Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

(0:00) About the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026)  (0:55) Intro (2:44) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (3:30) Start of interview.  (4:16) Origin story Marie Bafus (5:30) Origin story Wendy Grasso (7:34) Diving into their article AI in the Boardroom: What Directors Need to Know Now (4:14) Why AI Needs Board Oversight (12:00) Caremark and Oversigh...

(0:00) About the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026)  (0:54) Intro (2:15) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (3:01) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Terry ( E131 ) from 2024. (3:50) About Terry's role as Co-Chair of WilmerHale's Sports & Gaming Practice  (4:52) Sports Investment Boom, now including institutional investors and priva...

(0:00) Intro to this episode (2:52) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (3:39) Start of interview (4:18) Keith Giarman 's origin story. About DHR Global (9:33) Tony Abate 's origin story. Current boards: Wolfspeed , GTT Communications , Mitel , and Tacora Resources . (23:52) Turnaround Board Playbook . Three phases: 1) Fix the balance sheet; 2) Turnaround strategy...

(0:00) Intro *Reference to the Boardroom Governance Summit at Limerick Lane Cellars, Healdsburg, California (Aug 26-27, 2026)  (2:12) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:59) Start of interview.  (4:00) Origin Story of Emily, and Stewardship  (6:15) From Engineer to CEO  (7:14) Companies that she led: Elo Touch Systems (97-00), Capstone Turbine (02-03), Apexon...

(0:00) Intro, *Reference to the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026)  (2:42) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (3:28) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Greg ( E136 ) from 2024. (5:14) Market Boom and AI Supercycle (6:14) AI Is Changing Everything (9:06) How does a VC use AI (venture business: sourcing, selection, and stewardship) (1...

(0:00) Intro (1:47) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:34) Start of interview  (4:12) Laurie's origin story (6:19) From Management Consulting ( Accenture ) to Product Innovation ( Visa ). "What they all had in common was that I got to start with a blank sheet of paper." (8:52) Toward Venture Capital and Board Governance. From Sun Microsystems to Packet Design...

(0:00) Intro (1:34) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:21) Start of interview  (3:20) Marie's origin story (5:19) Career Path in Law and Governance. Her time at HP and Agilent Technologies. (7:50) Transition to eBay  (9:57) Shareholder Activism and eBay's Story * CNBC clip with Ryan Cohen (14:42) Governance Roles and Board Memberships (16:50) Her teaching posi...

(0:00) Intro (1:24) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:11) Start of interview *reference to the BRI from LCDA (3:54) Eddie's origin story (6:27) Eddie's investment focus  (7:44) The rise of AI and its impact on him (9:06) Eddie’s roles in investment over the past 35 years (as GP and LP). (8:32) His current endeavors: 1) Board member in mutual funds ( Calvert F...

(0:00) Intro (1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:23) Start of interview (3:11) Steve's origin story (5:05) His Journey into Journalism (6:02) The Rise of Governance Movement (7:00) Transformation of Board Accountability. Reference to the 1992 Board coup at GM and other historical changes. (10:24) Communication in Governance (12:25) Establishing Gladstone...

(0:00) Intro, *Reference to prior episode with Ben Means ( E105 ) (1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:23) Start of interview.  (3:39) The Premise of his new book Family Business Law (6:48) Understanding Shareholder Oppression (10:17) The Three-Circle Model Explained (13:34) The Personal Impact of Family Business (16:24) Boards in Family Businesses (18:...

(0:00) Intro (1:40) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:26) Start of interview (3:19) Eric's origin story (5:00) The Lean Startup Journey (10:23) About The Long-Term Stock Exchange (18:00) Governance and Eric's New Book Incorruptible (24:14) On Governance in Startups vs. Public Companies and so-called "best practices." "One of the key ideas in the book is that...

(0:00) Intro (1:31) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:18) Start of interview (3:10) Ben's origin story (7:14) Embracing Nevada as Home. Joining University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2017. (10:14) Joining Wilson Sonsini as Senior of Counsel (2026) (13:00) The Reincorporation Movement. Competition between Delaware, Texas, Nevada and others. *Reference to E20...

(0:00) Intro (1:35) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:22) Start of interview (3:01) Joelle's origin story (7:00) The Journey of Paradigm , the culture company she co-founded in 2014. "Our goal is to help organizations build healthy and high performing cultures where people from all backgrounds can come together, do their best work and thrive." (11:15) On the...

