Why boards are thumbing their nose at activist investors. : For example, investor Nelson Peltz was turned down in his efforts to get on the board of Procter & Gamble (PG), but did succeed in doing so at General Electric (GE). GE’s stock recently traded down at a 10-year low, and many believe it is only a matter of time until it cuts its  dividend. Pershing Square Capital Management founder Bill Ackman, meanwhile, has been trying to get on the board at Automatic Data Processing (ADP), and he owns nearly 10% of the company.