Reuters: Lifting the Lid: Home Depot's no-show board raises ire

Professor B. Espen Eckbo via Reuters about the absence of Home Depot Inc.'s directors from this year's annual meeting who didn't have couarage to face upset investors to answer unpleasant questions about CEO's pay, poor performance of the stock and other issues:

"There is no question that a board member ought to be at these meetings -- all of them," said B. Espen Eckbo of Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. "Anything else is a statement that they may not take their responsibilities as seriously as they should." Eckbo added that growing shareholder activism, particularly from the institutional community, has increased focus on annual meetings. "This is the kind of activity that will upset institutional investors and is really counterproductive," he said.

Source: Reuters by Karen Jacobs and Jonathan Keehner May 27, 2006