(0:00) Intro (1:29) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:15) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Leo Strine ( E100 ) (3:09) The Call of Conscience and The Current Moment (reference to his speech at the Weinberg Center in Oct of 2025) (5:18) Skepticism about Credibility of the Elite Among the Youth (7:02) The Ethical Muscle (8:20) Acknowledging...

(0:00) Intro (2:04) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:50) Start of interview (3:51) Betsy's origin story (9:14) The HealthSouth Board Scandal (16:35) Her preference when picking what boards to serve on (17:30) Insights VC-backed Boards and role and profile of the independent director in this context (21:20) Insights on PE-backed Boards and role and profile of...

(0:00) Intro (1:19) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:05) Start of interview  (2:48) Michael's origin story . Academic Journey and Early Influences. *reference to Correlation Ventures (8:55) About his paper Board Dynamics over the Startup Life Cycle (2020) with Nadia Malenko .  (11:30) Role of independent directors in VC-backed companies. (16:05) Control Dyna...

(0:00) Intro (1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:22) Start of interview (3:21) Jennifer's origin story (8:06) Journey to Treasury starting with Sara Lee Corporation, to Cisco and eBay (20-year career in Treasury) (15:05) From Box to CFO roles at Coupons.com and Smartsheet (took it public as CFO) (20:50) Building a Board Career: True Search , Auth0 (acq b...

(0:00) Intro (1:45) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:31) Start of interview (3:04) Jeff's origin story . Began career in investment banking at First Boston before transitioning to a 25-year run as CFO across media companies (King World, Nielsen) and tech (DoubleClick, Oracle). (7:16) Transitioning to Bessemer Venture Partners . (8:40) Focusing on his board c...

(0:00) Intro (2:00) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:45) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episodes with Joe ( E1 from '20 , E35 from '21 , E84 from '23 , E123 from '24 and E161 from '25 ) (4:43) IPO Environment . Reference to paper by Mark Roe: Half the Firms, Double the Profits (11:58) Elon Musk's $1 Trillion Pay Plan "We will pay you an outrageous...

(0:00) Intro (1:31) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:18) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episodes with David ( E24 from Nov 2020 and E159 from Dec 2024 ) (3:22) 2025 highlights from the American College of Governance Counsel (4:55) The Rome Conference on AI, Ethics, and the Future of Corporate Governance (6:52) The Dual-Class Share Debate (referenc...

(0:00) Intro. (1:27) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel . (2:14) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episodes/reports with Richard ( E126 from Feb 2024 and E158 from Dec 2024 ) (3:11) AI dominance in public and private markets (4:14) About WSGR's 2025 SV150 Corporate Governance Report. Major Findings in DEI Disclosure (impact on board diversity ) (12:25) Broa...

(0:00) Intro (1:21) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:08) Start of interview (2:36) Michelle's origin story (4:33) The Origins of Footnoted (started in 2003) (6:36) Understanding SEC Filings and Disclosures (7:20) The " Friday Night Dump " (9:34) The State of Public vs. Private Markets (12:40) The Rise of Private Markets and Challenges of Public Markets (18:4...

(0:00) Intro (1:30) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:16) Start of interview (3:01) Erik's origin story (6:10) His role at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. (7:49) Exploring his book Catching Cheats (9:39) About the field of forensic economics (11:00) The Challenge of Private Market Data and Fraud *Reference to our Startup Litigation D...

(0:00) Intro (1:55) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:42) Start of interview (3:56) Sue's origin story (5:42) The Rise of Biotech and her Career Journey ( BioRad , Dupont , Amersham and Affymetrix ) (12:04) Transition to Venture Capital ( Mohr Davidow Ventures , GE Ventures ) (14:55) Evolution of Corporate Venture Capital (since ~2010) "They [now] represent a...

(0:00) Intro (1:25) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:12) Start of interview (3:01) Karen's origin story (3:44) Early Career and Transition to Technology (5:40) The Dot-Com Era and her time at Brobeck and later at Orrick. (8:50) Her transition to Prosper Marketplace (Chris Larsen's company)  (9:40) Her time at Box, Inc . and Apple *Reference to E179 with Jack...