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Jamie Dimon’s bombshell on proxy advisory delivers a body blow to the firms he called ‘incompetent’

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In a break that shapes the architecture of shareholder power, JPMorgan Asset Management, which manages more than $7 trillion in client assets — severed all ties this week with proxy advisory giants ISS and Glass Lewis

It will now rely solely on an internal, AI-driven voting platform called Proxy IQ — the first such move by a major asset manager.

It comes days after President Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to investigate proxy advisers, citing concerns that their influence on board votes, CEO pay, and ESG policies is driven more by political agendas than fiduciary duty.

Together, Trump and JPMorgan waged a two-front assault on the proxy advisory industry — one political, one financial. Trump’s order adds regulatory firepower. Dimon’s decision delivers a market blow.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, relentless critic of proxy advisers, called these firms “incompetent” and their dominance “done with.”  The bank’s full exit marks a direct challenge to a system many view as opaque and obsolete.

Yet in dismantling the old gatekeepers, JPMorgan may be quietly installing itself as a new one.

By replacing outside advisers with its own AI platform, it now controls the very machinery of shareholder voting it once condemned. What began as a crusade against centralized influence may be remembered as a corporate land grab.

These developments underscore the rise of a more decentralized and digitally engaged electorate — part of a broader shift toward democratization of investing, as individuals gain real-time access to ballots and influence decisions once shaped by a handful of power brokers.

This spring’s proxy season may not hinge on an activist’s letter, banker spreadsheets or hedge fund media blitzes … but instead on the quick, quiet clicks of individual investors — each with a few hundred shares — voting between Zoom calls and scrolling through message board threads.

When digital swarms reshape the roadshow

In March 2025, ExxonMobil moved to elevate individual investors — still shaped by its 2021 clash with Engine No. 1 — even without adopting default proxy instructions. 

In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a program that lets individual stakeholders automatically follow board recommendations, aiming to counter chronically low voting turnout and disproportionate influence of institutional and activist investors.

And Exxon isn’t alone. Small investors blocked a share conversion at AMC in August 2023, triggering a lawsuit and court-approved settlement. The conversion and split took effect, revealing the persistence of a shareholder base once hailed as the company’s savior.

At Disney in April 2024, Nelson Peltz’s proxy fight culminated in a vote that drew support from fans-turned-shareholders mobilizing around board accountability and creative direction. While Peltz lost, Disney revamped investor engagement.

Main Street investors rallied behind Elon Musk’s billion-dollar pay package at Tesla in June 2024 and again in October 2025, circulating voting instructions and videos across social media. This outreach momentum carried into the subsequent vote. 

These episodes point to a shift, not a revolt 

One important new mechanism drawing attention is pass-through proxy voting — allowing mutual fund and ETF investors to vote their shares directly instead of delegating authority to fund managers. It gives individuals direct control over votes attached to their assets.

But it still only matters if they vote. Many independent shareholders skip proxy voting, as notices go unread. Engagement usually emerges in a contested election, as investors hold their ballots to see how the fight unfolds.

As of March 2024, BlackRock expanded its Voting Choice program to U.S. individual investors in select funds, enabling direct proxy voting. This marked the first major rollout of pass-through voting within fund structures.

Still, only 8% of BlackRock funds offer it, but it is increasing pressure across the industry as analysis grows around individual investor inclusion.

But Waiting for Godot is a mistake. Regulation can tweak the system, but real change begins when investors are brought in early, understand the stakes, trust the process and choose to engage.

Let the votes flow: Unlocking real shareholder influence

Funds should … Implement full pass-through voting across all funds in 2026.

BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Vanguard’s Salim Ramji, Fidelity’s Abigail Johnson, State Street’s Yie-Hsin Hung and J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon can set standards now. Every individual investor’s capital carries its own vote.

Boards in parallel should …

  • Make proxy voting as seamless as trading. Investors can execute options in seconds but face treasure maps to cast a proxy vote; convenience drives turnout.
  • Recognize voting isn’t just procedural — it’s reputational. Individual shareholders vote on brand trust. Opaque disclosures or footnote-heavy messaging erode confidence. Say clearly what you want and why.
  • Clear instructions turn a ballot into a voice. Not voting isn’t neutral — it cedes your power to others who choose to engage. Every proxy should say plainly, in bold in all correspondence: “We encourage you to vote. If you don’t, your silence increases power of those who do.”

When proxy voting really begins

Influence doesn’t begin with a proxy. It starts with a viral post that reframes a proposal in plain English, sharp YouTube explainer or social threads that turn legalese into a clear takeaway. This is where shareholder sentiment is formed and fortified.

As proxy season approaches, the same question looms: Do we have the votes? This year, outcomes may hinge on stakeholders who rarely join investor calls.

“Trust is like the air we breathe — when it’s present, nobody really notices. But when it’s absent, everybody notices.” — Warren Buffett

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.



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Wife of Renee Good, the Minnesota woman killed in ICE shooting: ‘We had whistles. They had guns’

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The wife of Renee Good, the woman shot and killed in her car by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, says the couple had stopped to support their neighbors on the day of the shooting and described the mother of three as leaving a legacy of kindness.

“We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said in a written statement Friday that was provided to Minnesota Public Radio.

The statement was her first public comment about the death of Renee Good, 37, who was killed Wednesday after three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surrounded her Honda Pilot SUV on a snowy street a few blocks from the couple’s home. Video taken by bystanders show an officer approaching the SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle.

