2026 Conference Speakers

Partner
Morrison Foerster

Ryan Adams is a Public Company Advisory & Governance partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. His practice focuses on securities regulation, SEC reporting and compliance, proxy and shareholder issues, corporate governance, and corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.

Ryan's deep SEC experience enables him to provide insightful counsel on federal securities laws, helping clients navigate complex regulatory landscapes and anticipate shifts impacting their business. Ryan's informed and pragmatic approach to the industry’s most challenging securities issues has earned him widespread commendation.

Before entering private practice, Ryan served as an attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, in the Office of Chief Counsel and in Disclosure Operations. In the Office of Chief Counsel, he advised on issues arising under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and assisted with no-action letters. He also served as a member of the division's Rule 14a-8 Shareholder Proposal Taskforce, including as a co-manager.

Partner
Troutman Pepper Locke

Sheri Adler is a partner in the Employee Benefits + Executive Compensation practice group at Troutman Pepper Locke. She advises boards, compensation committees, and companies on all aspects of executive and director compensation matters, including the design and documentation of equity incentives, cash bonus arrangements, employee stock purchase plans, and deferred compensation plans. Sheri also negotiates a wide range of contractual arrangements with C-suite executives, including employment, retention, change in control, severance, and separation agreements.

Sheri is particularly experienced in working with public companies, guiding her clients at the intersection of complex securities, disclosure, tax, and governance frameworks. She provides extensive support each year in connection with proxy statements for annual shareholder meetings, and helps clients navigate an evolving disclosure landscape.

Sheri regularly advises clients on the employee benefits and compensation aspects of their key transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, financing events, spinoffs, divestitures, and initial public offerings. She negotiates transaction agreements, counsels on 280G golden parachute issues, prepares compensation-related disclosure documents, and implements post-closing executive compensation arrangements.  

Sheri plays an active role within Troutman Pepper Locke, where she is known for her consensus-building and solution-oriented approach. She serves in a leadership role within her practice group, focusing on innovative ways to contribute to associates’ professional development through hands-on training programs, mentorships, and client-facing practice opportunities. Sheri also serves as a co-founder of the Executive Compensation and Securities Subgroup, an internal group that fosters cross-collaboration between intersecting practice groups within the firm.

Sheri serves as the president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP). She also frequently writes and speaks on executive compensation topics, and has spoken at programs hosted by CompensationStandards.com, TheCorporateCounsel.net, Practising Law Institute (PLI), Society for Corporate Governance (Middle Atlantic Chapter), Tax Executives Institute, and NASPP (Philadelphia Chapter).

Sheri’s recent recognitions include Chambers USA: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Pennsylvania (2023-2025), Legal 500 United States for Labor and Employment: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans: Design (2025), and Best Lawyers in America®: Ones to Watch: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (2023-2025).

Partner & Co-Chair, Capital Markets & Public Company Advisory
DLA Piper

Era Anagnosti is a capital markets partner with distinguished government and private practice experience, including more than 10 years with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As part of her core practice, she regularly advises public companies in their SEC reporting obligations and corporate governance matters. Era has extensive experience on a large variety of disclosure and compliance matters under the US federal securities laws, resolving complex and bespoke securities laws questions through innovative and practical approaches. As part of her transactional practice, she represents issuers and underwriters in a broad array of capital market transactions, including initial public offerings (IPOs), de-SPAC transactions, tender offers, spin-offs, rights offerings and follow-on offerings.

Given her extensive SEC experience, clients often seek her help to guide them through regulatory changes as well as engagement with the regulator. During her time at the SEC, Era served in various roles in the Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin), including in the role of Acting Assistant Director of the Office of Finance and as Legal Branch Chief. She also gained significant experience handling the review of many public company filings across different industries and was a key contributor to a number of the division's cross-disciplinary task forces, including the Office of Chief Counsel's Shareholder Proposal Task Force.

As a Fintech lawyer, she regularly advises clients on cutting-edge securities matters in Fintech regarding compliance with federal and state securities laws, in which her experience extends to blockchain, digital assets, decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens, among other asset classes. While at the SEC, Era managed Corp Fin's review program for all token offerings.

Partner
Latham

Michele Anderson, a partner in the firm’s National Office, advises clients and Latham lawyers facing complex issues arising under the US securities laws.

