Institutional Shareholder Services (formerly RiskMetrics)

Data on S&P500 board members and shareholder proposals (1997-present).

Comprising three datasets - Governance, Directors, and Shareholder Proposals - it offers a wealth of information for researchers and analysts. The Governance Legacy set, formerly the IRRC Takeover Defense database, contributed to the influential study Gompers, Paul A., Andrew Metrick, and Joy L. Ishii, "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118(1), February 2003.

Directors Data, initiated in 1996 and annually updated, includes variables such as director details, tenure, gender, committee memberships, independence classification, and shares owned for the S&P 1500 companies. Company Vote Results for the S&P 1500 are available from 1997-2006. Shareholder Proposal Data covers governance and social responsibility proposals are available from 1997, encompassing both voted and non-voted proposals. Variables include lead filer, meeting date, and outcome, with regular updates to ensure the relevance of this rich dataset for comprehensive corporate governance research.