Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

0:00 -- Intro. 1:36 -- Start of interview. 2:22 -- Jan's "origin story". 6:34 -- On the background of the investment firm Van Eck , founded by his father John Van Eck in 1955. 10:32 -- About Van Eck today (~$75 billion in AUM, 90% in ETFs). Jan started the ETF business in 2006. 11:45 -- About his article " ESG Died in 2022: CEO Op-Ed ." The problem of concentration of power by the big three (Black...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:38 -- Start of interview. 2:56 -- George's "origin story."  He's based in London since 1988. About his new role at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). 7:24 -- Mike's "origin story." On his experience with ADRs and cross-listings with Latin American companies. His experience working at NYC and Mexican law firms, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:47 -- Start of interview. 2:19 -- Ann's "origin story" .  4:10 -- Her background working with plaintiff law firms , and how that experienced has informed her scholarship. 7:02 -- Take-aways from the Twitter v Musk case , the " trial of the century that wasn't. " "The broader lesson for me is that it's both a vindication and a condemnation of corporate law": Vindication : The outco...

0:00 -- Intro. 2:12 -- Start of interview. 3:00 -- Stephen's "origin story" .  His start with IRRC in Washington, DC (1988). His focus on international corporate governance. 7:01 -- The anti-Apartheid divestment campaign in South Africa. "Most people don't quite realize that in the U.S. the real corporate governance movement -what we might call today the ESG movement- stems from the campaign for a...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:42 -- Start of interview. 3:31 -- Mario's "origin story" .  9:25 -- The origin, evolution and impact of CFIUS . "The (regulatory) process is the bottle, national security is the wine." The driver of CFIUS is national security. 13:11 -- On the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) .  18:18 -- His recommendation on how boards should think about CFIUS matt...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:50 -- Start of interview. 4:09 -- His take on the state of capital markets. From the highs of 2021 to the lows of 2022: the impact of interest rates in asset valuations. 6:59 -- On tech layoffs . "The effects on the labor market are not as large as the numbers suggest." 8:34 --  The impact of downturn on public and private investors. 10:07 -- On AI, ChatGPT and the emergence of th...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:31 -- Start of interview. 1:57 -- Peter's "origin story" .  2:40 -- His career prior to NACD, including at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).  Peter joined NACD in 2000. 4:52 -- On the origin and mission of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) . Founded in 1977 by John Nash . Today the organization has grown to 23,000+ members.  7:02 -- About the NACD Dire...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:40 -- Start of interview. 2:25 -- Lydia's "origin story" .  3:35 -- On her career at Chevron , particularly as Corporate Secretary and Chief Governance Officer. She was the first woman elected Officer at Chevron. 7:22 -- On board agendas . 10:28 -- On how the Corporate Secretary and Chief Governance Officer roles have evolved in U.S. public corporations.  13:56 -- Her personal pat...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:38 -- Start of interview. 2:06 -- Bob's "origin story" . His professional career with PwC and management consulting globally. 4:31 -- On globalization , China and current geopolitical tensions. 6:14 -- His career post PwC. He led a venture-backed SaaS company and became an Adjunct Professor at USC. 7:28 -- About the Digital Directors Network , focused on digital and cybersecurity...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:34 -- Start of interview. 2:28 -- Mary's "origin story" . About her legal career at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. On the influence of Toni Rembe on her board career.   9:13 -- On her transition to a board career, and lawyers as corporate directors . "Boards have prejudice against putting lawyers on boards. I think that is wrong and extremely short sighted [But I think we ar...

0:00 -- Intro [Evan Epstein] 1:30 -- Intro [David Beatty] 3:50 -- Start of interview. 4:55 -- Discussion on unicorns . [see research on unicorn exits ].  9:17 -- On the rise of private markets . 11:57 -- On startup governance . 15:31 -- The importance of governance in downturns (in contrast to bull markets). 16:32 -- Elon Musk and his companies. 18:42 -- On layoffs in the tech industry this year....

(0:00) Intro (2:21) Start of interview. (3:14) Bill's "origin story" (6:57) On why he joined Vanguard in 1986, and what makes the company so special. "Intellectual rigor of Wall Street with mid-western values." (10:30) On Bill's board career. He first joined the Philadelphia Zoo (he stepped down this summer after 16 years) and currently serves on the boards of UnitedHealthcare Group and IBM , plus...

