An alert reader passed along some helpful information on my March 29, 2012, blog, "ISS Proxy Statement: Do as I Say, Not as I Do?," pointing out that a review of the annual proxy statement filed by the parent company of ISS (MSCI, Inc) revealed an assortment of pay practices that ISS routinely criticizes, including the combined role of CEO and chairman, discretionary annual bonus determinations, long-term incentives that are heavily based on restricted stock units, and single trigger long-term incentive vesting on certain changes-in-control for awards.
ISS did not analyze MSCI, as they were conflicted. Rather, ISS retained corporate governance and proxy voting firm Manifest for the second year running to prepare the pre-meeting research for the MSCI meeting. Manifest gave MSCI's remuneration a "D" grade!
via www.winston.com