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50/50 and Majority Action

Who we are

 

Majority Action is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that merged in 2018 with the 50/50 Climate Project.  Together we have launched the Climate Majority Project to continue the 50/50 Climate Project’s pioneering work of educating and engaging investors on the critical role of corporate governance in confronting climate change. 

Today, the Climate Majority Project works to harness the power of investors to promote climate responsibility on corporate boards and accelerate economy-wide decarbonization. 

We work with some of the world’s largest institutional investors to encourage public companies to adopt responsible corporate governance practices and implement long-term strategies in line with the scale of our climate challenge.

We do this through original research, investor education, corporate engagement, and public communications. We are supported by foundations interested in addressing the climate change crisis. We do not accept funding from fossil fuel interests.

 
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Leadership

Climate Majority Project is overseen by the leadership of Majority Action, a 501(c)(3) organization.

 

Executive Director

 
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Eli Kasargod-Staub leads the Climate Majority Project. He is co-founder and executive director of Majority Action, which houses Climate Majority Project, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation. He has worked at the intersection of corporate governance and corporate accountability his entire career, developing engagement strategy for the Climate Majority Project’s predecessor organization (the 50/50 Climate Project) and leading research and corporate governance initiatives at the Service Employees International Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.  Eli serves on the board of directors of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. Read more about Eli’s work here.

 
 

Board of Directors

 
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Laura Berry currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Praxis Mutual Funds, a Trustee for the Connecticut-based William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, and on the Board of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) Education & Workforce Partnership. She is a member of the global advisory board of Cornerstone Capital Group in New York City and the Comitato Etico di Etica, Sgr in Milan, Italy.

Laura Berry recently retired from nearly a decade or service as Executive Director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a New York-based coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors, representing over $200 billion in invested capital. Prior to joining ICCR, Laura served The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven for five years; beginning her tenure as Vice President for Development and serving as its Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Services, responsible for a $15 million grantmaking portfolio from The Foundation’s nearly $300 million endowment.

In 2001, Laura began her professional commitment to the non-profit sector after a 17-year career as a Large Cap Value Portfolio Manager with analytical responsibility covering the Pharmaceutical industry. She began her career as in the specialty chemical industry as a Chemical Engineer. Laura received her Certified Financial Planner designation from Quinnipiac University, holds an M.S. from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. from Michigan Technology University.

She lives with her husband in both New Haven, CT and Harlem, NY; spending as much time as possible in Boston, MA where their adorable and brilliant first grandchild lives (as well as their adult children). Boston is also home to her beloved Boston Red Sox, as well as the “lyric little bandbox” known as Fenway Park.

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Carolyn Laub works with social justice non-profits, foundations and coalitions on strategy, policy advocacy, scaling and replication, movement building, and fundraising. She has deep expertise in LGBTQ equality, education justice, intersectional organizing, youth leadership, civic engagement, and social entrepreneurship.

Previously, Carolyn founded and led Gay-Straight Alliance Network, a youth leadership social justice organization advocating for safety, non-discrimination, equity, and restorative justice in schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) young people. She grew the number of GSA clubs in California from 40 to 940, trained youth advocates who helped pass 12 pieces of legislation, and took her statewide model in California to scale by replicating in four other states and creating a national network serving 3,000+ GSA clubs in 39 states.

Carolyn is an Echoing Green Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, and Pahara-Aspen Fellow, which is part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network

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Nell Minow served as president of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. and as an attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, and the United States Department of Justice.

In addition, she was dubbed “the CEO Killer” by Fortune magazine for her record of ousting non-performing CEOs at companies like Sears, American Express, Kodak, and Waste Management. Business Week online called her “the queen of good corporate gov­ernance.” 

She is co-author with Robert A.G. Monks of three books, including five editions of the leading textbook on corpo­rate governance. In 2008, she received the highest award in the field from the International Corporate Governance Network and in 2013 she received a lifetime achievement award from Corporate Secretary Magazine. Ms. Minow frequently comments on the financial markets in the press and on television, including op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and USA Today, and on network news broadcasts.

 
 
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Dennak Murphy was a founding member of the Service Employees International Union’s Capital Stewardship Program. Beginning in 1999, he worked with CalPERS, Ca!STRS and other large public pension funds in the U.S. promoting the long-term retirement security interests of nearly one million SEIU members.

Corporate governance has long been an important focus of Mr. Murphy’s work on behalf of long-term investors. He is responsible for two successful resolutions at Washington Mutual in 2008 and Bank of America in 2009 which led to the resignations of CEOs at both firms.

His work is now focused on emerging governance, sustain­ability and fiduciary issues in the wake of the global finan­cial crisis and the challenges and opportunities climate change will bring to pension investors.

 
 
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James Rucker is a technologist and software entrepreneur turned activist who has spent the last 16 years seeking to use technology to strengthen the voice of everyday people in creating political and social change, with an emphasis on racial and social justice.

James is co-founder and former executive director of Color of Change, an online community of over a million people dedicated to amplifying the political voice of Black America.  James also co-founded Citizen Engagement Lab (CEL), an incubator for creating similar efforts for other underrepresented communities. Previously, James served as Director of Grassroots Mobilization for MoveOn.org, playing a lead role in technology and organizing strategy.

James serves on the boards of Color of Change, Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, MoveOn.org, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

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William Patterson has worked in shareholder advocacy, cor­porate governance and financial reform for 30 years. He has won shareholder majority votes for gover­nance reforms and spearheaded initia­tives that led to the removal of CEOs and directors at Fortune 500 companies. He currently serves as a trustee of the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which, with $60 billion in assets, serves 860,000 plan participants

Patterson founded and ran both the AFL-CIO Office of Investment and the CtW Investment Group. These new offices advanced the interests of worker-beneficiaries in the capital markets by leading shareholder initiatives.

From 1994 to 1996, he served as co-chair of the Council of Institutional Investors. Mr. Patterson has served on the World Bank’s Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG). Mr. Patterson created the Long-View Fund, an Amalgamated Bank mutual fund delivering value through active corpo­rate governance reform that has attracted over $6 billion in investment assets.

Directorship magazine named him to the Directorship 100, as one of the most influential individuals in corporate governance.

 

In memoriam

 
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Richard C. Ferlauto spent more than 25 years working to reform financial markets as a leading advocate for expanding shareholder rights, targeting pension investment for sustainable economic growth, and reinvesting in communities. 

From 2002 until joining the SEC in 2010, Mr. Ferlauto served as the director of Corporate Governance and Pension Investment for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). He was recognized by Directorship Magazine as one of the most influential people in corporate governance from 2006 through 2010.

He sat on the advisory board of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. He also served as a member of the board of CERES, Inc. from 2004 until 2010.