Interview: Michelle Edkins, Blackrock

Blackrock is the world’s largest asset manager, so when it speaks, boards listen. Michelle Edkins, the company’s head of global investment stewardship, swears by the importance of good board composition and diversity.
There is a sense in which the main concern for Michelle Edkins, global head of investment stewardship at Blackrock, is not so much about the performance of the companies, but about the people who lead them.
Ask Edkins about Blackrock’s core area of worry and the answer inevitably comes back to the personalities occupying seats around the boardroom table.
“The key is who gets on the boards, really,” she says. “And once they are on the board, how do we as investors assess how well the board is performing?”
And what’s important about the people? That they know what they are talking about and are tuned in. More importantly, t
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