareholders in an organization.

What We Do

  • Conduct a “Stewardship Vulnerability Assessment”
  • Present to the Board of Directors and management at an annual strategy review to highlight the investor environment and the potential vulnerabilities of the firm;
  • Develop engagement strategies to proactively address potential investor challenges;
  • Facilitate client efforts to build strong relationships with the institutional investor governance community;
  • Provide insights into shifts within the corporate governance and investor landscape; and
  • Ensure that clients are deploying shareholder engagement best practices

Questions We Answer

As a CEO you may be asking…

How do I proactively avoid a campaign by an engaged investor?

Are there early warning indicators at least 1-2 years in advance?

How do I avoid common management mistakes/misjudgments?

What skills are required during different phases of engagement?

What data is needed to help make sound decisions?

How do I proactively avoid a campaign by an engaged investor?

Are there early warning indicators at least 1-2 years in advance?

How do I avoid common management mistakes/misjudgments?

What skills are required during different phases of engagement?

What data is needed to help make sound decisions?

That’s where ACGI comes in.

Why We’re Unique

Academic-quality Research and Proprietary
Predictive Analytics

In partnership with Columbia University, we conduct peer-reviewed research on engaged shareholders. Utilizing a team of PhDs and scholars from Columbia, Harvard and Wharton, we developed our own proprietary database and predictive analytics to identify vulnerabilities to a potential shareholder engagement.

Our company-specific Stewardship Vulnerability ScoreTM is customized to predict potential shareholder activism 18-24 months in advance of an engagement. As a result, we provide management and boards insight with respect to Value, Volatility, Vertical and Votes.

Board of Stewards

The Board of Stewards is a body of renowned CEOs and Board Members with major corporations who have confronted shareholder activists and have committed their time to aid in the research and tool development of the ACGI. This group will serve as advisors to the Institute and their collective experience with engaged investors will inform the development of the Institute and its outputs.

Explore Our Research

The Applied Corporate Governance Institute began as an Engaged Investor research project. This research was done in collaboration with the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy at Columbia University. Professors Shane Goodwin, Jefferey N. Gordon, Jesse J. Greene, and Wei Jiang came together to create a comprehensive analytic tool to examine the role of investors and the conflict between short term solutions and long-term strategy. This research was based on the historical development of investors who have gradually gained more and more influence over companies.

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