South Dakota
5 Companies Headquartered in South Dakota
Agtegra Cooperative, Black Hills Corporation, Pathward, Sanford Health, TinyURL
South Dakota Average CBR Summary
Avg. Company Rating
Avg. Rating Criteria
| Criteria | Risk Level |
|---|---|
| Cancellations | Lower Risk |
| Discriminatory Philanthropy | Lower Risk |
| Employment Protection | Medium Risk |
Corporate Weaponization
| Criteria | Risk Level |
|---|---|
| Advocacy Bias | Medium Risk |
| Funding | Lower Risk |
| Political Actions | Lower Risk |
Corporate Governance and Public Policy
State Leadership
State Pension Fund Summary
South Dakota has one main public pension system: the South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS). The assets of the SDRS are overseen by the South Dakota Investment Council (SDIC).
- The SDIC board consists of 8 voting members with training and experience in the field of investment or finance: 5 members appointed by the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council; 3 members Ex Officio (the State Treasurer, the Commissioner of School and Public Lands, and the Executive Director of the SDRS).
- The SDIC does not disclose the identity of its general investment consultant in its 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
The “By Asset Manager” and “Asset Manager Voting” tables show the proxy voting records of the state’s asset managers who manage the pensions’ stock market portfolio through index, exchange-traded, or mutual funds. Since these are externally managed funds, the asset managers typically retain and exercise proxy voting privileges. This data is used to calculate the state’s pro-ESG and anti-ESG scores to see how the state leverages its externally managed funds in proxy voting.
South Dakota does not disclose its proxy voting records for directly owned securities through pension fund portfolios and refused to comply with a FOIA request for this information. The 1792 Exchange encourages South Dakota to publish its proxy voting records instead of keeping its pensioners in the dark about how the state votes on ESG issues with their money.