Ed DiSanto, executive vice president, chief accounting officer and general counsel at American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT), joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWise 2017: NAREIT’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in La Quinta, California.
DiSanto observed that a company’s board of directors has a fiduciary obligation to guide the company, but that obligation must be tailored to the nature of the business.
In 2017, the challenge for boards is to make sure that the management team is in tune with all of the developments surrounding tax reform, DiSanto said. “There has to be extra communication this year,” he noted.
DiSanto pointed out that executive boards also face independent pressure to perform at a higher level from sources such as monitoring bodies and activist investors.
DiSanto also discussed legal barriers to developing the necessary infrastructure to meet increased digital demand.