Roundtable on Conflict Minerals — Panelist Biographies

Panel One:

David Bouffard
Vice President, Public Relations
Signet Jewelers Ltd.

David Bouffard began his thirty-year career at Sterling Jewelers Inc. in 1981 in Field Operations Management. In 1986 he became Director of Sales, Merchandising and Advertising, a position he held until 1991 when he was promoted to General Merchandise Manager, Estate Jewelry Division. From 1994 to 2003 Mr. Bouffard served as Marketing Director of Corporate Store Promotions. In 2004, he became Marketing Director of Public Relations and Promotions, and, in 2007, was promoted to his current position, Vice President of Public Affai rs.

Mr. Bouffard serves on the Board of Trustees for two Greater Akron community organizations: the Summit County CASA/GAL and Akron Children’s Hospital Foundation. He is also Corporate Liaison to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the company’s national corporate charity partner since 1999.

Serving the jewelry sector, Mr. Bouffard is actively involved with industry organizations such as the Jewelry Information Center, Jewelers of America and Responsible Jewellery Council. He is a member of Public Relations Society of America, Accredited in Public Relations (APR), Women’s Jewelry Association, Leadership Akron Alumni Association, Signet Jewelers Ltd. Social, Ethical and Environmental Committee, and serves in Sterling’s “Connections” and “GEMS” Mentoring Programs.

Mr. Bouffard received his undergraduate degree from Widener University. He attended the Gemological Institute of America where he received his Graduate Gemologist accreditation. His MBA in Marketing and Finance was conferred by Case Western Reserve University.

Mike Davis
Campaign Leader for Conflict Resources
Global Witness

Mike Davis works with Global Witness, an NGO which investigates the links between natural resource exploitation and armed conflict and corruption.  Mike heads Global Witness’s Conflict Resources Team, whose main areas of focus currently include conflict minerals in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, blood diamonds in Zimbabwe, oil in Sudan and natural resource governance in Liberia.  Between 2005 and 2007 he led the Global Witness work’s on corruption, organised crime and environmental degradation in the timber trade in Cambodia and Burma. Mike managed the Global Witness’s office in Cambodia from 2003 to 2005.

Bennett Freeman
Senior Vice President, Sustainability Research and Policy
Calvert Investments

Mr. Freeman leads the Sustainability Research Department and oversees the company research, shareholder advocacy and public policy work of one of the largest families of sustainable and responsible funds in the U.S., based in Bethesda, MD.  From 2003 until early 2006, he led Burson-Marsteller's Global Corporate Responsibility practice advising multinationals on policy development, stakeholder engagement and communications strategies related to human rights, labor rights and sustainable development. During the Clinton Administration he served in three positions as a presidential appointee in the State Department, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999 to early 2001. In that capacity, he led the development of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the first operational human rights standard forged by governments, companies and NGOs for the extractive sectors. Previously he served at the State Department as Senior Advisor to Under Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Stuart Eizenstat in 1997-98 and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Chief Speechwriter for Secretary of State Warren Christopher from 1993 to early 1997.  Earlier in his career he was Manager-Corporate Affairs for General Electric from 1985 until early 1993 and a presidential campaign aide to former Vice President Walter Mondale from 1982 to 1984.  Mr. Freeman is Chair of the Advisory Board of Global Witness; Vice Chair of the Board of United to End Genocide (the recently merged Save Darfur Campaign and Genocide Intervention Network); Chair of the Board of EG Justice—Toward a Just Equatorial Guinea; a Trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business; a founding member of the Board of the Global Network Initiative; and a member of the Board of the Revenue Watch Institute.  He served on the Board of Oxfam America from 2002-10 and the Board of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) representing Oxfam from 2006-09.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as a frequent speaker and media commentator on sustainable investment, corporate responsibility, human rights and U.S. foreign policy.  Mr. Freeman received an MA in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where he studied as an English Speaking Union Churchill Scholar at Balliol College, and an AB in History from the University of California at Berkeley.

Andrew Matheson
President
Boston Silicon Materials LLC

Andrew Matheson is currently the President of Boston Silicon Materials LLC, an early stage company developing manufacturing processes to produce low cost silicon for solar energy markets.  From 2000-2002 he served as COO of 1 Limited, a UK-based company that licenses consumer electronics device technology to OEMs selling audio and optical products.  Andrew was with Cabot Corporation, a major tantalum processor, for periods from 1995-2006.  While at Cabot he held positions with responsibility for tantalum ore procurement, for research and development, and as general manager of a business manufacturing and supplying consumable materials to semiconductor manufacturers.

Sandy Merber
Counsel, International Trade Regulation and Sourcing
General Electric Company

Selig S. (“Sandy”) Merber is Counsel for International Trade Regulation and Sourcing for General Electric Company. He is the worldwide functional leader for customs and for sourcing compliance, including supply-chain security issues and supply-chain social responsibility. In addition, Mr. Merber chairs the General Electric Legal Division Sourcing Practice Group.

