Jay Clayton, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020, is a Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Clayton’s practice centers on corporate governance and financial regulatory matters, economic policy and government relations, and investigations.  Mr. Clayton also serves as the Independent Chair of Apollo Global Management, a Director of American Express and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the public and private sector, Mr. Clayton has advised domestic and international financial institutions, market participants and government officials on various significant strategic matters and policy issues, including the world’s second-largest IPO, various cross-border mergers in the telecom, airline and shipping sectors, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the mortgage relief programs arising out of the $25 billion “robo-signing” settlement, and the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Ron Kirk served in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as U.S. Trade Representatives, as Mayor of Dallas, and as Texas Secretary of State. He is currently Senior of Counsel in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas and Washington, D.C. offices. He is Leader of the International Trade Practice Group and a member of the Sports Law, Public Policy, Crisis Management and Private Equity Practice Groups.

Ambassador Kirk focuses on providing strategic advice to companies with global interests.

Ambassador Kirk has had an extensive career in Public Service.  Prior to joining Gibson Dunn in April 2013, Ambassador Kirk served as United States Trade Representative (USTR) and was a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, serving as the President’s principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on trade issues.  He also served as Mayor of Dallas from 1995 – 2001, and as Texas Secretary of State in 1994 appointed by Gov. Ann W. Richards.

Prior to joining USTR, Ambassador Kirk was a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where his principal area of practice was public finance and public policy.

Ambassador Kirk serves as a Corporate Director for Texas Instruments, and Macquarie Infrastructure Corp, and previously as a Director for Brinker International, Dean Foods, and PetSmart.  He serves as a Trustee for Austin College, the LBJ Presidential Library Foundation, and on the Board of the Dallas Citizens Council. Ron also is a Board Member of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Ambassador Kirk was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and sociology from Austin College in Sherman, Texas.  He received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1979.

Karl Rove served as Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2000–2007 and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2004–2007. At the White House, he oversaw the Offices of Strategic Initiatives, Political Affairs, Public Liaison, and Intergovernmental Affairs and was Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, coordinating the White House policy-making process.

Before Rove became known as “The Architect” of President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns, he was president of Karl Rove + Company, an Austin-based public affairs firm that worked for over 75 Republican candidates for senator, governor and congressman, as well non-partisan causes and non-profit groups.

Today, Mr. Rove writes a weekly op-ed for the Wall Street Journal and is a Fox News contributor. He is the author of two books – a critically acclaimed volume on the 1896 presidential election entitled The Triumph of William McKinley and the 2010 New York Times Bestseller Courage and Consequence. He is now working on a book on presidential decision-making. He is the founder of the American Crossroads/Senate Leadership Fund super-PAC.

Nick Beizer joined GoDaddy in 2012 and is currently “General Counsel and Privacy Officer” for the company.  His practice touches on all areas of the business and covers a broad spectrum of legal issues, including privacy, cybersecurity, marketing, commercial transactions, disputes of all types, employment issues, protection of the company’s intellectual property, global policy, and M&A.

Immediately prior to GoDaddy, Mr. Beizer worked at Network Solutions in Herndon, Virginia.  Before that, Mr. Beizer was an Associate at two national law firms.  He started his legal career in-house with MCI, Inc.

Mr. Beizer graduated from Lafayette College in 1994 and The Catholic University, Columbus School of Law in 1999.  He was born and raised in Washington, DC and now lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and three daughters.

William (Bill) C. Boor was appointed President and CEO of Cavco Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVCO) in April 2019. Mr. Boor served as an independent member of the Cavco Board of Directors for approximately 10 years prior to assuming his current role. He continues to serve on the Board as an executive director.

During Mr. Boor’s time at Cavco, the company has emphasized integrating ESG priorities within the overall business strategy. In addition to a number of environmental, social and governance improvements, they have significantly increased reporting including use of the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) framework and issuance of corporate responsibility reports.

Currently, Mr. Boor also serves as the Chairman of the Manufactured Housing Institute, the industry’s national trade association. In July 2023, he represented the industry in a hearing regarding ESG matters before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.

