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Case Studies

Case Studies

The engagements below are based on real cases handled through One New York. Names and figures have been altered where needed to protect member and company confidentiality, but the resolutions reflect how our work typically progresses in practice.

An empty board meeting room

2026 · Technology · Silicon Valley

A Founder-Led Technology Company Adds Independence to Its Board

The Concern

A technology company had operated for close to a decade with its founder holding both the chief executive and chairman roles, and no lead independent director in place to run sessions outside management's presence. Two members holding a combined position of roughly four percent identified a related-party vendor contract, run through a company controlled by the founder's brother, that had only ever received sign-off from the founder himself. The members raised the question of whether the board's current structure gave the company's remaining independent directors a genuine way to weigh in on matters connected to the founder.

The Resolution

One New York opened a private conversation with two of the company's outside directors, neither with a financial relationship to the founder. Over four board cycles, those directors proposed and the full board adopted a lead independent director role with defined authority to set the agenda for sessions held without the founder present. The related-party vendor contract moved to a standing annual review by the audit committee going forward.

Electricity transmission towers at dusk

2026 · Energy & Utilities · New Mexico · Capital Allocation vs Strategy

An Energy Company Reconciles Strategy with Its Capital Budget

The Concern

An energy company had published a five-year strategy centered on shifting a growing share of its generation portfolio toward renewable sources. Its capital budget for the following two years told a different story, allocating the large majority of new spending toward extending the life of existing fossil fuel plants. Three members holding positions across the company's debt and equity raised a shared question with its investor relations team: did the disclosed strategy and the funded capital plan actually point in the same direction?

The Resolution

Following a request from One New York, the company's chief financial officer walked the members through its project-by-project capital plan in a private session. The company committed to publishing a reconciliation table in its following annual report, aligning disclosed strategic priorities with actual capital spending by category, and agreed to review that reconciliation with its audit committee ahead of each annual filing.

The interior of a clothing store

2025 · Retail & Consumer · New York · Executive Compensation and Severance

A Retailer Caps Executive Severance After an Outsized Payout

The Concern

A retail company's departing chief executive, who left the role after an activist campaign forced a change in leadership, received a severance payment equal to nearly four times his base salary and target bonus combined. That figure sat well above the typical multiple disclosed by peer retailers in recent proxy filings. A member holding a long-standing position in the company raised the case with the compensation committee chair, asking how the existing severance formula had produced a payout so far outside the range paid at comparable companies.

The Resolution

The compensation committee reviewed its severance formula against a peer group compiled by its own outside compensation consultant. It adopted a policy capping future severance payments at two times salary and target bonus combined for any departure tied to a change in company strategy, and disclosed the new formula in the following year's proxy statement.

A data centre corridor

2025 · Insurance & Financial Services · Boston · Cyber Risk Disclosure

An Insurer Tightens Its Timeline for Disclosing a Cyber Incident

The Concern

An insurance company discovered a cyber incident affecting a portion of its policyholder data and disclosed it to investors five months after its internal security team confirmed the breach. That timeline ran well past the sixty-day window the company had described in its own risk factor disclosures the previous year. Several members raised the inconsistency directly with the company's general counsel, asking how the internal escalation process had allowed that much time to pass before a public disclosure went out.

The Resolution

The general counsel walked the members through the company's internal incident response timeline and agreed to tighten the escalation trigger requiring board notification. The audit committee now receives a report on any material incident within two weeks of internal confirmation, and the company updated its risk factor disclosure to reflect the revised timeline.

Get Involved

If your firm has encountered a similar pattern at a company you hold, learn more about how engagements begin on the Engagement & Stewardship page, or Apply for Membership to bring a concern to One New York directly.