Early in his career, Mr. Merber held increasingly responsible positions with the Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition, as Staff Attorney, Assistant to the Director, and Deputy Assistant Director. In 1985, Mr. Merber became Assistant General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and supervised the legal departments of the Customs Service, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Mr. Merber is chairman of the ICC Commission on Customs and Trade Regulation and a past Chairman of the United State Council for International Business Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee. In that capacity he has delivered many talks and seminars on trade facilitation, and has testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means on customs issues.

Mr. Merber received his B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After one year with Columbia University’s Geophysical Field Station in St. David’s Bermuda, he entered Georgetown University Law Center, and graduated with a J.D. in 1975.

Yedwa Zandile Simelane
Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs
AngloGold Ashanti Limited

Ms. Yedwa Zandile Simelane is Senior Vice President: Corporate Affairs of AngloGold Ashanti Limited. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd is one of the world’s leading gold producers, and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 21 operations on 4 continents and a number of exploration programmes in both the established and new gold-producing regions of the world.

Ms Simelane was the Managing Secretary to the Board and Executive Committee and was responsible for the Company Secretarial department and Corporate Governance functions from 2000 to August 2008. She is currently responsible for the Government Relations, Corporate Communications and Marketing functions.

She is a member of the Company’s Executive Committee.

Ms Simelane holds a BA.LLB, and MAP qualifications from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is also in possession of the ILPA (Pensions) qualification, and recently completed an Executive Masters in Public Management at the University of Maryland.

Prior to joining AngloGold Ashanti Limited in November 2000, she worked in financial services focusing on retirement funds and employee benefits. She held the following positions, Senior Manager – Mineworkers Provident Fund, Client Services Manager for Old Mutual Employee Benefits and Associate Director at Alexander Forbes.

Ms Simelane is the Chairman of the board of Business Against Crime South Africa. BACSA includes the top leadership of formal business in South Africa and collaborates with government and the police in anti-crime initiatives.

Irma Villarreal
Chief Securities Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary
Kraft Foods Inc.

Irma Villarreal has been advising U.S. public companies for over 20 years. In her current position as Chief Securities Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Kraft Foods, she is responsible for disclosure and public company compliance and supports the Corporate Affairs, Investor Relations, External Reporting and Treasury (Capital Markets) functions. She is Secretary to, and responsible for managing the corporate secretarial work of, the Kraft Foods Audit Committee. Ms. Villarreal also assists the Corporate Secretary with other Kraft Foods Board and Committee matters. The Board of Directors of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals recently appointed her as an Assistant Secretary and she acts as Secretary to the Society’s Educational Programs Committee. Ms. Villarreal is also a member of the Society’s Securities Law Committee and a member of the American Bar Association.

Irma has an LL.M. in Financial Services Law from IIT Chicago-Kent College of
Law, a J.D. from DePaul University, College of Law and she received her B.A. from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Irma also served as a judicial law clerk to The Honorable Justice Calvin C. Campbell, Illinois Appellate Court, First Judicial District.

Panel Two:

Susan Baker
Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst
ESG Research and Shareholder Advocacy Trillium Asset Management

Susan Baker is a Senior ESG Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Trillium Asset Management, an independent investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing since 1982.  Ms. Baker focuses primarily on the consumer sectors in her research and advocacy work, and has engaged companies on responsible sourcing practices, toxics reduction, environmental justice, and workforce diversity.  She began her career in the investment industry at Harvard Management Company, later moving to Trillium where her responsibilities, including portfolio management, equity research, and shareholder advocacy have spanned almost two decades. Ms. Baker earned a B.A. from Middlebury College, and Ed.M. from Harvard University.

Benedict S. Cohen
Chief Counsel, Litigation
The Boeing Company

Ben Cohen is Boeing’s Chief Counsel for Government Operations, providing legal advice to the Company’s Washington office across a broad range of legal, regulatory, and policy issues affecting Boeing’s interactions with the federal executive and legislative branches, state governments, and international organizations.

Prior to his work at Boeing, Ben was the General Counsel of the Department of the Army. As chief legal officer, he advised the Secretary and other Secretariat and Army Staff principals with a major focus on litigation, acquisition, investigations, and responses to Congressional oversight. Ben also supervised the Army ethics program and was the designated agency ethics officer.

Ben has an extensive background and knowledge of regulatory agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) where he assisted the SEC Chairman on Sarbanes-Oxley implementation issues; the Department of Defense as Deputy General Counsel for Environment and Installations; and the Department of Justice as Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Counsel and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

From 1994 – 2001 he was the Executive Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee, and in 2005 Staff Director of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Ben served as Associate Counsel to the President from 1987 to 1989, where he was responsible for advising the White House Counsel and senior staff on a wide range of legal issues, including ethics law compliance and congressional oversight.

Earlier in his career, Ben practiced law with the firms Swidler & Berlin and Davis Polk & Wardwell. From 1985 to 1986, he clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

He is a 1983 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he was Associate Editor of the Law Review, and a 1980 Magna cum Laude graduate of Yale College.