Prior to joining Latham, she served for 24 years in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance. She held a number of senior positions in the Division, including most recently serving as Associate Director and Acting Deputy Director. For nearly 15 years she led and then oversaw the Division’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions. Michele leverages her extensive knowledge and SEC experience to help the firm’s lawyers and clients navigate the disclosure requirements and other SEC rules that affect domestic and cross-border M&A and capital markets transactions. She also advises public company clients confronting shareholder activism and corporate governance issues.

As Associate Director at the SEC, Michele oversaw the Division’s legal and policy program and the work of the Office of Mergers and Acquisitions, the Office of International Corporate Finance, and the Office of Structured Finance. She directed rulemaking initiatives and no-action, interpretive, and exemptive positions on:

• Domestic and cross-border M&A transactions
• Federal proxy rules
• Registration, disclosure, and reporting requirements that apply to foreign issuers and issuers of asset-backed securities

As Chief of the Office of Mergers and Acquisitions, Michele managed the SEC’s regulation of M&A transactions and the application and interpretation of SEC rules relating to:

• Tender offers
• Mergers
• Going-private transactions
• Debt restructurings
• Beneficial ownership reporting
• Contested and other non-routine proxy solicitations

She also has extensive experience with the full range of SEC reporting and disclosure obligations as a result of her broad oversight responsibility for the SEC’s disclosure review program for public companies.

Michele is a frequent speaker on federal securities law developments, public company M&A, activism, and shareholder voting, and has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she taught the course “Takeovers, Mergers and Acquisitions.”

Partner
Sidley

Principal
Compensia

Editor
CompensationStandards.com

Mark Borges is a principal with Compensia, Inc., a management consulting firm providing executive compensation advisory services to compensation committees and senior management of knowledge-based companies. From April 2003 until September 2007, he was a principal for Mercer in the firm’s Washington Resource Group in Washington, DC. Previously, Mr. Borges was a Special Counsel in the Office of Rulemaking, Division of Corporation Finance with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Before that, he was General Counsel for ShareData, Inc. Mr. Borges practiced law with the firms of Ware & Friedenrich (now DLA Piper) from 1987 to 1992 and Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop) from 1982 to 1987. From 1981 to 1982, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Marion T. Bennett of the United States Court of Claims in Washington, DC.

Mr. Borges is the author of SEC Executive Compensation Disclosure Rules, first published in June 2008 by the American Bar Association, and a co-author of the Lynn, Borges & Romanek Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise and Reporting Guide. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a course of the securities law aspects of executive compensation.

A California native, Mr. Borges graduated from Humboldt State University in 1976. He received his J.D. from Santa Clara University in 1979 and an L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University in 1981. He is a member of the American Bar Association.

Partner
Skadden

Brian V. Breheny is the founder and co-head of the firm’s SEC Reporting and Compliance practice for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington, DC. He concentrates his practice in the areas of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and general corporate and securities matters, advising companies, investors and boards of directors on a full range of SEC reporting, compliance and corporate governance matters. These representations include counseling on compliance with the provisions of the SEC’s tender offer, going-private transaction, beneficial ownership, shareholder proposal and proxy rules and regulations.

Mr. Breheny has also held a number of leadership positions at Skadden, including serving as a member of the Policy Committee, the firm’s highest governing body. Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Breheny held a number of leadership positions in the Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC, including serving as chief of the Office of Mergers and Acquisitions, as well as deputy director, legal and regulatory policy.

In his position as chief of the SEC’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions, Mr. Breheny oversaw the legal and technical aspects of the administration of the Securities Act of 1933 as it related to tender offers and mergers; the proxy, beneficial ownership reporting, tender offer and going-private provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and the rules, regulations, forms and procedures promulgated to implement these statutory provisions. As deputy director, he was a member of the senior staff of the commission with responsibility for the division’s legal and regulatory policy support offices (chief counsel, chief accountant, mergers and acquisitions, international corporate finance, rulemaking, small business policy and enforcement liaison). Mr. Breheny also assisted the commission with its consideration of significant rule amendments in a number of areas, including shareholder director nominations, tender offers, beneficial ownership reporting, electronic delivery of proxy materials, electronic shareholder forums, short sale disclosure, and proxy voting and shareholder communications.

Before joining the SEC, Mr. Breheny worked at another international law firm in its New York and London offices. During his previous seven years in private practice, he advised clients engaged in a broad range of merger and acquisition transactions, securities issuances, private equity investments, banking and public financings, fund formations and corporate reorganizations. Mr. Breheny began his career as a certified public accountant with KPMG LLP.

