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Shareholder-director communication has become an increasingly critical part of both normal course and contentious investor relations. As the 2016 proxy season comes to a close, more and more companies are realizing it’s risky for boards to wait until there is a shareholder issue before developing a director-shareholder communications strategy. Indeed, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White highlighted the importance of shareholder-director engagement by saying, “the board of directors is – or ought to be – a central player in shareholder engagement.”