Before joining Cavco, Mr. Boor held several executive roles with large public companies, most recently Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. (“Cliffs”), an international mining company, where he served in roles including Executive Vice President for Corporate Development, Chief Strategy & Risk Officer and President of Ferroalloys. During his tenure at Cliffs, Mr. Boor’s responsibilities included Sustainability oversight. Prior to Cliffs, Mr. Boor held leadership roles at Eagle Materials Inc., Centex Corporation, Weyerhaeuser Co. and Procter & Gamble Co.

Mr. Boor earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.

Bobby Chesney is the Dean of Texas Law and holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs. He is a scholar of U.S. national security, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence and the former director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, which works to improve understanding of international security issues. He is also a co-founder and contributor to the acclaimed Lawfare blog, and a co-host of the popular National Security Law podcast.

Dean Chesney has served the U.S. government in a several roles, including on the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee for the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; for the Justice Department in connection with the Detention Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493; and as an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board and as a member of the Advanced Technology Board, both of which were advisory to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

William H. Cunningham holds the James L. Bayless Chair for Free Enterprise in McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.  He teaches corporate governance in McCombs School of Business and the Law School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Cunningham served as Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Texas System from September 1992 to July 2000.  He served as President of the University of Texas at Austin from 1985-1992 and was Dean of the College and Graduate School of Business from 1983-1985.  Dr. Cunningham received his BBA, MBA, and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University.

Dr. Cunningham was awarded the Presidential Citation from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2019.  He has also received an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree and Distinguished Alumnus Award from Michigan State University.  Dr. Cunningham is currently a member of the Board of the following public companies:  Southwest Airlines (Lead Director) and Lincoln Financial Corporation (Lead Director).  He is also a member of the John Hancock Mutual Funds Board and he is Chairman of Nuclein, which is privately held medical device company in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Cunningham’s most recent book is The Texas Way: Money, Power, Politics and Ambition at The University.  The book was published in 2013 by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Byron Egan is a partner of Jackson Walker LLP in Dallas. He is engaged in a corporate, partnership, securities, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and financing practice, in the course of which he advises boards of directors and their audit, compensation, and special committees with fiduciary duty and other corporate governance issues. He is a frequent author and speaker on these subjects.

He is Senior Vice Chair and Chair of the Executive Council of the ABA’s M&A Committee. He served as Co‐Chair of its Model Asset Acquisition Agreement Task Force, Chair of the Texas Business Law Foundation, the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, and that section’s Corporation Law Committee.

Mr. Egan authored the treatise “EGAN ON ENTITIES: Corporations, Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies in Texas” (4th Ed. 2023), which addresses the formation, governance (including fiduciary duties) and sale of business entities.

Margaret (Peggy) M. Foran is Chief Governance Officer, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Prudential Financial, Inc.

She has been a corporate governance leader throughout her career.  Ms. Foran is a director on the Board of Orion Group Holdings, Inc. From December 2010 through May 2020, she served on the Board of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

Ms. Foran currently serves as an active member of many influential advisory boards including, co-chair on the Board of Directors of the Council of Institutional Investors, member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Governance Counsel, the Catalyst’s Advisory Board, the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance’s Advisory Board, and NACD’s Nominating and Governance Committee Chair Advisory Council.  Ms. Foran also serves on The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group (SEIAG).

Ms. Foran received her B.A., magna cum laude, and J. D. degrees from the University of Notre Dame, where she serves on the law school’s Advisory Committee.  Additionally, Ms. Foran is NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) Directorship Certified™ and most recently, Ms. Foran was the recipient of the International Corporate Governance’s (ICGN) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sarah E. Fortt is a partner at Latham & Watkins and the Global Co-Chair of the firm's ESG practice. For nearly fifteen years, Sarah has worked with organizations, small and large, public and private, in navigating their relationships and communications with key stakeholders, including their investors, regulators, employees, suppliers and the communities in which they do business.  She has regularly worked with boards of directors and senior management on their approaches to corporate governance, ESG (environmental, social and governance) oversight and disclosures, crisis management, political and reputational considerations, succession planning and board education.

