At Gilead Sciences' 2026 annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from David Bahnsen, founder of The Bahnsen Group over the use of ESG and DEI metrics in executive compensation. Listen to David's presentation, urging the company to prioritize executive clarity and business performance over activist incentives.

"Gilead does not need to be grabbing headlines or seeking activist plaudits over inclusion initiatives. Its core business, meeting the needs of humanity by combatting the world’s deadliest diseases, is a noble, commendable, and lifesaving model that every investor can and ought to be proud of. Gilead has done it so very well."

Learn more about The Bahnsen Group at thebahnsengroup.com.

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At Truist's annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from the Heritage Foundation via its Free Enterprise Initiative over brand politicization. Stefan Padfield presented for Heritage, urging the company to choose political neutrality in key areas, including charitable policies.

"While our nation has come to realize that nice-sounding phrases like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” apparently routinely mean discrimination in practice, Truist has unfortunately been associated with such initiatives. Truist scores 100 on the HRC’s CEI. And while the green energy transition has arguably been exposed as a utopian endeavor that leaves Americans poorer and vulnerable to foreign adversaries, Truist apparently maintains commitments furthering that agenda."

Learn more about Heritage's Free Enterprise Initiative here.

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At HPE’s annual meeting of shareholders, the company faced a shareholder proposal from a BR client over political neutrality in the company’s charitable partnerships. Presenting at that meeting was Bowyer Research's director of corporate engagement Isaac Willour, who laid out (1) the case for risk mitigation around controversial corproate partnerships, (2) what activist ratings indicate about the company's policy stances on critical issues like gender transition surgery, and (3) why peer companies, and the Fortune 500 is broadly moving away from these sorts of partnerships and choosing political neutrality.

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