Robert A. G. Monks was a globally respected author and pioneering practitioner in corporate governance. Mr. Monks was a co-founder of GMI Ratings (formerly The Corporate Library). He was also the founder of Lens Governance Advisors, a law firm that advises on corporate governance in the settlement of shareholder litigation, and a co-founder of ValueEdge Advisors, a corporate governance research and advisory firm. Mr. Monks was the founder and president of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc., now the leading corporate governance consulting firm, advising shareholders with assets in excess of $1 trillion on how to vote their proxies. He founded the pioneering investment fund known as LENS, which since 1992 has developed the “institutional activist” mode of investment. Mr. Monks served as the President of Henley Management College’s Center for Board Effectiveness from 2000 to October 2003. He was also the board chairman of Governance for Owners – G40 – for both the London and U.S. based share-ownership services venture which initially focused on a European fund informed by the principles of value to be added by proper governance. Mr. Monks died on April 29, 2025, at the age of 91.