Mr. Breheny has served as a member of the board of directors of the Society for Corporate Governance, and as chair of the society's diversity taskforce and repeatedly has been recognized by the National Association of Corporate Directors as part of its Directorship 100, a list of the most influential people in and around the boardroom. He has lectured extensively on topics such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and the federal proxy rules, and shareholder voting. Mr. Breheny also has served as an adjunct securities law faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center and Howard University School of Law. In addition, he is the co-author of Beneficial Ownership Reporting: Schedules 13D and 13G, a treatise published by Bloomberg BNA.

Mr. Breheny repeatedly has been recognized by The International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers, Chambers USA – where he is ranked in Band 1 and has been described as “absolutely at the top of the food chain” – and The Best Lawyers in America, which named him its 2024 Washington, D.C., Securities/Capital Markets Law Lawyer of the Year. He also has been honored as a Corporate Governance Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal and repeatedly named to Lawdragon’s list of 500 Leading Dealmakers in America. Additionally, Mr. Breheny has been recognized as a BTI Client Service All-Star by BTI Consulting Group and elected as a fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel.

Partner
Wilson Sonsini

Tamara Brightwell is a corporate partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she counsels public company clients on a wide range of regulatory matters and provides expert securities law advice on complex capital markets transactions.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Brightwell served as the Disclosure Review Program Director in the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that role, she provided legal and policy guidance to the Disclosure Review Program and oversaw the Division’s reviews of transactional filings and periodic and current reports to monitor and enhance compliance with disclosure and accounting requirements, with specific oversight of industry offices for life sciences, industrial applications and services, energy and transportation, manufacturing, and trade and services. During her nearly two decades at the SEC and in the Division of Corporation Finance, Ms. Brightwell served in numerous roles, including as Deputy Chief Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Chair.

Ms. Brightwell received a B.S. in financial management, cum laude, from Clemson University, and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Partner
Davis Polk

Ning Chiu is a Partner in the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell. Ning advises companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance, securities regulation and emerging trends. For over 20 years, she has advised companies of all stages and sizes on a range of matters involving their boards, including on matters of director independence, board and committee composition and structure, board policies and practices, board evaluations and succession planning, securities regulation, proxy disclosure, listing standards, stakeholder relations, shareholder proposals, shareholder engagement, shareholder activism in all forms, proxy advisory services and ESG matters.

She counsels clients on emerging trends and developments and responding to evolving best practices. Ning is a frequent speaker and author on governance issues and is active in the corporate governance community.

SVP, Global Head of Regulatory Operations
Nasdaq

Eun Ah has over 25 years of experience through her work in private practice and public service, focusing on capital markets, securities regulation, corporate law, and market risk monitoring.

She currently manages Global Regulatory Operations at Nasdaq, with the goal of facilitating capital formation, maintaining efficient and orderly marketplace and protecting investors. She manages multi-disciplinary teams in the U.S. and Europe responsible for assessing the qualification of listed companies, ETFs, options and other securities and their continued compliance with Nasdaq’s comprehensive listing standards. She also leads Nasdaq’s global surveillance program over equities, ETFs, options and other securities markets to help ensure fair and equal access to our trading markets and level the playing field for investors, market participants, and listed companies. Eun Ah is often involved in collaboration with U.S. and overseas regulators and exchanges on policy matters and regulatory decisions.

As former in-house counsel at Willis Towers Watson and Northrop Grumman, she has in-depth experience leading complex projects and managing legal matters related to domestic and international M&A, antitrust, venture capital and strategic alliances, while serving as a trusted partner and advisor to business leaders and board of directors.

Eun Ah also served as a senior executive at the Securities and Exchange Commission, overseeing a wide range of business operations, IT strategy and regulatory policy initiatives. During her tenure, she managed and significantly expanded a new office that performed risk monitoring and data analytics related to the asset management industry. She also led special projects related to capital raising transactions receiving heightened attention from the U.S. Congress, the press and other external parties.

Prior to joining the SEC, Eun Ah was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where she represented publicly and privately held companies, boards of directors and investment banks in a broad range of securities law matters, capital raising transactions, M&A, and corporate governance topics.

