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Doing Company Research: A Resource Guide

Officers & Directors

Union Fire Company listing of officers and member for 1839. Edmund Hanley/president; Wm B Magruder, vp; Charles Calvert, secretary, JOP Degges; Assistant secretary; Samuel Stott, treasure; there was a Standing Committee, Engine Division with Samuel Drury, Captain, Property Men, Hose Division with George W Harkness, Captain, House Guards, Hose Carriage Guards, and Suction Men, George Theodore McGlue was keeper of the engine, a list of honorary members, and information on when the meetings were scheduled
Union Fire Company of Washington City (Officers, Members). 1838. Printed Ephemera Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

There are a number of sources and strategies if you are looking for information on officers and directors. However, what can be found depends on the person or position being investigated, as well as what the company chooses to provide. It is most common for information on the top executive and directors to be available, but finding information on individual lower on the corporate hierarchy can be much more difficult. For anyone looking to find email addresses for executives, that is often even more difficult than finding the officers themselves. Most companies don't list many if any of them and most databases don't include them so creativity will be important and an article on LLRX.com External has some strategies.

There are sources and tools that may be helpful for finding information about officers and directors, and to a limited degree those lower on the corporate hierarchy.

Company Web Pages

This should be the first stop for anyone researching the executives and directors. The About Us or the Investor Relations sections are usually the first stop. Often press releases on appointments/changes are a good source of biographical information.

SEC Filings

The Proxy (or DEF14A) is the annual filing that goes with the 10K that lists the officers and directors. It often includes biographical information but more importantly this is where the compensation packages are discussed. However, this is usually limited to senior executives and board directors only.

LinkedIn

This is a good source for finding people who work at particular companies, but also for the type of information that may appear on their CV. Access can be tricky depending on the permissions they have granted.

The Internet

General Internet searching may be helpful for finding the types of information that may not be well captured in other sources. It may be helpful for identifying people but that would be in limited cases.

Articles

News sources and industry publications can also provide clues about who works for a company and what they do. See the Searching for the News section of this guide for databases and sources.

Subscription & Internet Resources

Most company oriented databases will have the top officers and directors but they won't really go beyond what is found in an SEC filing. However, news sources, much like searching the Internet, generally can turn up the type of information that may not show up in other sources as well as finding individuals that may not be found elsewhere. Below we have included a subscription resources the Library subscribes to.

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.