NYSE Governance Services Announces 2014 Leadership Award Winners

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

New York Stock Exchange Governance Services, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange ICE, today announced the winners and finalists of its inaugural Governance, Risk & Compliance Leadership Awards. The awards program recognizes exemplary leaders in governance, risk and compliance.

“Corporate governance plays a large role in dictating a company's success as well as a board's contribution to long-term value, which is why we are so excited to recognize outstanding companies and individuals who have gone above and beyond the basic requirements of governance, risk, and compliance with our Leadership Awards,” said Jean-Marc Levy, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Issuer Services at NYSE.

2014 NYSE Governance Services Leadership Awards

Best Governance, Risk, and Compliance Program at Large-Cap Company: Demonstrates that governance, risk, and compliance issues are top of mind. Solid policy and training methods are in place and assuring that industry and regulatory best practices permeate the organization.

Winner:		PepsiCo Inc. PEP
Finalists:		3M Co. MMM
		Sempra Energy SRE
		Xerox Corp. Ltd. XRX

Best Governance, Risk, and Compliance Program at Small to Mid-Cap Company: Demonstrates that governance, risk, and compliance issues are top of mind. Solid policy and training methods are in place, assuring that industry and regulatory best practice permeate the organization.

Winner:		The AES Corp. AES
Finalists:		AECOM Technology Corp. ACM
		AOL Inc. AOL
		CMS Energy CMS

Best In-House Legal Team for Corporate Governance: Legal team has stood the test of time and has met every legal, ethical, and compliance challenge with the utmost integrity and know-how.

Winner:		Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY
Finalists:		Best Buy Co. Inc. BBY
		MetroPCS Communications MUS
		Time Warner Inc. TWX

Exemplary CD&A for Compensation Committee: Mindful that expectations regarding transparency and full disclosure are constantly rising, this company produces a superior CD&A that satisfies the most demanding shareholder, providing clear rationale for all pay decisions and persuading shareholders that the company has instituted a pay model that is properly aligned with its unique strategic objectives.

Winner:		Cameco Corp. CCJ
Finalists:		EMC Corp. EMC
		The Coca-Cola Co. KO
		United Technologies Corp. TW

Exemplary Shareholder Engagement: Places a high value on shareholder relations by demonstrating a willingness to participate in meaningful, transparent dialogue with shareholders via accessible venues and channels. The efficacy of these endeavors will be reflected in a company that is able to successfully work through shareholder engagement challenges in a manner that satisfies all parties.

Winner:		Prudential Financial Inc. PRU
Finalists:		EMC Corp. EMC
		PepsiCo Inc. PEP
		Staples Inc. SPLS

Nonexecutive Chairman of the Year: Nonexecutive board chair has a passion for advancing principles of good governance throughout the organization, the ability to objectively solve the most difficult boardroom challenges, and the experience to offer independent, sound guidance when the company faces both hurdles and opportunities.

Winner:		Marge Magner, Gannett Co. Inc. GCI
Finalists:		R.D. Burck, American Campus Communities ACC
		Kerrii Anderson, Chiquita Brands International Inc. CQB
		Ike Harris, CIGNA Corp. CI
		Jim Nevels, The Hershey Co. HSY
		Sheila Penrose, Jones Lang LaSalle JLL

Exemplary IT Governance at Board Level: Recognizes the necessity of proactively addressing cyber risk in the company's overall governance program, making a robust effort to ensure it anticipates and prepares for emerging IT risks and cyber threats.

Winner:		AOL Inc. AOL

Eligible candidates included all publicly traded companies in the U.S., regardless of where they are listed. The award recipients were selected by an independent panel of judges, who bring a range of governance and compliance expertise to the program. Judges include:

• Kenneth Bertsch, Former President, Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals
• William B. Chandler III, Former Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery; Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Jean-Marc Levy, SVP & Head of Global Issuer Services, NYSE
• Veta T. Richardson, President & CEO, Association of Corporate Counsel
• Brian A. Rice, Portfolio Manager, Corporate Governance, California State Teachers' Retirement System
• Mary Schapiro, 29^th Chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• F. Daniel Siciliano, Professor & Faculty Director, Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Associate Dean for Executive Education and Special Programs, Stanford Law School

Award winners and finalists were honored at the Inaugural Leadership Awards on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at the New York Stock Exchange, featuring Master of Ceremonies Lauren Simonetti of Fox Business. The event was sponsored by AST Phoenix Advisors, Computershare | Georgeson, Diligent, Norton Rose Fulbright, PwC, RR Donnelly, RSA, Semler Brossy, and Spencer Stuart.

About NYSE Governance Services

NYSE Governance Services is an integrated suite of resources for public and privately held companies worldwide seeking to create a leadership advantage through corporate governance, risk, ethics, and compliance practices. NYSE Governance Services leverages the expertise of Corpedia®, a leader in risk assessment and e-learning for ethics and compliance, and Corporate Board Member®, a trusted source on governance matters for company directors and C-level executives—both NYSE companies. NYSE Governance Services offers a range of training programs, advisory services, benchmarking analysis and scorecards, exclusive access to peer-to-peer events, and thought leadership on key governance topics for company directors and C-level executives. www.nyse.com/governance

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange ICE is the leading network of regulated exchanges and clearing houses for financial and commodity markets. ICE delivers transparent, reliable and accessible data, technology and risk management services to markets around the world through its portfolio of exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, ICE Futures and Liffe.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE, New York Stock Exchange and LIFFE. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located at https://www.theice.com/terms.jhtml and http://www.nyx.com/terms-use.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, as filed with the SEC on February 14, 2014.

SOURCE: IntercontinentalExchange

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