While our vote may not be in that majority in the first year, it can provide an important signal indicating the direction we would like the company to pursue. We sought to balance our pre-announced votes across multiple areas of interest (see our Governance and Engagement Principles below), as well as between pro and con positions, to help highlight our thinking. In this turbulent environment, we felt it was important to zero in on issues we believe are particularly important for companies and stockholders, including operation during the pandemic (including compensation), management of environmental risks, and thoughtful equity, inclusion and diversity (EID) policies, all of which could help paint a picture of management and business quality. Moreover, with corporate engagement expanding globally, we sought to make our presence known in a broader array of markets with one- third of the disclosed votes at international companies.
Pre-announcement of proxy voting intentions is in its infancy and key organizations are highlighting the practice as an effective tool to advance change. As an active manager, we believe that ongoing engagement with corporate managements and boards, including the active use of our proxy votes, is an important means to creating value for clients. By extension, the pre-announcement of our voting choices through the NB Votes program amplifies our impact, helps companies understand what we are seeking to achieve, and, in our view, encourages best practices across industries and among our investor peers. Looking forward, we will watch the follow-through of managements and boards in relation to our votes, and continually assess our own practices to ensure that we are focusing on the right matters and using our leverage in the most effective ways. Throughout this report we discuss several votes we disclosed through the initiative. For a full list of the votes disclosed in 2021, please see our publication, NB Votes: 2021 Neuberger Berman Proxy Voting Positions .
Meetings Voted
2021 Meetings Voted by Region and Percentage Change Since 2018
EMEA 847 Δ 12% 17 %
North America 2,648 Δ 3% 54 %
4,645 MEETINGS VOTED IN 2021
Asia Pacific 1,094 Δ 16% 21 %
Latin America & Caribbean 485 Δ 15% 8 %
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PERCENTAGE OF MEETINGS VOTED
54 2021 ESG ANNUAL REPORT
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