She started her career on Wall Street as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Eun Ah received her Bachelor of Science in International Economics and Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, both magna cum laude. She also studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Partner
WilmerHale

Meredith Cross is a partner in the Transactional and Securities Departments and a member of the Corporate Practice. Ms. Cross rejoined the firm in 2013, after having served as Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission since 2009. Representing clients in corporate and securities matters, she has experience with the full range of issues faced by public and private companies in capital raising and public reporting.

Ms. Cross's practice is primarily focused on advising public companies and underwriters on corporate finance securities law matters, including disclosure and other requirements under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as the requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. She serves as issuer's counsel and underwriters' counsel in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities.

While serving as the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the SEC, Ms. Cross led the Division's efforts to implement both the Dodd-Frank Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. Under her leadership, the Division recommended close to 60 rulemaking releases to the Commission, including those relating to say-on-pay, conflict minerals, proxy access, compensation committees and compensation advisers, asset-backed securities, and the new regulatory regime for derivatives. Ms. Cross also guided the Division's pragmatic response to numerous issues relating to the IPO "on-ramp" provisions of the JOBS Act. During her tenure, Ms. Cross testified before Congress numerous times on a broad range of issues including corporate governance, capital formation, risk retention in asset-backed securities offerings, executive compensation oversight, and agency management and budget.

Before first joining WilmerHale in 1998, Ms. Cross served as Deputy Director of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance. During her prior SEC tenure, she was involved with a number of corporate finance rulemakings, including changes to shelf registration, electronic delivery of prospectuses and other information to investors, the plain English initiatives, limited partnership roll-up rules, and small issue exemptions from registration and reporting. Before becoming Deputy Director, Ms. Cross served as Associate Director of the Division's sections on International Corporate Finance and Small Business. In the international area, she played a key role in the ongoing development of international disclosure and accounting standards for use in cross-border offerings. Ms. Cross also previously served as the Division's Chief Counsel. As Chief Counsel, she was responsible for no-action letters and legal interpretations in the Division on a wide range of matters, including Rule 144, Section 16, registration of employee benefit plans and exemptions from registration and reporting.

Managing Director
FW Cook

Bindu Culas has over 20 years of experience advising clients on the US and international legal, tax and regulatory aspects of designing and structuring equity incentive programs, employment agreements, and severance and change-of control plans. Bindu has worked with both domestic and foreign publicly traded and privately held companies as well as pre-IPO companies.

Before joining FW Cook, Bindu was a partner and the Head of Executive Compensation at Linklaters LLP, an international law firm. Prior to that she was an attorney in the corporate and executive compensation departments at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

Bindu writes and speaks frequently at regional and national ABA, NASPP and PLI events.

Partner
Weil

Howard Dicker is a partner in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and is Head of the Firm's Public Company Advisory Group. Howard advises numerous companies regarding securities law issues, disclosure and compliance matters as well as on executive compensation and corporate governance. He has a diverse corporate practice, including mergers and acquisitions, proxy fights, financings, IPOs and securities offerings, SPACs, private equity investments, and restructurings.

Howard is also active in various bar associations and organizations and speaks and writes on a variety of topics in corporate and securities law. He is a former Chair of the Subcommittee on Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Section 16 of the Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities, Section of Business Law, American Bar Association. He is also a former Chair of the Securities Regulation Committee of the Business Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Howard is a member of the Advisory Committee to the NY Chapter of the Society for Corporate Governance. He is a frequent contributor to Weil's Governance & Securities Watch.

Prior to joining Weil, Howard was an auditor and tax consultant at Price Waterhouse in New York. There, he focused on broker-dealers in securities and commodities. He is licensed as a certified public accountant.

Howard Dicker is recognized as a leading lawyer for Securities: Regulation: Advisory by Chambers USA, where clients note he is "extremely knowledgeable." He is recognized as a "Leading Lawyer" for Corporate Governance by Legal 500 US, where he is described as "exceptional" with "extraordinary depth of knowledge and the ability to get to the heart of an issue." Howard is also recommended for Securities & Corporate Finance by Super Lawyers.

Howard received his J.D., with honors, from The George Washington University School of Law, his M.S. in accounting from the State University of New York at Albany, and his B.S. in finance and accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Partner
Paul Hastings

Sean Donahue is chair of both the Public Company Advisory and Shareholder Activism & Takeover Defense practices of Paul Hastings, and he is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. and New York offices. Drawing on his previous experience as an attorney in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, his practice focuses on counseling public companies and their boards of directors on shareholder activism and takeover defense, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, securities regulation, and corporate governance matters.