Before joining Latham, Sarah was the mind behind the creation of one of the first cross-functional ESG groups at a US-based global law firm, where she also served as the firm’s dedicated corporate governance expert.  Sarah is a key thought leader in US corporate governance and on matters regarding environmental and social corporate risks and opportunities, including those relating to climate change, human rights and corporate culture.

Holly J. Gregory, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, co-leads its global Corporate Governance practice and its Chambers-recognized ESG and Crisis Management teams, and counsels boards and senior management on the full range of governance issues.

Founding trustee and current Chair of the American College of Governance Counsel, she has chaired the ABA Corporate Governance Committee and served as an appointed member of the ABA Corporate Laws Committee.

Holly has advised the European Commission’s Internal Market Directorate and the OECD/World Bank Global Corporate Governance Forum on governance policy and played a key role in drafting the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. She advised the Business Roundtable on its 2019 Statement of Purpose of the Corporation and, as Special Advisor to the NACD Commission on The Future of the American Board, drafted the Commission’s Report: A Framework for Governing Into the Future (September 2022). Holly writes the governance column for Practical Law: The Journal.

Among other accolades, Holly has been named among the “100 Most Influential Players in Corporate Governance” (NACD/Directorship 100) every year since inception (17 years) and received Corporate Secretary’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

Jeffrey Hales is the Charles T. Zlatkovich Centennial Professor of Accounting and holds the Bake Chair in Global Sustainability Leadership at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He serves as the Executive Director of the Global Sustainability Leadership Institute and teaches global corporate sustainability.

He is a graduate of the accounting program at Brigham Young University and received his Ph.D. from Cornell University. His research interests center on accounting standard setting and regulation, individual decision making, and behavioral finance, using techniques from applied game theory, experimental economics, and psychology. His research has appeared in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and the Journal of Financial Economics, among other journals. He has served in editorial capacities at several journals, including editorial terms at Contemporary Accounting Research and Accounting Horizons.

Since July 2022, he has served on the International Sustainability Standards Board. From 2012 to 2022, he served in various leadership capacities at the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), including as Chair of the SASB Standards Board. During 2009-10, he was a Research Fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in Norwalk, CT, and served as a member of the FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council from 2016-2019.

Nathan L. Hecht is the 27th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. Chief Justice Hecht is the longest-serving member of the Court in Texas history, and the longest-tenured Texas judge in active service. He oversees revisions to the rules of administration, practice, and procedure in Texas courts, as well as efforts to improve access to justice for the poor. He is a past president of the national Conference of Chief Justices, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Life Member of the American Law Institute and a member of Council, and a member of the Texas Philosophical Society. He is a graduate of Yale University and the SMU Law School.

Scott is currently the chair of the board of CS Disco (NYSE: LAW) and a member of the board of Cardlytics (NDAQ: CDLX) where he chairs the Audit Committee. Scott served as the Chief Financial Officer of ICE from 2007 to 2021 where he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s global corporate functions.  He established and lead the company’s Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk functions, serving on oversight committees for Technology, Operations and Cyber Security.  Scott was responsible for all aspects of the company’s Audit and Compensation Committees and a significant portion of its Risk Committee.

In addition, Scott is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

Scott earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 and his MBA from New York University in 1999.

Professor Henry Hu is the Allan Shivers Chair in the Law of Banking and Finance at the University of Texas School of Law. Hu’s writings, public service, and teaching center on capital markets and corporate governance. The writings appeared in law reviews (e.g., Columbia Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Yale Law Journal), finance and specialist journals (e.g., Annual Review of Financial Economics, European Financial Management, and Risk), and newspapers (e.g., Financial Times, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal). A 1993 article was the first to show why financial institutions may take excessive risks in complex derivatives. In recognition of a 1995 article, an index of gold mining stocks has “HUI” as its ticker symbol. Sole- and co-authored articles (2006 to 2023) offered and refined the first systematic analysis of “decoupling,” and coined terms (e.g., “empty voter” and “empty creditor”) used worldwide. A co-authored 2018 article was the first to show the need for, or to offer, a regulatory framework for ETFs.

