MBNA Corp. shareholders today voted 56% in favor of a TIAA-CREF proposal calling for at least two-thirds of directors of the Wilmington, Del.-based company to be independent, according to MBNA. The withholding vote on four of the six directors up for election ranged from 35% to 47%; all six were re-elected.
The vote followed MBNA's announcement last Friday naming two new independent directors, Mary M. Boies, a partner at the law firm of Boies & McInnis, and Laura S. Unger, former acting SEC chairman. With their appointment, seven of the board's nine members will be independent, according to an MBNA statement. TIAA-CREF disputes the MBNA definition of independence.