Sean spends a significant amount of his time advising public companies and their boards of directors on shareholder activism and takeover defense matters. He has been involved in hundreds of activism and takeover defense situations, including numerous high-profile proxy contests. Sean has counseled boards of directors and management teams in navigating activist situations involving Elliott Management, Carl Icahn, Engaged Capital, Starboard Value, ValueAct, Lion Point Capital, Engine Capital, Voss Capital, Tang Capital, Highland Capital, Mill Road Capital, Legion Partners, JCP Investment Management, GAMCO, Eric Singer, Brad Radoff, Global Value Investment Corp. and Kanen Wealth Management, among others. 

Sean also has significant experience advising public companies and their boards of directors in responding to short attacks. He has advised companies in response to short reports by short sellers Hindenburg Research, Muddy Watters Research, Spruce Point Capital, Citron Research, Culper Research, Fuzzy Panda Research, Capybara Research, The Bear Cave, Grizzly Research, Blue Orca Capital, Kerrisdale Capital, Bleecker Street Research, Iceberg Research and Jehoshaphat Research, among others. He also advises companies in detecting and defending against naked short selling.

Sean serves as primary outside corporate and securities counsel to numerous public companies. In this role, he counsels clients on SEC reporting and corporate governance matters. Sean advises clients in a diverse range of industries, market capitalizations and geographies.

Sean is ranked by Chambers USA for Takeover Defense. Clients note that he “thinks outside the box with creativity in relation to the given objective, and he is laser-focused on getting to the desired outcome.” Sean is also recognized as a leading partner by Legal 500 U.S. for Shareholder Activism: Advice to Boards and Corporate Governance. Clients remark that he “is truly unique,” “practical, available, responsive, strategic” and a “superstar”. 

Sean is widely regarded as one of the leading corporate and securities lawyers of his generation. He has authored numerous thought leadership pieces on the federal securities laws, corporate governance, shareholder activism and takeover defense, and corporate law. Sean is well-versed in the corporate law of multiple jurisdictions, having authored several articles on both Delaware and Nevada corporate law. He has served as a guest lecturer at several leading academic institutions, including the Wharton School of Business, Columbia Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center.  
Sean is a member of the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee for the American Bar Association, where he serves as chair of the Proxy Statements and Business Combinations Subcommittee, and the Corporate Governance Committee, where he serves as co-chair of the Shareholder Activism & Engagement Subcommittee. He is also a member of both the Securities Law Committee and Corporate Practices Committee of the Society for Corporate Governance. Sean also serves on the board of directors of the National Investor Relations Institute’s Capital Area Chapter, is a member of the advisory board for Insights: The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Sean is actively involved in firm service at Paul Hastings. He is a member of the firm’s executive committee and is also on the firm's hiring committee for Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Sean was a partner at another international law firm. He previously served as an attorney-adviser with the SEC in the Division of Corporation Finance. While at the SEC, Sean worked on a number of transactional and securities compliance matters.

Senior Strategic Advisor
Cooley

Senior Editor
TheCorporateCounsel.net and CompensationStandards.com

Liz is a trusted industry leader for securities lawyers and other advisors. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in corporate and securities law, executive compensation and investor relations. As a senior strategic advisor at Cooley, Liz helps identify the latest issues affecting public and late-stage private companies, so that Cooley clients receive practical guidance that is both forward-looking and grounded in business realities.

Over the course of her career, Liz has counseled boards, executives, chief legal officers, corporate secretaries and compliance personnel on the full range of securities law and corporate matters, including sensitive board matters, Securities and Exchange Commission and stock exchange-based disclosure issues, stock exchange listing compliance, investor communication and voting trends, insider trading and Rule 10b5-1 plans, executive compensation issues and executive succession matters. Additionally, she has helped companies prepare to go public, navigate public and private offerings of equity and debt, implement activism defense measures, respond to shareholder proposals, and manage board and committee roles and procedures.

