Professor Nadya Malenko, Boston College.

"Custom Proxy Voting Advice" 
Friday 26 September 2025. 15:00-16:30
Room 356 The Gillbert Scott Building

Abstract

This paper studies institutional investors' decision-making using novel data from a major proxy advisor. We highlight the significant role of customized proxy advice in shaping shareholders' voting decisions. About 80% of funds receive customized advice, and custom recommendations differ substantially from benchmark recommendations. We show that customization plays two key roles. First, it helps shareholders express their ideologies through the vote. Second, it facilitates shareholders' decision-making process by reducing the need to pay attention to every proposal individually and enabling focus on the more important proposals. Customization thus influences both the aggregation of preferences and the aggregation of information in voting outcomes. Our findings offer a new perspective on the role of proxy advisors and suggest a shift away from solely focusing on benchmark recommendations.

Bio

Nadya Malenko is a Professor of Finance and Wargo Family Faculty Fellow at Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Seidner Department of Finance. She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Her research interests are in the areas of corporate finance, corporate governance, private equity, and organizational economics. Her work has appeared in top academic journals and has received several awards, including the Journal of Finance Brattle prizes and best paper awards from leading academic conferences. Professor Malenko's research has been featured in media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, and Financial Times. She is an associate editor at the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Editor of the ECGI Working Paper Finance Series, and she serves on the board of directors of the American Finance Association and Western Finance Association. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

For further information, please contact business-school-research@glasgow.ac.uk

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First published: 26 August 2025

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