New store in Pittsburg to host TGT annual meeting

A lot of companies are content to conduct their annual meetings in a hotel ballroom near their headquarters, but not Target. This year the retailer and its senior executives are schlepping east to Pittsburgh where the company’s annual meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 8 at 1:30 p.m. at a store located about five miles east of downtown Pittsburgh at 6231 Penn Avenue. According to the company, “This location allows us to showcase our current general merchandise store design in the latter stages of construction prior to opening.”

The store is scheduled to open in July, and its nearly completed status allows room to conduct a meeting that will include prepared remarks by chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel and a question and answer session with top executives.

Target’s shareholders’ meeting tend to be rather uneventful affairs, expect for the one a few years back when hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was pushing for an alternative slate of directors. Don’t look for any such theatrics this year, although there are a couple of proposals from shareholders on the agenda.

One proposal calls for the company to adopt a policy that benchmarks used to establish base and salary and total direct compensation for top executives be less than or equal to the 50th percentile of peers. Another proposal relates to the creation of a report to minimize the environmental impacts of electronics recycling activities.

Making sure executives receive appropriate compensation based on performance and ensuring adequate safeguards are in place around electronics recycling are worthwhile objectives, but Target has policy in place on both fronts, which is why the board recommended shareholders vote “no” on both proposals.