NEW YORK — When Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives and shareholders gather today for the company’s annual meeting, the room might look a little like a house of worship.
A coalition of religious groups headed by a nun, a priest and the chief executive of a Jewish organization will be there to press Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate whether it is paying executives too much. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein will have no choice but to listen. The group has won a coveted spot on the annual meeting agenda.
The religious contingent also wants the investment bank to evaluate the pay discrepancy between high-paid workers and those at the bottom. And they are asking the company to explain something many shareholders want to know: why compensation for Goldman’s top five executives rose to $69.6 million in 2010 even as profits and revenues declined.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation, which says it is rooted in Jewish tradition, along with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel, has introduced a shareholder resolution that asks the investment bank to evaluate whether its compensation packages for senior executives are excessive and should be modified. The resolution calls on Goldman to publicly report its findings by Oct. 1.
Sister Nora Nash of the Sisters of St. Francis said the group’s mission is primarily about getting better returns. Her order of nuns and the other religious groups are long-term shareholders of Goldman. Their retirement savings are at stake when outsized pay packages limit dividends or growth.
“When we see CEOs earning over 300 times more than the typical worker, it raises serious questions for shareholders on whether they are really (that) valuable,” said Sister Nash, who has been a nun for 50 years.
