Charles E. “Ed” Haldeman, Jr.

Chairman of the Board

Dear Fellow Shareholder:  

Last year I used this letter to tell you about the Board of Directors’ annual offsite meeting near Silicon Valley. We decided to meet there because technology plays such a critical, value-generating role at S&P Global that we wanted to meet with and learn from some of the most respected and innovative high-tech company leaders.

This year I want to explain why we chose to hold our most recent strategy session in India.

There are few strategic business hubs anywhere in the world as important for S&P Global as India. In fact, S&P Global today has more employees in India than in any other country. The teams in India represent some of the brightest, most entrepreneurial and enterprising people in the company. They are technologists, finance professionals, product developers and analysts. They’re passionate about what they do, and they love working for our company.

During our time in India, we visited four cities and got to meet with many employees. We walked the floors of the offices and heard directly from employees about how they’re using advanced technologies to develop new customer applications. We heard about what motivates them and their interest in skills-based training programs.

I share this story for two reasons.

First, to express that the Board takes an active and very serious approach to its responsibilities of overseeing the company’s business affairs. We have a first-class management team. But it’s important for the Board to see operations for ourselves, to ask questions and to learn firsthand how people in the field are executing the company’s strategy.

The second reason is that S&P Global’s India operations, in many ways, represent the very best of what our company has to offer. This includes a customer-first mentality, ingenuity, collaboration across divisions, intellectual curiosity and a commitment to community service. 

Throughout my experience in the financial services industry, including my time running asset management firms, my focus has always been on delivering for investors. But it’s true that long-term investors also keep their eye on how well their portfolio companies are serving other important constituents. Are they delivering value to customers and to their communities? Are they taking care of their employees?

S&P Global is a strong company because it knows the importance of all of these factors in producing results. 

In 2019, S&P Global generated some very good results. The company’s total shareholder return was 62.3%, compared to a return of 28.9% for the S&P 500 and 44.7% for its peer group.

I am very pleased to note that others have taken notice of the S&P Global management team’s performance.

Last year Harvard Business Review named our company’s President and CEO Doug Peterson one of its 100 best-performing CEOs in the world. HBR ’s methodology considers a company’s financial performance as well as an evaluation of a company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

Doug and the leadership team earned other accolades last year. The Drucker Institute ranked S&P Global 50th out of the top 250 “Best Managed Companies of 2019.” The Drucker Institute employed five performance dimensions to measure companies: customer satisfaction, employee engagement and development, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength. Also, Institutional Investor magazine named S&P Global to its 2020 All-America Executive Team rankings.

Those are well deserved honors and they are a reflection of management’s ability to serve many different stakeholders.

As you’ll read in Doug’s letter, he has clear plans to power further growth. No matter how you may know of or work with S&P Global — either as a shareholder, client, employee, supplier or just someone who’s interested in our company —  I hope you’ll take away why we’re excited about our performance and prospects. Certainly, there are a lot of recent accomplishments of which to be proud. There’s also a lot to look forward to in 2020 and beyond.

In closing, I want to say thank you to my fellow Directors for all of their contributions. Bill Amelio joined our Board last year just after I completed writing my 2018 shareholder letter. He’s been a terrific addition to the Board, demonstrating once again our commitment to an ongoing process of adding a diverse set of skills, perspectives and backgrounds.

And I thank you for your interest in and support of S&P Global.

Sincerely,