As for public service, Hu was the founding Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (2009-2011). He was chair of the Business Associations Section of the Association of American Law Schools, a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the NASD (now FINRA) and the NASDAQ Market Regulation Committee, and was named as one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance by the NACD in 2010 (“Directorship 100”). He has testified before Congress as an academic and on behalf of the SEC.

Hu teaches corporate law, modern finance and governance, and securities regulation, and has also taught them at Harvard Law School. He holds a B.S. (Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry), M.A. (Economics), and J.D., all from Yale.

 

Jeff Hunt specializes in crisis management and preparedness, branding, CEO communications, and reputation management. During the course of his 35-year career, he has worked with DuPont, IBM, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Dell, Nike, Whole Foods, and many other companies.

Jeff has lived throughout the world and navigated many cultures on behalf of clients. Prior to Legend Labs, Jeff co-founded PulsePoint Group and before that was president of Cohn & Wolfe, a global public relations firm formed following a merger with GCI Group. He has also served as CEO of GCI and Read Poland Associates. He spent 18 years at Burson-Marsteller, ultimately serving as chief operating officer for Europe, with responsibility for 16 offices throughout the continent. He also established the firm’s presence in Korea and Mexico.

Based in Austin and a graduate of The University of Texas, Jeff serves as adjunct professor of Strategies in Public Relations at the university’s Moody College of Communications and is a frequent lecturer at its McCombs School of Business.

Erez Liebermann is a litigation partner and a member of Debevoise & Plimpton’s Data Strategy & Security Group. With decades of experience in data issues as a litigator, federal prosecutor and senior in-house counsel at a global insurance company, Mr. Liebermann regularly advises clients at the C-suite and board level on building strategies to reduce their data-related regulatory and reputational risks, and on navigating high-profile cyber and data incidents.

Prior to returning to private practice, Mr. Liebermann served as Chief Counsel for Cybersecurity, Data and Privacy at Prudential Financial.

Mr. Liebermann spent 10 years investigating and prosecuting global cyber and white collar crimes as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Chief of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Mr. Liebermann is an adjunct professor of law at University of Texas Law School, teaching Cyber Incident Response.

Mr. Liebermann received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his

B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

Kristen McCooey serves as the Chief Information Security Officer at Edward Jones. She is an accomplished cyber security professional with over 17 years of experience, including 14 in leadership roles, across the financial, government and private sectors. Before Edward Jones, she was the Director for Threat and Vulnerability Management and responsible for 24x7 monitoring and response to any potential security vulnerabilities or security events within the Edward Jones environment.

Prior to joining Edward Jones, Kristen was the Director for the Red Team, Detection Management Team, and Hunt Team at American Express. She was a VP at Synchrony Financial building and running core security operations programs before assuming responsibility of the Information Security Governance, Risk and Compliance program. She also worked for Booz Allen Hamilton as a Lead Associate for the Computer Incident Response Team.

Kristen earned an undergraduate degree in computer science with a minor in digital forensics and a master's degree in computer science with a focus in machine learning from the University of Rhode Island.

Lillian Mills is Dean of McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. She is an internationally renowned expert in tax and accounting. She is recognized as a top-ranked scholar whose policy-relevant research influences accounting, economics, and law; an inspiring and committed strategic leader; and an award-winning educator and champion for instructional innovation in multiple, diverse settings. Mills took the helm at the height of the pandemic, successfully transitioning McCombs’ 600 faculty and staff members and 6,000 students to online learning and executing a safe return to in-person education. She oversees a more than $170 million budget and in four years has raised more than $220 million to endow critical facilities, scholarships, and programs. She earned her B.S. and M.S. from University of Florida, and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. She was a senior manager at Price Waterhouse and enjoyed a consulting relationship with the IRS for 20 years.

Niloufar Molavi leads PwC’s Global Energy practice, comprised of over 10,000 professionals serving Global energy clients in the oil and gas industry, and is responsible for ESG tax efforts in the US.  She is also responsible for all client services – assurance, advisory and tax across all geographies.

