Significantly, ISS states that unilateral board adoption of these provisions will be evaluated under ISS's new policy on board adoption of amendments that materially limit shareholder rights (see above). Shareholder proposals requiring an independent chair. Beginning in 2015, ISS will recommend generally voting for shareholder proposals requiring that the chairman's position be filled by an independent director, taking into consideration: In particular, ISS will support proposals, absent a compelling rationale, where there is an executive or non-independent chair in addition to the CEO, or the chair and CEO roles have recently been recombined. ISS cited the increased number of shareholder proposals calling for independent board chairs — more than doubling over the past five years — as a key reason for this policy change. The decision by some companies to revert to a combined CEO/chair structure was also cited as rationale for the change. Equity Plan Scorecard.