In addition, Liz serves as a senior editor for TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com and other CCRcorp resources. Through CCRcorp, Liz provides practical guidance to 88% of the publicly held Fortune 100, 90% of the Am Law 100, and countless smaller and mid-sized companies and firms. In her prior role as managing editor at CCRcorp, Liz played a key role in improving a variety of corporate metrics, and she incorporates this business perspective in providing strategic legal and compliance insights. Liz is a frequent author and speaker on securities and corporate law topics, with articles appearing in publicationssuch as Bloomberg Law, Business Law Today, Law360, The Corporate Board and The Corporate Governance Advisor.

Senior Editor
TheCorporateCounsel.net and CompensationStandards.com

Meredith Ervine is a Senior Editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com and DealLawyers.com. Meredith was previously a partner and co-chair of the Public Company, Securities and Governance practice at Honigman LLP.  Meredith counseled publicly traded and pre-IPO companies headquartered across the U.S. on a wide range of corporate matters, including financial reporting, proxy statements and annual meeting planning, corporate governance and policies, executive and director compensation and related disclosure, securities offerings, investor relations and M&A.

Meredith began her career in the New York office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP where she focused on public and private debt and equity offerings, liability management activities and M&A. Meredith has been recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Corporate Governance Law and Securities/Capital Markets Law. She has BA in Economics and Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan and a JD from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Partner
Ropes & Gray

Renata Ferrari is a partner in the Ropes & Gray tax & benefits department in Boston and the head of the firm's executive compensation practice group. She advises clients on executive compensation, equity-based and other incentives, deferred compensation, severance plans and other compensatory and benefits arrangements.

Renata also advises on the application of securities and tax laws to executives and employers and corporate governance matters. Her practice also includes a focus on compensation and benefits-related issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions.

Senior Of Counsel
Covington

David Fredrickson draws on his nearly three decades of experience at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to advise clients on capital markets, securities regulatory compliance, corporate governance, public accounting, and securities enforcement matters.

Prior to joining Covington, David held a number of senior roles in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance and the Office of the General Counsel. Most recently, he served as Senior Legal Advisor to the Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, where he advised the Deputy Director for Legal and Regulatory Policy. David advised senior SEC officials on complex legal issues and risk management, including serving as primary legal advisor to rulemaking teams implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, and JOBS Acts. His experience encompasses a broad spectrum of transactional and securities compliance and interpretative matters, including advising on issues related to digital assets, SPACs, shareholder proposals, proxy solicitations, Regulation FD, and financial reporting. David led the team that developed the legal framework for SEC oversight of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). David also regularly assessed legal issues raised by recommendations from the Division of Enforcement.

Partner
Wilson Sonsini

Brandon Gantus is a partner in the San Francisco office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and a co-leader of the firm's employee benefits and compensation practice. His practice focuses on the representation of public and private companies in their compensation and employee benefits matters, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.

Brandon advises clients on the design, drafting, and administration of equity-based compensation programs (including stock option, restricted stock, and other equity arrangements); employment, consulting, retention, severance, change in control, deferred compensation arrangements, and private company employee liquidity programs; and the associated tax (including Section 409A), accounting, ERISA, and securities law implications. He also assists public and private companies with corporate governance and compliance matters, including compensation disclosures for proxy filings and other applicable securities filings, as well as employee communications and public announcements.

Brandon has played a key role in many corporate transactions, representing buyers and sellers in connection with employee benefits and compensation-related aspects, including pre-signing negotiations, executive and equity compensation (including Section 280G—the golden parachute rules), and post-closing employee integration issues.

Partner
White & Case

Maia Gez is a Partner in the Capital Markets group and Head of the Firm's US Public Company Advisory Group (PCAG). Ms. Gez advises companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance, compliance with US federal securities laws and the requirements of the major US stock exchanges, board and executive compensation and pay versus performance disclosure, proxy advisory firm and investor policies, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and shareholder engagement. Ms. Gez regularly assists management and boards of directors on director independence, conflicts of interest, proxy statements and periodic reports, SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls, auditor independence, insider trading, Regulation FD and other company policies, shareholder proposals and responses to SEC inquiries.

Her practice also focuses on new developments and evolving best practices in corporate governance matters. Maia has advised a wide range of clients, from Fortune 100 and S&P 500 clients to mid and small-cap companies, as well as clients in connection with their IPOs and newly public companies on their public company obligations.