From 2009 to 2011 she served on PwC’s leadership team as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer.  In that role she oversaw the firm's diversity strategy and all of its related programs and initiatives.

From 2011 to 2016 she served as the Greater Houston Market Managing Partner for the geographic markets of Houston, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and New Orleans as well as the US energy leader.  With 32 years of experience with PwC, Niloufar has served a wide range of energy companies both in the U.S. and abroad, advising clients on international and U.S. tax structuring, mergers, acquisitions and potential public offerings.

Niloufar began her career with PwC in 1991 and was promoted to partner in 2001.  She joined the firm’s U.S. Leadership team in 2009.  She earned her degree in accounting and master’s in professional accounting with a concentration in Taxation from the University of Texas at Austin.  She currently chairs the Advisory Board of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.  She serves the non-profit boards of Dress for Success Houston and Central Houston.  She is also on the boards of both Junior Achievement of the Southeast (currently Chair) and JA USA.

John Montford is currently President & CEO of JTM Consulting, LLC and a former member of the Texas Senate. Prior to establishing his own consulting firm, he served as Senior Advisor for Global Public Policy for General Motors Company from January 1, 2010 to January 2012.  At GM he was responsible for GM public policy for federal, state, and international, as well as the GM Foundation.  He was a member of the GM Executive Committee from January 1, 2010 to May 1, 2011.

Prior to joining GM, Montford served as the President of State Legislative Affairs for AT&T.  Following the 2005 merger of SBC and AT&T, he served as president of the Western Region for AT&T, responsible for 23 states west of the Mississippi.  From 2002 to 2005, he was president of External Affairs for Southwestern Bell.  He joined SBC, now AT&T, in September 2001.

Montford was the 2005 Chairman of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, a catalyst for economic development in San Antonio with over 2,000 members.  From 2007-2010 and again, from 2019 -2022, he served as Chairman of the Board of the National Western Art Foundation, for which he personally secured the lead gift to create the Dolph and Janey Briscoe National Western Art Museum in San Antonio.  He was also Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  He served as Chairman of the Development Board of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.  He has also served as an independent director of Southwest Airlines since 2002, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Atlantic Aviation from 2012 to 2016. While at GM he also served as Chairman of the GM Foundation Board.

Before joining SBC, Montford was Texas Tech University's first chancellor, the chief executive officer of the University system.  In 2001, he was named Chancellor Emeritus of the Texas Tech University System.

Montford served as a member of the Texas Senate for 14 years.  During his tenure in the Senate he served as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee.  Texas Monthly named Senator Montford among the Top 10 Best Legislators for five legislative sessions.

Montford was an active duty officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971.  After his military service, he served as an elected district attorney.  He received his bachelor's degree in political science and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

His most recent publication, “Board Games…Straight Talk for New Directors and Good Governance” with co-author Joe McCool, (Praeger-ABC-CLIO, 2016), is a comprehensive work about the many aspects, responsibilities and challenges of serving as a member of board of directors for “for-profit” publically listed companies.

 

Pia Orrenius is Vice President and Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She is a labor economist working on regional economic growth and demographic change. She manages the regional and microeconomics group in the Dallas Fed Research Department, is executive editor of the publication Southwest Economy and co-edited Ten Gallon Economy: Sizing up Economic Growth in Texas (2015, Palgrave MacMillan).

Her academic research focuses on the labor market impacts of immigration, unauthorized immigration and U.S. immigration policy. She is coauthor of the book Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New Era of Globalization (2010, AEI Press).

Orrenius is affiliated with several academic institutions. She is a research fellow at the Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs and the Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center at Southern Methodist University and at the IZA Institute of Labor in Bonn, Germany, as well as an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Orrenius was senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, Washington D.C., in 2004–05, where she advised the Bush administration on labor, health and immigration issues.

She holds a PhD in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and bachelor degrees in economics and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign.

Hester M. Peirce is a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She was appointed by President Donald Trump and was sworn in on January 11, 2018.

Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.

