Jan. 29, 2020
Vanessa Countryman, Secretary Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549-0609 Re: File Number S7-22-19 Dear Ms. Countryman, I care very deeply about people. My sales and marketing career has taken me into the healthcare industry now and I see each day how important it is for people to look out for one another and advocate for those who cannot speak up for themselves. As a result, I’m writing to encourage the Securities and Exchange Commission in its efforts to reform the proxy system and the rules that control how proxy advisory firms impact the money men and women from all walks of life have set aside for retirement years. The proxy system is supposed to deal with the details of managing retirement funds, on the administration side. Funds for personal retirement accounts and for public pension accounts have fund managers with a fiduciary duty to their investors; these managers must grow the money entrusted to them or they can be replaced. I do not see that the proxy system currently has any such safeguard against proxy firms that do not operate with this same mindset of generating returns. When men and women have saved for retirement their entire lives and expect to have enough in their nest eggs for their retirement years, it is cruel and irresponsible to threaten their financial stability with unaccountable influences like proxy firms. There must be rules that lay out exactly how proxy firms can operate with the retirement funds they can influence, and these firms should be held to high and strict standards the way fund managers themselves are. I appreciate your consideration. Norma Colwell Harlingen, TX