Proxy Advisors · 11

Section 8 of 9

Proxy Advisors across SMU CGI

Long-form source as of v1.6 · 2026-08-05

The proxy-advisor question lives at the intersection of redomiciliation outcomes, business-court adjudication, weekly regulatory monitoring, the ExxonMobil case, and the Texas Corporate Law architecture. Each property below carries its own primary-source discipline and is updated independently.21

Synthesis — what this vertical does, and what it does not do

This vertical reports the regulatory and litigation infrastructure shaping proxy-advisor practice in May 2026 from primary sources, with explicit allegation discipline. It also flags the empirical layers (recommendations, methodology, dissent, conflicts) still building toward Q1 2027 cadence.

It does not adopt either the State of Texas’s pleadings or ExxonMobil’s issuer-side allegations as findings. The May 20, 2026 Collin County DTPA petition is a primary source for what the State alleged; the May 12 + 15, 2026 ExxonMobil DEFA14A filings are primary sources for what ExxonMobil alleged. Both will be tested over time against court rulings and empirical data — and SMU CGI will report those tests with the same primary-source discipline that governs this page now.

FIGURE · ADVISOR FOOTPRINT (ILLUSTRATIVE)

Two firms cover the substantial majority of U.S. proxy ballots.

ISS and Glass Lewis are the two large institutional proxy advisors; smaller advisors (Egan-Jones, Segal Marco) and in-house investor stewardship teams cover the remainder. Numerical bands are illustrative — precise market-share statistics vary by source and survey window. Congressional testimony in May 2025 put the two firms’ combined share at “over 97%” of the U.S. proxy-advice market (Crain (NAM) testimony, House Fin. Servs. hearing (May 2025)); no measured public market-share series exists, and the allocation shown below remains illustrative.

Advisor footprint — illustrative allocationAn illustrative donut chart of the proxy-advisor advisor universe. ISS and Glass Lewis together cover the substantial majority of U.S. proxy ballots; smaller advisors and in-house teams cover the remainder. Numerical values are indicative bands consistent with published estimates and are not held out as precise market-share statistics.ISSGLASS LEWISOTHERU.S. proxyadvisor footprintILLUSTRATIVE
  • ISSDeutsche Börse Group — 100% (2026)
  • Glass LewisPrivate equity-backed
  • OtherSmaller share

How to read. Each ring segment is an advisor or advisor group; the percentage is an illustrative band consistent with the institutional-landscape paragraph in § 1 above. Treat this as orientation, not a citable market-share statistic; ISS and Glass Lewis ownership-status facts (Deutsche Börse / STOXX and Peloton Capital Management / Stephen Smith, respectively) are stated directly because they are documented in primary corporate-communications materials.

Sources. ISS / Deutsche Börse; Glass Lewis; Choi, Fisch & Kahan, 59 Emory L.J. 869 (2010); Malenko & Shen, 29 Rev. Fin. Stud. 3394 (2016); SMU CGI cites each effect-size estimate to the specific study that supports it (see § 1 above).

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