Commissioner Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Sandra Phillips is senior vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary for Toyota Motor North America. She is an executive leader and independent director with a breadth of experience strategically managing complex corporate issues, integrating business and stakeholder relations to achieve successful outcomes.

Phillips directs strategy to support Toyota Motor North America’s expansion as a global mobility company, as well as oversees Compliance and Audit, Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs, Social Innovation, Corporate Shared Services and Toyota de Mexico.

Phillips is an independent director for MSA Safety, Inc., where she chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.  She was recently an independent director for The Chemours Company, where she served on the Nominating, Governance and Audit Committees. In 2019, WomenInc. selected Phillips as a Most Influential Corporate Board Director. In October 2024, Phillips will receive the Distinguished Alumna Awards from DirectWomen.

Phillips serves on the board of trustees for the University of Texas Law School Foundation, the board of directors for the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the Southern Methodist University Tate Lecture Series, and is a co-founder of the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2018, Phillips received the Outstanding Alumna Award from Texas Law.

Phillips is a leader in her profession and industry.  In 2023, she was named Woman of the Year by the National Association of Minority Automotive Dealers and in 2020, Automotive News named Phillips an Automotive All-Star and a 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry.

Yvonne Puig is the Chief Integration Partner for Life Sciences and Healthcare at Norton Rose Fulbright and a former member of the firm’s management committee. Yvonne’s practice involves high-stakes crisis management, complex commercial and healthcare litigation, and regulatory and compliance advice. She regularly counsels boards and senior management on various governance issues with an emphasis on crisis management. Yvonne has represented global companies in state and federal investigations, including counseling executives in sensitive internal investigations. Among other industries, she has extensive experience representing large health systems, medical schools, and institutional health care providers in enforcement proceedings and parallel civil suits.

Based in Austin, Yvonne received her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas, and her Juris Doctor degree from UTLAW.  She is one of the proud Founders of The Center for Women in Law at The University of Texas. Alongside various notable recognitions, Yvonne has been consecutively ranked by Chambers and Partners USA and Best Lawyers for twenty years. She has served on the Advisory Board for Law360 and is a frequent lecturer on a variety of legal topics across the country.

The Honorable Collins J. Seitz Jr. is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware. He was sworn in as Chief Justice on November 8, 2019 and has served as a Justice since 2015. Prior to his appointment, Chief Justice Seitz founded a corporate advisory and litigation firm in Wilmington, Delaware representing clients in high profile corporate and trust disputes in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Seitz serves as Judicial Liaison to the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association and is an Adviser on the ALI’s Restatement of the Law, Corporate Governance. He also serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction. Chief Justice Seitz formerly served as a board member and chair of the Delaware Board of Bar Examiners, and a board member of the Board on Professional Responsibility. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Chief Justice Seitz is a trustee of the American Inns of Court and serves as a board member of Hockessin Colored School 107C – an organization celebrating Delaware’s role in Brown v. Board of Education. He has led court efforts in Delaware to promote greater diversity in the Delaware Bar through the Delaware Bench and Bar Diversity Project.

Chief Justice Seitz received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and his law degree from the Villanova University School of Law.

Karen Patton Seymour is a partner of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, and former co-managing partner of the Litigation Group.  Her practice focuses on crisis management, complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense and internal investigations.

Karen rejoined the Firm from Goldman Sachs, where she served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel and was a member of the Management Committee. She oversaw the firm’s strategy and served as a key advisor to the firm across a wide variety of legal, reputational and other matters.

From 2002 to 2004, Karen served as Chief of the Criminal Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she oversaw all criminal investigations and prosecutions in the district.  From 1990 to 1996, she prosecuted a wide variety of cases and served as Chief of the General Crimes Unit in the Office.

Clemens Sialm is a Professor of Finance at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. He is the Chair of the Finance Department, holds the Charles E. and Sarah M. Seay Regents Chair in Finance, and directs the AIM Investment Center.

Sialm obtained an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University. Prior to joining the University of Texas, he taught at Stanford University and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

His research interests are in the areas of investments, retirement savings, and taxation. His research has been published in the top journals in finance and economics. He currently teaches Financial Management, the core MBA finance class. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and an Editor of the Review of Financial Studies.