Darren Fenwick
Senior Manager of Government Affairs
Enough Project

Darren Fenwick is the Senior Manager of Government Affairs for the Enough Project at American Progress. He was most recently a legislative advocate for the Health Care for America Now campaign. At HCAN, Darren was responsible for directing HCAN’s legislative and policy efforts to pass health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives. As a result of HCAN’s efforts historic health care reform legislation has been signed into law.

Darren has over seven years of advocacy experience with a variety of organizations including the American Federal of Labor, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and the Human Rights Campaign. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and his law degree from the George Washington University Law School.

Lawrence M. Heim
Director
Elm Consulting Group International LLC

Lawrence Heim is a Director in the Atlanta office of The Elm Consulting Group International llc, an independent environmental, health, safety and sustainability (EHSS) consulting practice. The focus of his 26 years of experience has been the design, implementation and oversight of a wide range of EHSS audit, risk assessment and related management system programs. He is the firm’s lead on conflict minerals and conducted third party conflict minerals traceability audits for tantalum smelters resulting in two of the first smelter certifications granted by the leading electronics industry program. Currently he is working with multiple companies on the design and modification of their management processes to pragmatically address conflict minerals. Mr. Heim is a frequent contributor to the media and has made numerous presentations on the subject. In addition, Mr. Heim is a Certified Professional Environmental Auditor and a former Board Member of The Auditing Roundtable.

Tim Mohin
Director of Global Corporate Responsibility
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Tim Mohin joined AMD as the Director of Corporate Responsibility in December 2009.  In this role, Tim is responsible for the development of the company’s corporate responsibility strategy, oversees program execution, and heads the company’s cross-functional corporate responsibility advisory council. Tim also co-chairs a multi-stakeholder, industry-wide effort to assist with the implementation of federal legislation requiring the elimination of conflict minerals in electronics products.

Prior to joining AMD, Tim led Apple’s Supplier Responsibility program; spent 12 years in multiple sustainability management positions with Intel Corporation, and worked for ten years in the Federal government with both the U.S. Senate and U.S. EPA.

Tim serves on the board of directors of Net Impact and the Green Grid. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from the State University of New York and a Masters degree in Environmental Management from Duke University.

Kay Nimmo
Manager, Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs
ITRI, Ltd.

Kay Nimmo graduated from the University of Birmingham, UK with a BSc in Metallurgy and Materials Science joining the metallurgy department of the Cookson Technology Centre where she gained invaluable experience researching a range of electronics materials, such as gold bonding wire, capacitor electrodes and solders. In 1995 Kay joined ITRI, the global tin association and research institute, as Manager of the Solder and Metallurgy Group with responsibility for programs on innovative applications for tin metal and lead-free soldering development. Following this interest in regulatory impacts on material selection, Kay set up a new department at ITRI in 2001 aiming to cover legislative, environmental, toxicological and social matters surrounding the support of tin as a sustainable metal for the future. She is currently responsible for the ITRI Sustainability program including the REACH Consortia and the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi).

Jennifer Prisco
Legal Counsel, Global Supply Chain
TE Connectivity

Jennifer Prisco is Legal Counsel to TE Connectivity’s Global Supply Chain, encompassing procurement, logistics and information systems operations. Jennifer also sits on TE’s Government affairs council and provides legal support for the TE’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program. She received her Juris Doctorate from Widener University School of Law and has a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton.

Michael Riess
Director
Materials Management Corporation

Michael Riess is the head of Materials Management Corp., a consulting firm that has served the precious and nonferrous metals industries for over thirty years. He has managed the trading operations of two International Fortune 500 companies, run a precious metals refinery, managed commodity futures brokerage firms and been involved in trading and marketing a spectrum of materials, including precious metals, scrap and concentrates. He serves on the Metals Advisory Committee of the New York Mercantile Exchange and has served as a director of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Futures Markets and of several corporations.

A graduate of Middlebury College with advanced degrees from Columbia University’s Business School and its School of international and Public Affairs, Mr. Riess taught a course in managing commodity operations at Columbia’s Business School and a graduate seminar at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs on money laundering and terrorist finance. He is accredited as a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and is the precious metals industry delegate to the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. He is the author of numerous professional papers and journal articles.

Darrel Schubert
Partner, Professional Practice Group
Ernst & Young LLP
Chair, Auditing Standards Board
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Darrel R. Schubert is a partner in the Professional Practice Group of Ernst & Young based in Cleveland, Ohio. Darrel also serves as Chair of the AICPA Auditing Standards Board, of which he has been a member since 2006. He also chairs the Auditing Issues Task Force. He has served as the EY’s Director of Audit Methodology and continues to consult with engagement teams on audit and reporting-related issues. He also leads executive-level training programs within EY.

Darrel has chaired the Risk Assessments, Sampling and Specialists Task Forces of the AICPA and serves on a number of other task forces such as Clarity, Internal Control and XBRL. Darrel is EY’s designated partner in charge of quality for employee benefit plan audits and represents EY on the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center Executive Committee.

Darrel has an undergraduate degree in Finance and a Masters of Accountancy Science from the University of Illinois.

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