The vehicle begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

Trump administration officials have painted Renee Good as a domestic terrorist who tried to run over an officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis, as well as protesters, have rejected that characterization.

Becca Good has not responded to calls and messages from The Associated Press. Her statement provided no further detail about the day of the shooting and instead focused on memorializing her wife.

The couple had only recently moved to Minneapolis and were raising Renee Good’s 6-year-old son from a previous marriage.

Becca said Renee was a Christian who “knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”

She thanked the people all across America and the world who had reached out in support of their family.

“Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled,” Becca Good wrote. “I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.”

Far from the worst-of-the-worst criminals President Donald Trump said his immigration crackdown would target, Good was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado who apparently was never charged with anything beyond a single traffic ticket.

In social media accounts, she described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.

Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of the two now-teenage children he had with Renee Good while they were married, told the AP on Wednesday that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.

Becca Good said the couple, who had previously lived in Kansas City, Missouri, had settled in Minneapolis after an “extended road trip.” She said people they encountered in the Twin Cities had provided a strong sense that “they were looking out for each other.”

“We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness,” Becca wrote. “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”



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Bessent’s visit to Minnesota comes with more vows to crack down on fraud as tensions flare with state, Somalia government

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The Treasury Department is taking a closer look at financial transactions between Minnesotan residents and businesses and Somalia as the federal government ramps up its immigration crackdown in the state, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Friday during a visit to the state.

Bessent said his agency has launched a series of actions to combat fraud in the state and has launched investigations into four businesses that people use to wire money to family members abroad to do more to scrutinize transactions. He did not name the businesses.

His visit to the state coincides with protests in Minneapolis after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman in a residential neighborhood south of downtown on Wednesday, leading to a clash between federal and local leaders.

President Donald Trump has targeted the Somali diaspora in the Democratic-led state with immigration enforcement actions and has made a series of disparaging comments about the community, directing Bessent to uncover more fraud. The Treasury first announced last month that it would begin targeting money service businesses, focusing on remittances to Somalia.

The department’s actions have been prompted in part by a series of fraud cases, including a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future accused of stealing coronavirus pandemic aid meant for school meals. Prosecutors have put the losses from that case at $300 million.

Gov. Tim Walz, before he ended his bid to serve a third term this week, said that fraud will not be tolerated in Minnesota and that his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.” Walz, who came under heavy criticism from Republicans who said his administration should have caught the Feeding Our Future fraud earlier, said he was “furious” with “criminals that preyed on the system that was meant to feed children.”

The founder of Feeding our Future, Aimee Bock, was charged with multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery and was convicted in March while maintaining her innocence.

Bessent declined to comment on specific investigations but said he had met with several financial institutions on Friday to ask them to do more to prevent fraud. The department has not disclosed which institutions Bessent spoke with.

Key Treasury actions include Financial Crimes Enforcement Network investigations into Minnesota-based money services businesses, enhanced transaction reporting requirements for international transfers from Hennepin and Ramsey counties, and alerts to financial institutions on identifying fraud tied to child nutrition programs.

“Treasury will deploy all tools to bring an end to this egregious unchecked fraud and hold perpetrators to account,” Bessent told reporters on Friday.

Bessent’s announcement was met with some criticism. Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Bessent is “building a legacy of financial surveillance and control.”

“The announcement that he is stopping Americans from sending their money abroad and increasing surveillance under the Bank Secrecy Act should be condemned,” Anthony said.

Some Somali leaders said last month they had received anecdotal reports about community members being detained by federal agents but had no details. Those leaders and allies including Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have vowed to protect the community.

During a speech on Thursday about the Republican Trump administration’s economic agenda at the Economic Club of Minnesota, Bessent referred to the alleged fraud, without mentioning the Somali community that his department is targeting.

“I am here this week to signal the U.S. Treasury’s unwavering commitment to recovering stolen funds, prosecuting fraudulent criminals, preventing scandals like this from ever happening again, and investigating similar schemes state by state,” Bessent said.



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Telluride Ski Resort begins to reopen after striking ski patrollers accept a contract

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Telluride Ski Resort in southwestern Colorado began to reopen Friday after a vote by striking ski patrollers to accept a contract and return to work.

The resort shut down Dec. 27 after the Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association rejected a company pay proposal. The resort remained closed except for beginner carpets and a lift serving two beginner runs that were staffed this week by managers and temporary ski patrollers.

With help from artificial snowmaking and a foot (30 centimeters) of recent snowfall, more lifts and runs will open starting this weekend, resort officials said in a statement.

“We are confident that this last offer represented a fair compromise,” resort representative Steve Swenson said in the statement.

Neither the resort nor the ski patrol union divulged details of the deal endorsed by the union with a Thursday vote. Negotiations had been ongoing since June.

The union sought pay increases from $21 to $28 an hour for new patrollers and from as little as $30 to almost $50 for the most experienced ones.

“While we are ultimately very disappointed to not address our broken wage structure, we are immensely proud of our efforts that have led to this financial movement. We are even prouder of the recognition and implementation of our supervisors into the unit,” read a union statement on social media Thursday.

Ski patrollers elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain region have been unionizing. Some argue for more pay on the grounds that the cost of living in ski towns is high and that they are responsible for safety.

Patroller duties include attending to injured skiers and the controlled release of avalanches with explosives when nobody is in range.

An almost two-week ski patrol strike a year ago closed many runs and caused long lift lines at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort. That strike ended when Colorado-based Vail Resorts acceded to demands including a $2-an-hour base pay increase and raises for senior ski patrollers.

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