Professor James Spindler holds the Mark L. Hart, Jr. Endowed Chair in Corporate and Securities Law and is a Professor at the McCombs School of Business. He teaches in the areas of securities regulation, capital markets, corporate law, tax, and corporate finance. His research focuses on securities disclosure and trading, corporate fraud, corporate governance, and executive compensation, and has appeared in journals including the Journal of Legal Studies, the American Law & Economics Review, and the law reviews of Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Georgetown. Professor Spindler has served as a consultant and expert witness on subjects including securities fraud, banking, corporate governance and fiduciary duties, and commercial contracts.

Lande Spottswood is a Mergers & Acquisitions partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP. Her practice focuses on large and complex strategic transactions, often in the energy, energy transition, infrastructure and industrial sectors. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies and many of the world’s leading private equity firms. Lande has advised participants in M&A transactions with an aggregate value of over half a trillion dollars, including more than 50 public company mergers or change-of-control transactions.  Lande is regularly recognized as a leading M&A practitioner by legal trade publications, including Chambers USA, LawDragon, Law360, IFLR 1000, Legal 500 and Texas Lawyer. In addition to her client work, Lande was elected by her partners as the youngest member of the firm’s global Management Committee. Lande graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences cum laude in 2005 and from Harvard Law School with a J.D. magna cum laude in 2008.

Myron T. Steele is senior counsel in Potter Anderson & Corroon’s Corporate Litigation Group and the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware.

Previously, he served as a Judge of the Superior Court and a Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery after eighteen years in private litigation practice. He has presided over major corporate litigation and LLC and limited partner governance disputes, and writes frequently on issues of corporate document interpretation and corporate governance.

Chief Justice Steele has published over 400 opinions resolving disputes among members of limited liability companies, and limited partnerships, and between shareholders and management of both publicly traded and close corporations. He speaks and writes frequently on issues of corporate document interpretation and corporate governance.

Chief Justice Steele earned his B.A., J.D. and LLM from the University of Virginia.

Seth T. Taube is Senior Counsel and previously a Senior Partner of Baker Botts LLP.  A former federal prosecutor and SEC official with over forty years of trial experience, he handles securities and commercial litigation, SEC and state attorney general defense, corporate governance and white collar criminal defense matters in federal and state courts. Mr. Taube has defended both the New York Stock Exchange and self regulator FINRA in SEC matters, as well as senior executives, investment bankers and financial services institutions in SEC, state attorney general, and DOJ inquiries.  He has acted as liquidator's lead counsel for a significant hedge fund collapse; he has handled financial restatement cases, FCPA inquiries, option back dating investigations, mortgage backed securities matters and inquiries of major mutual funds and their senior executives by the SEC and state attorneys general. Mr. Taube has extensive experience in securities-related regulatory and internal investigations as well as securities and international arbitrations.

 

Mr. Taube served as Branch Chief of Enforcement at the New York Regional Office of the SEC. He was awarded the Manuel Cohen Distinguished Lawyer Award by the Commissioners and served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Securities Crime Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.  Mr. Taube is currently teaching International Trade Law at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, and has taught courses on mergers, acquisitions and corporate litigation at Seton Hall Law School. He also served as general counsel of an investment bank.

Matthew Vahidi is a Managing Director at Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher. He provides strategic counsel on a broad range of corporate governance, investor relations and shareholder communication issues.

Prior to his current role, Matthew was Director and Lead Analyst for North American Financial Services on BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS). With a robust background in corporate governance, strategy, financial resilience, and ESG topics, Matthew engaged directly with senior leadership at prominent financial institutions on behalf of BlackRock, Inc.'s clients. His focus spanned banks, diversified financials, insurance, REITs, and capital markets, where he led discussions on strategy, corporate governance practices, earnings performance, executive compensation, and sustainability practices.

Prior to this role, Matthew served as Assistant Corporate Secretary and Counsel, Corporate Legal, at BlackRock, Inc.

Matthew holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and a B.A. from New York University.