NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - Glass Lewis on Monday

backed Ancora Holdings' campaign to remove three long-serving

directors at Forward Air ( FWRD ), becoming the second proxy

advisory firm to urge investors to withhold votes on the trio's

upcoming election.

The Glass Lewis recommendation, seen by Reuters, comes hours

after Institutional Shareholder Services, another prominent

advisory firm, urged investors to withhold votes from the three

targeted directors.

Together the reports, which will guide how money managers

such as BlackRock ( BLK ) and Vanguard will vote at Forward

Air's ( FWRD ) June 11 annual shareholder meeting, offer considerable

support to activist Ancora's campaign to have the freight

forwarder sell itself.

"The specific elements underpinning Ancora's current

campaign - the bulk of which we do not believe are meaningfully

blunted by the board's limited response - establish persuasive

cause for investors to take direct action at this time," Glass

Lewis wrote.

Ancora, which owns roughly 4% of Forward Air ( FWRD ), launched a

"withhold the vote" campaign to force out Chairman George Mayes

and directors Javier Polit and Laurie Tucker for their roles in

an unpopular acquisition and to accelerate a sale. It wants the

company to sell itself, and in January 2025 Forward Air ( FWRD ) said it

was proceeding with such a review.

Company policy requires a director to resign if they receive

less than 50.1% support in a shareholder vote.

Eleven directors are on the ballot.

Forward Air ( FWRD ) called the board "highly qualified and actively

engaged" and said "removing approximately 30% of the board at

this time is unnecessary and would be destabilizing to the

company and the process."

Ancora said on Sunday the ISS recommendation should serve as

a "wake-up call" that investors want to see a sale.

Forward Air ( FWRD ), valued at roughly $503 million, has seen its

stock price tumble from a high of $121 in late 2021 to $16.56 on

Monday, partly because the 2024 Omni Logistics acquisition added

debt without promised cost savings as well as a loss of investor

confidence.