Partner
Cooley

Brad has extensive experience advising companies on all aspects of their compliance with US securities laws and the listing requirements of the major US exchanges, particularly in connection with and following their initial public offerings, as well as other significant strategic transactions. He regularly counsels management, boards of directors and board committees on a wide range of matters, including SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, board and executive compensation, corporate governance, shareholder proposals, the impact of proxy advisory services, and responses to formal and informal SEC inquiries. His practice also involves advising companies on a range of matters relating to corporate aircraft and private plane use.

Brad received his BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. In 2001, he received his JD from the University of Southern California Law School, where he was a member of the Southern California Law Review. Brad is admitted to practice in New York.

Partner
Skadden

Co-Founder & Head of Sales
Tumelo

Will sets Tumelo's long-term business strategy, short-term objectives and drives our US expansion with platforms, fund managers and ecosystem partnerships. He lends deep industry and company knowledge across product, sales and marketing to bring new features to market and implement strategy.

Partner
Perkins Coie

Allison Handy is a trusted adviser to companies and boards of directors on critical corporate governance, securities compliance, and capital markets transactions.

Allison provides counsel to companies on a broad range of issues faced by management and directors, including securities law disclosure obligations, environmental and social sustainability disclosures, stock exchange listing requirements, internal investigations, fiduciary duties, and shareholder activism matters. Her corporate clients include Alliant Energy, Lithia Motors, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and PACCAR. Allison is also a leader of the firm's Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility advisory team. 

Allison is a contributing editor and author of the newly published seventh edition of The Public Company Handbook: A Corporate Governance and Disclosure Guide for Directors and Executives.

She is a frequent speaker and author on corporate governance and securities law topics, and is the co-founder of the firm's Public Chatter blog. Allison also leads the firm's sponsorship of OnBoarding Women, a Seattle-based program dedicated to increasing gender equity in public company boardrooms.

Partner
Cleary Gottlieb

Justin “J.T.” Ho’s practice is focused on helping public companies and their boards navigate complex and challenging corporate governance, securities reporting, shareholder activism, crisis communication, executive compensation, and sustainability matters through collaborating on practical, innovative, business-oriented solutions.

J.T. advises public companies on board and committee oversight, assessment, independence, and composition issues. He also helps them to develop effective shareholder engagement programs and governance-related disclosures, and understand and consider the views of proxy advisors, shareholders, and other stakeholders in their decision making.

He also focuses on advising clients in connection with securities offerings, proxy statements, periodic SEC reports, stock exchange listing obligations, stock repurchases, and the sale and reporting of securities by insiders. He regularly counsels companies on difficult and emerging disclosure issues and provides training on disclosure best practices.

J.T. has helped clients successfully navigate shareholder proposals and activism campaigns through leveraging his knowledge of shareholder perspectives, corporate governance and securities laws. He also helped many companies identify and address activist threats through adopting reasonable defenses, collaborating on impactful shareholder engagement and communication strategies, addressing risk oversight issues, and developing effective proxy contest strategies.

J.T. also has considerable experience advising on crisis communication strategies and disclosures, and has helped many companies navigate difficult and challenging situations with their shareholders, employees, customers and other key stakeholders.

J.T. advises on compensation committee matters and related disclosures, executive transitions, and succession planning. He also advises on the design of cash and equity incentive plans and has helped over a dozen companies remediate failed or low “say on pay” votes.

Additionally, J.T. helps companies identify and understand the risks and opportunities associated with sustainability initiatives and disclosures and incorporate sustainability into their overall business strategy and executive incentive plans. More recently, he has helped companies navigate ESG-focused proposals and activism issues and the growing anti-ESG movement.

Special Counsel
Cooley

Reid Hooper has extensive experience handling a broad range of corporate and commercial matters with a primary focus in representing public companies, investors and regulated entities with respect to ongoing securities regulatory compliance. His expertise includes preparing SEC filings, Section 16 and beneficial ownership reports, as well as compliance with FINRA, National Stock Exchange, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley, JOBS Act and FAST Act requirements. Boards and investors turn to him with respect to corporate governance developments, regarding matters such as shareholder proposals, proxy access, board and committee independence and internal controls. He also advises companies and investors on a variety of transactional matters, including securities offerings, IPOs, tender offers, mergers and acquisitions and share repurchase programs.

Reid's experience includes approximately six years as an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Division of Corporation Finance, most recently as senior counsel in the Disclosure Standards Office.

