Chapter 26 - THE LAST MERCER AUDIT
Twenty-five years after Dad created the Stewardship Covenant, Mercer Holdings completed a generational governance review.
No scandal triggered it.
Routine.
Independent auditors checked:
Related-party contracts.
Family loans.
Medical proxy policies.
Voting rights.
Board conflicts.
Everything boring.
One minor issue emerged.
A cousin’s consulting company had charged above market.
The contract was rebid.
No cover-up.
No threats.
No incapacity petition.
The system worked.
Madison and I attended together.
She nudged me.
“Imagine Mom seeing this.”
Evelyn was still alive.
“Mom can read the report.”
“You know what I mean.”
Yes.
The auditors did not fear us.
That was the measure.
At the end, trustees proposed retiring the last family-specific emergency substitution clause.
Medical incapacity would be handled by professional fiduciaries under ordinary standards.
No daughter.
No mother.
No sister.
I voted yes.
May you like
Madison too.
Our family had spent years learning that illness should never become a shortcut to someone else’s power.
