NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ISS, the world's leading provider of proxy voting and corporate governance services announced today that Chris Cernich has joined the firm as its Director of M&A and Proxy Fight Research.

In this role, Cernich will oversee analyses and vote recommendations for high profile and contentious mergers and proxy fights via its premium research solution, M&A Edge. M&A Edge clients include leading institutional investors, hedge funds, investment banks and law firms.

“We are delighted to welcome Chris to ISS,” said Dr. Martha Carter, Head of ISS Global Research. “Chris’ deep industry and research experience will add significant value for our clients.”

Prior to joining ISS, Cernich was Director of Mergers & Acquisitions and Quantitative Analysis at Proxy Governance, Inc. His previous management experience includes eight years in corporate finance and strategy at the Ford Motor Company.

Cernich is also the chief author of two notable studies sponsored by the IRRC Institute: The Effectiveness of Hybrid Boards (2009) which examined the impact of shareholder activism on financial performance and “Compensation Peer Groups at Companies With High Pay” (2010, forthcoming), which examines systemic bias in compensation benchmarking processes at S&P 500 companies.

Cernich received an MBA from the University of Michigan in 2000, majoring in Finance and Strategy.

About ISS

ISS, founded in 1985 as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., is the world's leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants. ISS' services include objective proxy research and analysis, end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions, turnkey securities class-action claims management, and reliable governance data and modeling tools. More than 1,700 clients rely on ISS' expertise to help them make informed corporate governance decisions. ISS is located in financial centers worldwide and is a subsidiary of MSCI Inc., a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investors globally.