Cincinnati Financial Expands Board

Cincinnati Financial Expands Board

An insurer included on the California Public Employees Retirement System “Focus List” of companies with poor corporate governance has announced the expansion of its board of directors.

In a statement, Cincinnati Financial Corp. announced that it would expand the board to 16 members from 15, adding Gretchen W. Price to the board.

Ms. Price is vice president, finance and accounting, global market development organization for Procter & Gamble. She is a certified internal auditor and was a member of the Chapter Board of Governors for the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Financial Executives Institute, the carrier said.

The Sacramento-based CalPERS, after listing the insurer on its “Focus List,” pushed for a stockholders vote to change the boards structure. The fund sought to have all board members free of any connection with the company. Six of the board members are independent agents with ties to the company. (See NU, July 22, page 10.)

Management and board members denied any conflict in their consideration of company business. The company said it was open to discussion with stockholders and CalPERS over any concerns.

Stockholders defeated the proposed governance changes in April, with 75 percent of the shareholders voting against the CalPERS initiative.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 2, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.