Panelists at SEC's Proxy Process Roundtable
Nov. 15, 2018
Panel One
Ken Bertsch |
Mr. Bertsch is Executive Director of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). He has more than 30 years of experience across investment, management and corporate governance roles. CII is an association of pension funds, other employee benefit funds, endowments and foundations with combined assets that exceed $4 trillion. |
John Coates |
Mr. Coates is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, where he teaches corporate governance, M&A, finance, and related topics. He will present on behalf of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee. The IAC discussed proxy voting infrastructure at its Sept. 13, 2018, meeting. |
Paul Conn |
Mr. Conn is President of Global Capital Markets at Computershare, a transfer agent and investor services provider. He has 30 years of experience in operations, market infrastructure, development and strategic policy in international capital markets. He also has been active in blockchain developments at Computershare. |
Lawrence Conover |
Mr. Conover is Vice President, Operations and Services Group at Fidelity Investments, where he manages within fund and brokerage operations and technology organization. Mr. Conover has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is the Chair of SIFMA’s Proxy Working Group and is representing SIFMA members’ views. |
Bruce H. Goldfarb |
Mr. Goldfarb is Founder, President and CEO of Okapi Partners LLC, where he works with a wide range of clients in proxy solicitation and other investor response campaigns. Okapi Partners focuses on investor response strategy and execution for shareholder meetings, proxy fights, M&A campaigns, and other transactional and corporate governance matters. |
David A. Katz |
Mr. Katz is a Partner at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His practice focuses on M&A, corporate governance, shareholder activism and crisis management. He has been involved in many strategic defense assignments and proxy contests. Mr. Katz is an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and has taught M&A for over 20 years. |
Alexander Lebow |
Mr. Lebow is Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer of A Say Inc (Say). Say is a technology company that is building tools for shareholder voting and engagement, including as a full-service proxy processing and shareholder communications platform. Before co-founding Say in 2017, Mr. Lebow practiced law in the M&A group at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. |
Sherry Moreland |
Ms. Moreland is President and Chief Operating Officer of Mediant Communications. She has more than 30 years of industry experience in broker-dealer and shareholder services operations. Mediant provides investor communications solutions and technology for banks, brokers, corporate issuers, funds, and investment advisors. |
Robert Schifellite |
Mr. Schifellite is President of the Investor Communication Solutions segment of Broadridge Financial Solutions. Broadridge is a global fintech provider of investor and customer communications, including proxy voting services for public companies and mutual funds, and brings processing and tech solutions to capital markets and wealth management firms. |
Brian L. Schorr |
Mr. Schorr is the Chief Legal Officer and a Partner at Trian Fund Management, L.P., an investment management firm. He has been a member of Trian’s Investment Team since the firm’s inception in November 2005. Mr. Schorr oversees legal and regulatory matters related to Trian and its investment portfolio in public companies. |
Katie Sevcik |
Ms. Sevcik is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of EQ, a provider of transfer agent services. She has more than 30 years of experience in the securities industry. She has served in leadership roles with the Securities Transfer Association, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and Shareholder Services Association. |
Darla Stuckey |
Ms. Stuckey is President and CEO of the Society of Corporate Governance. The Society is a professional association that supports the work of corporate boards and management on governance and disclosure, compliance with corporate and securities laws and regulations, and exchange listing requirements. |
John Tuttle |
Mr. Tuttle is the Chief Operating Officer & Global Head of Listings, NYSE Group. He leads a team that oversees the exchange’s relationships with NYSE-listed companies and the investment banking, private equity, venture capital and legal communities. Since joining NYSE in 2007, Tuttle has served in a seccession of roles. |
John A. Zecca |
Mr. Zecca is Senior Vice President, General Counsel North America and Chief Regulatory Officer at Nasdaq. He oversees a team responsible for Nasdaq’s corporate, intellectual property and regulatory functions. Prior to joining Nasdaq, Mr. Zecca served on the SEC staff and practiced securities law at the firms of Hogan Lovells and Kaye Scholer. |
Panel Two
Ray A. Cameron |
Mr. Cameron is Head of Investment Stewardship Team for the Americas Region at Blackrock, Inc. He leads the team responsible for engagement and proxy voting activities in relation to the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients. BlackRock is a public company and manages over $6 trillion in assets on behalf of investors. |
Ning Chiu |
Ms. Chiu is counsel in Davis Polk’s Capital Markets Group. She advises public companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance, securities law, and regulatory requirements. Her representative matters include advising boards and companies on new developments and changing best practices on governance matters. |
Michael Garland |
Mr. Garland is Assistant Comptroller, Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment, in the Office of the Comptroller, New York City. The Comptroller is the investment advisor to the NYC Pension Funds, which have over $200 billion in assets under management and a history of active ownership on issues of corporate governance and sustainability. |
Maria Ghazal |
