27 Apr 2023 Introducing the 2023 Corporate Incest Chart

“Why is James Quincey, the CEO of Coca-Cola, also on Pfizer’s Board of Directors?” asked Free Enterprise Project Associate Ethan Peck in a recent Human Events commentary. “Seems awfully convenient that the guy who seeks to profit most from sugary beverages also happens to profit from the drugs prescribed to treat the widespread illnesses caused by those sugary beverages.”

Ethan Peck

Today at Pfizer’s annual shareholder meeting, Ethan had the opportunity to ask a similar question of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who (not surprisingly) gave a remarkably unsatisfactory answer.

The column by Ethan Peck in Human Events outed some of the biggest names in woke capital, from figures like Larry Fink to the CEOs of the largest corporations in America. But they are only the public face of the problem – the incest is systemic. Most no-name corporate directors you’ve never heard of are just as guilty of contributing to this problem plaguing American business. And we at the Free Enterprise Project (FEP) don’t think that they should get a pass just because their names aren’t in the papers as often.

FEP’s inaugural Corporate Incest Chart, part of the just-released 2023 Proxy Navigator Annual Voting Guide, lists 250 corporate board members who simultaneously serve on more than one corporate board. The incest is not exclusively cross-corporate and is not merely reserved for those serving on multiple boards at the same time, but also includes government positions, the boards of nonprofit organizations and the “revolving door” method of incest.

The 2023 Corporate Incest Chart can be found on pages 22-25 of the Proxy Navigator Annual Voting Guide.