Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

Intro. (1:40) - Start of interview. (2:08) - Chris's "origin story": he grew up in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, but has spent most of his adult life in NY or outside of DC. He started out as a derivatives trader right out of college. Then he went to law school. After law school, he joined White & Case and later Sullivan & Cromwell to focus on M&A transactions. In the late 1990s (during the "dot c...

Intro. (1:39) - Start of interview. (2:15) - About UC Hastings and the Center for Business Law [that we are building together!] (5:10) - Jared's "origin story": he grew up in Michigan, attended the U. of Michigan (BA political science) and Columbia Law School (JD). A book on the bankruptcy of Marvel Comics led him to bankruptcy law and practice. After graduation he joined Brown Rudnick in NYC (’07...

Intro. (1:30) - Start of interview. (2:14) - Donna's "origin story": She grew up moving a lot since her dad was a Navy pilot. She attended Trinity University (started at 16). After college she worked as a newspaper reporter at a small daily in Washington State and then worked in the PR office for the State Department in Brussels. She later got an MBA at the University of Texas at Austin with the o...

Intro. (1:32) - Start of interview. (2:10) - Larry's "origin story." He grew up in Wilmington, Delaware ("which explains why I have corporate governance in my blood.") He attended Girard College in Philadelphia, then went to the University of Delaware (BA Economics) and Cardozo School of Law (JD). After graduation he worked as an associate at Cravath for 6 years and then joined academia with Cardo...

(0:00) Intro. (1:42) Start of interview. (3:11) Joe's take on the rise of IPOs and SPACs since 2020. "There is a level where it is all entirely rational." (4:16) Staying private vs going public in this environment. "In today's world, companies have three alternatives: do another VC round, a SPAC or an IPO." (6:43) On the fundraising environment : "This is historically unprecedented... due to fisca...

Intro. (1:42) - Start of interview. (2:28) - Nell's "origin story." She's the oldest of three girls, including former Harvard Law School Dean and current Professor Martha Minow . Her father, Newton Minow, was the Chairman of the FCC under JFK and authored a famous speech on the " vast wasteland " of TV (that still resonates 60 years later). She was influenced to speak out from an early age when sh...

Intro. (1:37) - Start of interview (2:19) - Jon's "origin story." He started as a sports journalist, later became press secretary to then NYC Comptroller Jay Goldin . His transition to asset management, founding his firm Sinclair Capital and leading the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCi) (succeeded by the Weinberg Center) focused on ESG and capital market issues. (4:48) - Hi...

Intro. (1:12) - Start of interview (1:54) - Janine's "origin story." (2:25) - Her path from law school to plaintiff litigation work, representing and training employers, and the founding of Emtrain . (5:40) - Her thoughts on lawyers transitioning to entrepreneurship, and her personal story with Emtrain: "I had this day job that was pretty directionally consistent with what I wanted to do in a tech...

Intro. (1:21) - Start of interview (2:07) - David's "origin story." (3:42) - His take on lawyers pursuing "non-traditional" careers. "I think that ESG as a career path is going to explode. This is only the beginning." (5:04) - Paul Weiss' Sustainability & ESG Advisory Practice Group . (9:02) -  How did "ESG" become a core topic of corporate governance? "There has been tremendous pressure on organi...

Intro. (1:22) - Start of interview (2:23) - Amy's "origin story" (3:41) - Her time as a journalist at Businessweek (US, UK and Japan). (5:02) - Her return to the US in 1990, where her last beat was to cover the SEC and corporate governance (including corporate scandals from the early 2000s and SOX). (6:32) -  Her start at the Council of Institutional Investors in 2006. (7:52) - The history of CII,...

Intro. (1:16) - Start of interview (2:04) - Nichol's "origin story" (3:48) - Her beginnings with Glass Lewis & Co . in 2004. (4:32) -  What is the proxy advisory business? What was the origin of Glass Lewis? Founded by Greg Taxin and Kevin Cameron in 2003. (7:17) - The evolution of the proxy advisory business. " Now we've become more of a trusted partner to institutional investors to navigate all...

Intro of episode. (1:18) - Start of interview (1:52) - Aeisha's "origin story" (2:31) - Her beginnings with  Salomon Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley in the "dot com" era. (3:40) -  Her corporate governance beginnings with CalPERS. (6:50) - How pension funds manage their proxy voting and stewardship. At CalSTRS they manage 9,000+ equities. Role of Proxy Advisors : they help triage proxy voting, all...

(1:35) - Start of interview (2:23) - Peggy's "origin story" (3:04) - Her experience at Notre Dame (BA and JD) (4:17) - Her progression from Wall St. law firm work to Mellon Bank, JP Morgan, Pfizer, Sara Lee and Prudential. (6:17) -   Dennis Weatherstone (former CEO of JP Morgan) as a catalyst of #corpgov at the bank in the mid-90s. (7:00) - Her move to Pfizer, drawn by Terry Gallagher and Bill Ste...