Ms. Ghazal is Senior Vice President and Counsel at the Business Roundtable. She directs strategic initiatives and oversees policy and advocacy for the Business Roundtable Corporate Governance and Smart Regulation Committees. Business Roundtable is an association of CEOs of leading companies. |
Jonas Kron |
Mr. Kron is Senior Vice President and Director of Shareholder Advocacy at Trillium Asset Management. With 20 years of experience in shareholder advocacy, he is responsible for leading and coordinating Trillium’s advocacy program that works to engage companies to help them improve their environmental, social, and financial performance. |
Aeisha Mastagni |
Ms. Mastagni is Portfolio Manager, Corporate Governance Unit of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. She focuses on the corporate engagement program and executive compensation, and is part of the team that actively engages public companies within CalSTRS portfolio. CalSTRS is the nations’ second largest public pension fund. |
James McRitchie |
Mr. McRitchie has published CorpGov.net on corporate governance since 1995. A buy and hold retail investor, he uses shareholder proposals to influence his portfolio companies. He has worked at various California agencies and served on the board of a grocer, credit union, food wholesaler, and various nonprofits. |
Tom Quaadman |
Mr. Quaadman is Executive Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. The Center was established in March 2007 to advocate policies for the U.S. capital markets to advance the protection of investors, promote capital formation, and ensure U.S. leadership in the financial markets in the 21st century. |
Brandon Rees |
Mr. Rees is Deputy Director of Corporations and Capital Markets for the AFL-CIO, a federation of national and international labor unions. Union sponsored and Taft-Hartley pension and employee benefit plans hold approximately $667 billion in assets. He also is Shareholder Advocacy Committee Co-Chair of the Council of Institutional Investors. |
Dannette Smith |
Ms. Smith is Secretary to the Board of Directors and Senior Deputy General Counsel at UnitedHealth Group. She coordinates the Board of Directors’ engagement with the Company’s shareholders on corporate governance matters. She also serves as an independent director of EQ Trust Company. |
Panel Three
Jonathan Bailey |
Mr. Bailey is Managing Director and Head of ESG Investing at Neuberger Berman, LLC. He is responsible for the integration of material ESG factors into the firm’s investment processes and for the firm’s proprietary ESG rating systems and research processes. He has 12 years of industry experience, including at McKinsey & Co. |
Patti Brammer |
Ms. Brammer is the Corporate Governance Officer at Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. Prior to joining OPERS in 2003, her past positions included work in the airline, life insurance, health insurance, and manufacturing industries. With $101 billion in assets, OPERS is the 12th-largest public pension fund in the United States. |
Scot Draeger |
Mr. Draeger is Vice President, Director of Wealth Management, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at R.M. Davis Private Wealth Management. He previously served on the SEC staff, as General Counsel of Citigroup Fund Services, and as Partner & Chair of the Investment Management Practice at Bernstein Shur. |
Sean Egan |
Mr. Egan is President and Founding Partner of Egan-Jones Proxy Services, a proxy advisory firm. Prior to founding Egan-Jones Proxy Services and Egan-Jones Ratings Company, he worked with a variety of institutional investment firms, and has a background in investment and commercial banking. |
Phil Gramm |
Senator Gramm is a Visiting Scholar at American Enterprise Institute. He represented Texas in the United States Congress from 1979 to 2002, first as Representative then Senator. As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, he steered legislation on banking, insurance, and securities laws. |
John Kim |
Mr. Kim is Securities Counsel to General Motors. He serves as the lead attorney for the GM proxy statement and annual meeting and supports all aspects of GM’s SEC reporting, securities offerings and investor relations activities. Prior to joining GM, he wa with the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins LLP. |
Adam Kokas |
Mr. Kokas is Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, Atlas Air Worldwide. He is responsible for directing the company’s legal affairs, as well as overseeing all compliance matters. He joined Atlas from Ropes & Gray LLP, where he was a partner. Atlas is a publicly traded company on the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. |
Rakhi Kumar |
Ms. Kumar is Senior Managing Director, Head of ESG Investments and Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors. She is responsible for developing the firm’s ESG investment philosophy. She also oversees SSGA’s proxy voting and engagement activities and develops SSGA’s voting guidelines in this area. |
Katherine “KT” Rabin |
Ms. Rabin is CEO of Glass, Lewis & Co, a proxy advisory firm. She was appointed CEO in 2007, having joined the firm shortly after it was founded in 2003. Prior to that she was Director of Research at OTR Global, an independent investment research firm, and business editor at the San Francisco Examiner. |
Gary Retelny |
Mr. Retelny is President and CEO of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., a proxy advisory firm founded in 1985. He is responsible for leading its corporate governance and responsible investment businesses with operations spanning 13 countries. He has more than 35 years of experience in senior roles across the investment service industry. |
Edward Rock |
Mr. Rock is the Martin Lipton Professor of Law and Director, Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance at New York University School of Law. His main areas of teaching and research are corporate law and corporate governance. He has written articles on poison pills, corporate voting, proxy access. and many other topics. |
Last Reviewed or Updated: April 19, 2024