Glass, Lewis & Co., a major player in the world of investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services, announced that Lynn Turner will leave his post as managing director of research on June 8.
Turner has been with Glass Lewis since shortly after the firm’s February 2003 launch.
“It has been four years since Glass Lewis became a reality,” Turner said in a statement. “During that time, the company has grown from a start-up to become the world's second-largest proxy advisor and has become known for leading-edge financial research that is frequently cited by regulators and major newspapers.”
Turner, a former chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, was highly praised in a statement by Glass Lewis chief executive Katherine Rabin -- although the announcement from the company did little to address the elephant in the room, the ongoing aftershocks of last December’s sale of Glass Lewis to China-based Xinhua Finance Media Ltd.
Trade publications have reported that Xinhua withheld unfavorable information about its former chief financial officer from investors, which Xinhua has denied, saying that it listed the finance media group on Nasdaq in March after complying fully with all required disclosure and due diligence processes. Reuters reported that Jonathan Weil, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and Glass Lewis's managing director and editor of financial research, left the company last week, after spending less than 16 months with the firm.
Along with announcing Turner’s departure, Glass Lewis said that it would set up a committee co-chaired by Xinhua's general counsel John McLean and Glass Lewis president Kevin Cameron to review the group's corporate governance.
The firm also said that it is in the process of recruiting a group of customers, academics and other industry experts in the fields of corporate governance and accounting to serve on a newly formed Independent Research Development Council. The council’s mission will be to ensure that Glass Lewis' research continues to meet high-quality standards, objectivity and independence criteria.
Xinhua Financial produces business and financial news programs distributed across television, print media and radio in Beijing and Shanghai.