(1:50) - Start of interview (2:23) - Sukhinder's "origin story" (2:58) - Her start in Silicon Valley in 1997. She characterizes her career as " always building ". Junglee - Amazon ('98-99) Yodlee ('99-'03) Google ('03-'09) Accel-Polyvore ('10) Joyus ('11-'17) TheBoardlist ('15-present) Stubhub ('18-'20) (6:50) -  Her boardroom experience ( J Crew Group , StichFix , TripAdvisor , Ericsson , Urban O...

(1:40) - Start of interview (2:38) - David's "origin story" (4:49) - The founding of Equilar in 2000. The modern "corporate governance" era started after the corporate scandals of the early 2000s (Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, WorldCom, etc.) and the passage of SOX in 2002.  "Very few people talked about corporate governance in the 1990s" With this new focus on corporate governance, there was a lot of at...

(1:40) - Start of interview (2:10) - David's "origin story" (3:44) - His start with Wilson Sonsini in 1989. (6:11) -  His experience serving as a board member, and why he thinks corporate America has lost out on having lawyers as directors. His for corporate boards have included California Culinary Academy, and currently LTSE . (7:41) -  His take on the Long Term Stock Exchange . (9:47) - His thou...

(1:27) - Start of interview (2:59) - Yumi's "origin story" (4:18) - Her start with Barclay's Global Investors (which was later acquired by BlackRock) . (4:50) -  The lessons she learned working for the Stewardship team at BlackRock (2004-2018) Proxy Voting Group Big change on engagement with companies started after financial crisis (2007-2009). Impact Dodd Frank Act (2010) - Say on Pay. (10:24) -...

(0:00) Intro (1:17) Start of interview  (1:58) Mason's "origin story"  (2:51) His start with ValueAct Capital (2001-Present) "A lot of what we do at ValueAct is invite ourselves to the dinner party." (6:20) The history of ValueAct Capital and its investment thesis.   How he met Jeffrey Ubben (founder of the firm). The impact of the corporate scandals in the early 2000s and the Martha Stewart story...

Start of interview [1:19] Ilya's "origin story" [1:50] Lomonosov Moscow State University ('97) New Economic School (NES) ('99) London Business School, PhD Finance ('04) His start as a Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (2004-Present) [7:08] His initial interest in the field of venture capital  [7:56] " These days my major problem is that there are so many research projects, and...

Start of interview [1:06] Kerrie's "origin story" [1:34] Her initiation on corporate governance matters with the UK Institute of Directors (IoD) (2000-2004) [3:49] Her take on corporate director education and training [5:42] Her role at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) (2005-2008) [7:43] Her transition to the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)  (20...

Start of interview [1:11] Ahmad's "origin story" [1:52] His experience as senior aide to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein in Washington, D.C. (2005-2010) [4:29] TARP Programs Dodd Frank Act His experience with Barclays Investment Bank covering public sector infrastructure (2010-2020) [7:41] Led Barclays’ California and Silicon Valley regional municipal banking team. Led Barclays' public sector covera...

Start of interview [1:25] Esther's "origin story" [1:50] Her experience at Occidental College [3:55] Her transition from CA to Washington DC [4:36] Introduction of the Latino Corporate Director Association (LCDA), founded in 2016 [6:20] History of LCDA [7:15] Links with the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility (HACR) The Mission of LCDA is to 1) develop, 2) support & 3) increase the nu...

Start of interview [1:15] Roger's "origin story" [1:50] Introduction of the Institute of Directors of the UK (IoD founded in 1903) [4:56] On the evolution of director education and professionalization in the UK. "Modern" corporate governance in the UK was kickstarted by high profile scandals in the late 1980s such as Robert Maxwell's media empire collapse ,   Polly Peck , BBCI , etc. which led to...

Start of interview [1:12] Mark's "origin story" [2:02] How he got started with Cotchett, Mitre & McCarthy (1993) [3:40] His current practice focusing on corporate governance cases [5:03] His opinion on current state of corporate governance in public companies: Increased focus on diversity on boards [7:27] Data Breaches , Privacy and Cybersecurity " one of the hottest areas " [10:03] His take on th...

Start of interview [1:30] Jim's "origin story" [2:12] How his experience at CalEPA led him to become a shareholder advocate [6:07] His experience with Mark Latham, a former Berkeley Prof and Salomon Brothers banker on developing and promoting a new shareholder proposal method  [8:03] His efforts to get elected to the CalPERS board [11:33] CalPERS and the increasing influence of institutional inves...