Caesars Entertainment Corporation | Board matrix at Caesars Entertainment Corporation

Status
18.97% votes in favour
AGM date
Proposal number
6
Resolution details
Company ticker
CZR
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Social
  • Governance
ESG sub-theme
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Consumer Discretionary
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
RESOLVED: Shareholders of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (“Caesars”) request that its Board of Directors (the “Board”) disclose in its annual proxy statement each director/nominee’s self-identified gender and race/ethnicity, as well as the skills and attributes that are most relevant in light of Caesars’ overall business, long-term strategy, and risks. The requested information shall be presented in matrix format and shall not include any attributes the Board identifies as minimum qualifications for all director candidates (the “Board Matrix”).
Supporting statement
Supporting Statement

Investors believe that a diverse board – in terms of relevant skills, gender, and race/ethnicity – is an indicator of a well-functioning board. Among other benefits, diverse boards can better manage risk by avoiding groupthink. Caesars’ Board sets the tone from the top, and the disclosure of a Board Matrix would signal to your employees, customers, suppliers, and investors that the directors themselves value diversity and inclusion in the boardroom.

Many institutional investors prioritize board diversity in their proxy voting guidelines and engagement initiatives. Significant time and resources must be spent by investors to ascertain director information from ambiguous, and aggregate company disclosures or they must rely on data providers, which also draws from the same, imprecise sources. Even when photographs are provided, investors and data providers may be unable to appropriately determine the race or ethnicity of directors. As a result, it can be unnecessarily challenging for investors to fulfill their fiduciary duties and vote according to their own proxy voting guidelines.

Moreover, in its 2022 proxy statement, Caesars provides no particularized data with respect to how its directors’ individual qualifications fit together to effectively fulfill the Board’s oversight responsibilities. Nor is each director’s self-identified race/ethnicity explicitly disclosed.

A Board Matrix would enable investors to make better informed proxy voting decisions by providing them with consistent, comparable and accurate data concerning Caesars’ directors in a structured and decision-useful format. Such information would enable investors to: (1) assess how well-suited individual director nominees are for Caesars in light of its long-term business strategy and risks, including the overall mix of director attributes and skills; (2) identify any gaps in skills or attributes; and (3) make meaningful, year-over-year comparisons of the Board’s composition; and (4) ascertain the self-identified gender, race/ethnicity, skills and attributes of any particular director who has assumed leadership roles on the board/committees, as well as his/her/their tenure.

The proposal neither prevents nor discourages Caesars from disclosing any other data or information that the Board believes is relevant. Other leading companies, such as Goldman Sachs, Intel, 3M and Host Hotels & Resorts have published a Board Matrix with individualized director data in a decision-useful format. These matrices use EEO-I categories for disclosing the diversity of individual directors, which allows for consistent and comparable data.

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