Shipbroking giant Clarksons has appointed a long-time JP Morgan executive to its board as an independent non-executive director.
Laurence Hollingworth will join the board with immediate effect, the London-headquartered broking house said on Thursday.
Hollingworth will join the board as a member of the remuneration committee and audit and risk committee.
His background is within capital markets, following a 37-year career in stockbroking with Cazenove and then JP Morgan, when it acquired the British investment bank.
Sir Bill Thomas, Clarksons' chairman, said the firm was "delighted" to welcome Hollingworth to the board.
"He has significant and relevant experience, and the board and management of Clarksons will benefit hugely from the strategic perspectives, challenge and insight that he will bring to the business," Thomas said.
While at JP Morgan, Hollingworth has held several senior leadership roles including head of UK investment banking, head of EMEA industry coverage and as vice-chairman for equity capital markets EMEA.
He is currently non-executive chairman at on-demand video service ABM Communications and a non-executive director at Recycling Technologies, which has developed new ways to convert plastic waste into feedstock for producing new plastics.
Remuneration issue
It is a key time for Clarksons to receive a new member on its committee for remuneration, which has been a hot topic for the firm and its investors, particularly with respect to executive pay.
The issue has been so important to Clarksons that earlier this year its chairman Thomas, remuneration chair committee chair Tim Miller and director Peter Backhouse undertook a "major engagement process" with holders of 49% of Clarksons' stock to ensure that a shareholder revolt did not force the firm to break the contracts of chief executive Andi Case and finance chief Jeff Woyda.
The two executives each have binding contracts of employment that were signed 14 years ago, which remunerates them with generous performance-based bonuses on top of six-figure salaries.
The engagement process appears to have paid off and investors approved the company's remuneration report and policy at the firm's annual general meeting in May, with 71% voting to green-light the resolutions.
Case earned £2.76m ($3.5m in today's dollars) in 2018, down from £4.04m in 2017. Much of the remuneration came in the form of bonuses.
Likewise, Woyda’s total pay package was worth $959,000 in 2018, down from £1.34m in 2017.
London-listed Clarksons halted dividend payments in March this year in light of the global coronavirus pandemic.
It said it will defer the decision on the amount and timing of the dividend until later in the year once the impact of the virus on maritime markets and the shipbroking giant's business becomes clearer.
