Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Proxy Voting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wyoming retirement system selects ISS for proxy‑voting contract; committee probes ESG and costs
Summary
The Wyoming Retirement System told legislators it selected Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) after an RFP; the estimated base cost is $136,000 per year (or $125,000/year on a five‑year deal). Lawmakers questioned how ISS will interpret pecuniary factors tied to environmental outcomes and how the system will track opportunity costs of proxy votes.
The Select Committee on Capital Financing & Investments heard an update on Senate File 191 — the proxy‑voting and pecuniary‑investments measure — and learned that the Wyoming Retirement System selected Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in a recent RFP process.
Josh Keith, investment operations manager for the Wyoming Retirement System, said the RFP closed June 27 with three bids (ISS, Egan Jones and Broadridge) and that the committee chose ISS; contract negotiations were underway with a target to finalize the agreement by the end of the month. "The ISS contract is $136,000 a year; if you sign a 5 year deal, it's $125,000 a year," Keith told the committee.
Lawmakers asked detailed questions about how the proxy‑voting manager will treat pecuniary factors tied to environmental outcomes and other governance items. Representative Storer raised concerns about how ISS will evaluate votes on director elections, compensation and other matters that can have nonfinancial or reputational implications. Sam Massudi, chief investment officer of the Wyoming Retirement System, said the system will instruct vendors to vote according to the legal standard and portfolio objectives and that ISS would provide research and recommendations that the system can accept or override.
Senators and representatives also pressed retirement staff on staffing and oversight. The retirement system said it expects to perform most oversight in‑house and will not hire additional full‑time employees for this contract; Josh Keith will carry out substantial duties in monitoring the vendor.
Committee members flagged the need to track the "opportunity cost" of proxy voting — the difference in expected returns when voting for conscience‑based positions versus strictly financial return — and retirement staff agreed to gather more information as the contract is finalized.
The committee took the update and moved on to other agenda items.
