A few months ago I wrote that the GM board must go. At least six of the directors have been replaced according to the Herald this morning including Armando Codina, an establishment figure in the Miami business community. Codina was also on the board of Merrill Lynch, that no longer exists. "I do it because I give a damn," Codina told The Miami Herald last year on why he sits on the boards. "They are important to this country and the economy." Well...
To serve on the board of a large, important corporation is not just altruism: you don't get there unless you have mastered how business, profit, and politics mix. The conception of good business sense reflected in the net worth of so many corporate board members in America has turned out very poorly for taxpayers, voters and specifically bondholders and shareholders of failed American giants in the automotive sector and finance.
Mr. Codina is right: boards of directors of large corporations are very important to this country and the economy. He has company in bearing responsibility for miscalculating risk to corporations on whose boards he served. Still, it is a very small group of elite businessmen who stood by as the economy veered-- in the past decade-- into the deepest ditch since the Depression.
Mr. Codina was unavailable to comment to The Herald. With the benefit of hindsight, it would be interesting to know what Mr. Codina would have done differently as a director to have avoided the crises that are imposing staggering debts of taxpayers. Did he meet the standards of fiduciary responsibility? What does he believe, now, about the business models of growth and development in Florida that are badly broken? In my view, they were bad models to begin with. The buck must stop somewhere.
14 comments:
Lordy, the developer mindset infected just about every sector of American society. No wonder things are so screwed up. Lest we not forget, Codina launched JEB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a shitty blog. Ever try to be on the Board of one of the largest industrial companies in the world? One voice among many voting on only a company's most abstract decisions a few times per year? And you want to insinuate that Codina didn't uphold his fiduciary duty? Your writing will only appeal to ignorant people with no intellectual rigor or integrity, confirmed by the comment above. IJR
Geez. What a thin skin. The board of directors of GM only oversaw the destruction of what was once the largest industrial corporation in the world. You could have put dumbos and "ignorant people with no intellectual rigor or integrity" and they could have done just as well as the GM Board.
"Corporate Governance - Leadership
The General Motors Board of Directors represents the owners' interest in perpetuating a successful business, including optimizing long-term financial returns. The Board is responsible for determining that the Corporation is managed in such a way to ensure this result. This is an active, not a passive, responsibility. The Board has the responsibility to ensure that in good times, as well as difficult ones, management is capably executing its responsibilities. The Board's responsibility is to regularly monitor the effectiveness of management policies and decisions, including the execution of its strategies.
In addition to fulfilling its obligations for stockholder value, the Board also has responsibility to GM’s customers, employees, suppliers, and to the communities where it operates — all of whom are essential to a successful business. All of these responsibilities, however, are founded upon the successful perpetuation of the business. "
By that standard they should all have been drummed out of Detroit, long ago.
Voting a few times a year for $200,000 plus. Not a bad gig.
"One voice among many" for $200K.
I would do 2 gigs a year for a 100k. I could saved GM some money.
Codina should not have been there. In fact, that is probably why he is not on the new board. They must have thought he wasn't doing 200k worth of work.
I wonder how much GM related money quietly filters into our political campaigns?
out of sight, name one single concrete, non-speculative reason why codina should not have been on the board of gm. smearing him for having a "developer mentality" or supporting jeb do not count as rational thoughts, nor do any of gimleteye's small-minded insinuations.
"Small minded insinuations": why don't you be specific? Name the specific objections to my post.
Look up U Tube "The Creature from Jeckyll Island" and watch the seven videos...then maybe buy the book. It is an interesting perspective that makes a lot of sense.
Maybe your critic thinks Codinas $300 million fortune is a buffer against criticism of boards ofvbig public corporations whose bad business practices are costing US taxpayers a hundred billion more or less.
Thinkkkkkkkkkk.
What are Codina's qualifications for being on GM's board?
He is a rich politically connected person?
He knows how to manipulate numbers?
I personally would guess that he is a intellectual light-weight compared to most big corporate boards.
However, I am not an acquaintance of his, I only know him by the people he plays with and the public hearings he pays attorneys for. He may be a very nice person who is in a business requires him to trample over people.
Codina was getting paid $200,000 per year by the GM shareholders to protect their interests? How did that go?
Merrill Lynch? Codina on its Board too? How did that go?
Is Codina on any other Boards? Time to short those stocks?
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