0:00 -- Intro. 2:09 -- Start of interview. 2:54 -- Susan's "origin story" .  4:18 -- Stephen's "origin story" .  6:24 -- The origin and mission of the KPMG Board Leadership Center . It started with the Audit Committee Institute in 1999. 12:12 -- The progress on board diversity and onboarding insights for new directors. Example: Board Readiness Program from LCDA . "Two important elements for new di...

0:00 -- Intro. 2:10 -- Start of interview. 3:00 -- Henry's "origin story" . His other book " China's Superbank: Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is Rewriting the Rules of Finance") (2012) 5:03 -- His current role at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence . 6:09 -  The origin of his book Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green (2022). 10:09 --  On the new battery age a...

0:00 -- Intro. 2:08 -- Start of interview. 2:45 -- Alison's "origin story" .  5:07 -- Her experience in management consulting with McKinsey & Co and Kearney. 5:49 --  Her experience as CFO at Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock) and with private equity as the managing director of Belvedere Capital, focused on investing in US banks and financial services firms. The challenges of banking post-f...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:38 -- Start of interview. 2:06 -- Nora's "origin story" .  4:33 -- How she got started on her board journey.  6:25 --  The distinctions between serving on advisory boards and private venture-backed company boards. 11:27 --  On serving on non-profit company boards. Nora has served on the boards of NACD , YWCA of Silicon Valley and the Anita Borg Institute . 13:50 -- On serving on p...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:28 -- Start of interview. 2:04 -- Louis's "origin story" .  4:14 -- His current role at Foley & Lardner . 5:48 -- On the question of " compromised independent directors ." Reference to the Delaware case Goldstein v. Denner . 10:25 -- The higher scrutiny over independent directors in this downturn (particularly on M&A, downrounds and recaps). 14:22 -- How venture terms have changed...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:30 -- Start of interview. 2:27-- Claudia's "origin story" . She was born in Taiwan and grew up in Brazil. She came to the US after college. She studied CS and later went to work for IBM, where she had a 30 year career including founding the firm's Venture Capital Group. Post IBM, she joined NEA as a venture advisor, and has served on several corporate boards. 8:31 -- On the evolut...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:26 -- Start of interview. 2:01 -- Beatriz' "origin story" . She was born in Cuba, grew up in NY and Miami. She was part of a NSF pilot program in Miami to "raise the next generation of scientists," starting in middle school. She learned to program computers in high school, and from there she got into Princeton where she studied computer science. She then went on to Caltech to cont...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:40 -- Start of interview. 2:20 -- Kris' "origin story" .  5:20 -- Jamie's "origin story" .  7:30 -- About the EY Americas Center for Board Matters . It has three mandates:  To conduct primary research in corporate governance (Jamie is the research lead). They have a proprietary proxy database and benchmarking database. Insights for directors. To support boards of directors. For ex...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:23 -- Start of interview. 3:32 -- Adam's "origin story" . He grew up in southern California where he attended UCSD and graduated from UCLA. In college he became an activist focusing on the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, and developed a "targeted divestment" model. After college he became a social entrepreneur based in Washington, DC. 4:06 -- His decision to pursue a JD/MBA from UC Ber...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:30 -- Start of interview. 3:32 -- Santi's "origin story" . He was  born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "The year 1983 was a symbolic year in Argentina because it's the year that democracy came back to the country." "My generation was tainted by two events: the hyperinflation of 1989 and the collapse of 2001 (peso devaluation and bank deposit freezes)." 5:11 -- Argentina's...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:47 -- Start of interview. 2:39 -- Sandra's "origin story" . She was born and grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After graduating from UNIP with a degree in communications she worked as a journalist for 10 years. She later transitioned to executive roles. In 1995, she was invited by Bengt Hallqvist to join a group to discuss issues impacting boards in Brazil. "She had nothing to do with...

0:00 -- Intro. 1:34 -- Start of interview. 2:04 -- Derek's "origin story" . He grew up in Chicago and graduated from WUSTL with a degree in applied math and an MBA in finance. From there he went to Capital One , "at the time it was at the forefront of making decisions with data". He then got his law degree from Stanford Law School (Class of '04). After graduating he joined WLR&K. From there he mov...

0:00 Intro. 1:37 Start of interview. 3:03 Francine's "origin story" . She grew up in Chicago and graduated from Purdue in accounting but "she hated it." She began in internal audit at Chicago’s Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust . She later worked with KPMG/BearingPoint in the early 1990s. She also worked at JP Morgan where she focused on Y2K risk . Post Sarbanes Oxley she worked at Pric...