Another stewardship issue is transparency. Vanguard refuses to disclose the salary of its CEO, which all public companies have to disclose, because of a technicality. Here's Vanguard's unsatisfying explanation:
http://vanguardblog.com/2010/04/27/yes- ... -question/.
Vanguard Blog wrote:About one in four comments focused on the compensation of Vanguard executives.
“How much does CEO McNabb make . . . How about the compensation packages for the Directors . . . How about the top 100 compensated employees.”
Although I know this response won’t satisfy those concerned about compensation, Vanguard’s view is simple: We don’t disclose the compensation earned by any crew member. We believe that compensation matters deserve the same privacy protections that we provide to shareholders and their account information.
As their employers, who pay the money, I don't see why we shouldn't know. I have a hard time believing that the privacy of the President of the United States, a Member of Congress, or the CEO of Microsoft is violated because taxpayers and shareholders know their salaries.
The attitude of TIAA-CREF is very different:
http://www1.tiaa-cref.org/public/about/ ... index.html
TIAA-CREF wrote:Although TIAA is not subject to the regulations governing public company executive compensation disclosure, we do so voluntarily for the benefit of TIAA’s participants.