A new chapter begins

Legal & Regulatory Executive compensation

The end of Glass Lewis “benchmark” voting recommendations 

  • Carol Silverman
    Partner, Senior Legal Consultant
  • Amy Knieriem
    Senior Principal, Senior Legal Consultant
  • David Thieke
    Partner & US and Canada Executive Solutions Leader
October 16, 2025
Beginning in 2027, proxy advisor Glass Lewis will use AI technologies to move "away from a one-size-fits-all approach to a highly customized, client-centric framework" according to a Reuters article. Going forward, clients will be able to craft their own voting frameworks, and Glass Lewis will produce research to support various voting perspectives including those focused on management views, governance or sustainability priorities. Reuters also reached out to a spokesperson at competitor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) who said that ISS will maintain its benchmark policy but that it had introduced new products for investors such as research that doesn’t include voting recommendations. This change in business model comes as Congress, the SEC, business groups and individual states continue to try to curb the influence of proxy advisory firms. We will update this development when more information becomes available.
About the author(s)
Carol Silverman

is a Partner and Senior Legal Consultant in Mercer's Law & Regulatory Group (L&R) based in New York. She specializes in technical legal and regulatory issues affecting executive compensation and corporate governance. She focuses on SEC disclosure, tax, employment and change in control agreements, equity programs, and employee benefit issues that arise in the context of corporate transactions and initial public offerings.  

Amy Knieriem

is a Senior Legal Consultant in Mercer's Law & Regulatory Group (L&R) based in Washington DC. She provides expert analyses on a variety of US and Canadian compliance and policy matters, and advises clients on securities and corporate governance issues affecting executive pay in North America. 

David Thieke

is a Parter and the Head of Mercer’s US & Canada Executive Rewards Practice. He advises US and Canadian companies’ Compensation Committees and senior leadership teams on a wide variety of executive compensation topics and Board of Director pay issues.  In addition, he leads the go-to-market strategies, as well as the development of intellectual capital and technical solutions, for Mercer’s Executive Rewards Practice in the US and Canada.  

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