While at the SEC, he advised on a wide variety of transactional and securities compliance matters, with a focus on the telecommunications and media industries. His experience at the SEC included reviewing registration statements relating to IPOs, secondary offerings, business combinations, exchange offers, tender offers, going-private transactions, proxy solicitations relating to proxy contests and annual and quarterly reports.

Reid also served both as an examiner and reviewer on the Shareholder Proposal Task Force in the Office of Chief Counsel, where he was responsible for evaluating no-action requests to exclude shareholder proposals under Exchange Act Rule 14a-8.

President & CEO
Lakeland Industries

Jim Jenkins has served as President and CEO of Lakeland Industries, a Nasdaq-listed provider of safety products for chemical, clean room, energy, fire service, manufacturing, and utility applications, since 2024, as the company’s Executive Chairman since 2023 and as a director since 2016. Mr. Jenkins also served on the company’s board from 2012 to 2015 and was a member of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committees.

Mr. Jenkins was previously the General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Development for Transcat, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed provider of calibration, repair, inspection and laboratory services, where he served as Transcat’s chief risk officer and advised management and the board of directors over matters of corporate governance and securities law. He also led Transcat’s acquisition strategy. He joined Transcat in September 2020.

Before joining Transcat, he was a partner at Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, a regional law firm in New York State. His practice focused on corporate governance and general corporate law matters, including initial and secondary public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law compliance. Mr. Jenkins joined the firm in 1989 as an associate and was elected a partner effective January 1, 1997. He is a Chambers-rated attorney and served as the Chair of the firm’s Securities Practice Group from 2001 to 2020 and as a member of the firm’s Management Committee from January 2007 to January 2013. From 2018 until September 2020, he served as the Partner in Charge of the firm’s New York City office. Mr. Jenkins holds a B.A. from Virginia Military Institute and a J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law.

Managing Editor
TheCorporateCounsel.net and CompensationStandards.com

John Jenkins is Managing Editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com and DealLawyers.com, as well as The Corporate Counsel, The Corporate Executive and Deal Lawyers print newsletters. For over 35 years, he directly advised clients on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate matters, in the Cleveland office of Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP.

John's experience includes representing issuers and underwriters of debt and equity securities in more than 100 underwritten public and Rule 144A offerings; negotiation of mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures involving private and public companies; counseling directors on fiduciary obligations in connection with proposed change of control transactions and disclosure obligations under the federal securities laws; and counseling investment bankers in connection with mergers and acquisitions, fairness opinions, financings and other engagements. He has also represented targets of SEC, SRO and stock exchange investigations and enforcement proceedings, and has served as counsel to corporations and board committees conducting internal investigations involving allegations of misconduct.

He has taught mergers and acquisitions law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and has been a guest lecturer at The Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. John also has served as chair of the Securities Law Section of the Cleveland Bar Association, and as a member of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Budget Committee and the Canisius College Board of Regents.

John has been recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America for Corporate law, as well as one of America's Leading Lawyers by Chambers USA. He is a frequent author and speaker on securities and corporate law topics. His articles have appeared in publications such as Deal Lawyers, The Business Lawyer, Business Law Today, and The Corporate Governance Advisor. He has a BA from Canisius College and a JD from The University of Virginia.

Managing Director
Semler Brossy

Blair Jones has 30 years of executive compensation consulting experience. She has worked extensively across industries and has depth of expertise working with companies in transition.

Prior to joining Semler Brossy, Blair was the practice leader in Leadership Performance and Rewards at Sibson and an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. Blair holds the designations of Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), and Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP).

Blair has been named to the D100, NACD Directorship Magazine's annual list of the most influential people in the boardroom community, including directors, corporate governance experts, regulators, and advisors, for ten consecutive years (2013-2022).

Of Counsel
Gunster

Bob Lamm chairs the firm’s Securities and Corporate Governance practice. He rejoined Gunster in 2014, having been a shareholder from 2000 to 2002. Before returning to Gunster, Bob served as assistant general counsel and assistant secretary of Pfizer. His previous experience includes senior legal positions at W. R. Grace, CA Technologies, and Financial Guaranty Insurance Company. He also has extensive experience with small and mid-cap companies, as well as nonprofit entities and family offices. At Gunster, Bob has advised clients in industries such as healthcare, banking, transportation, and insurance, among others.

In addition to his role at Gunster, Bob served as an independent senior advisor to the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness from 2013 to 2025.

Bob is a long-term member of the Society for Corporate Governance. He has chaired its securities law committee and its national conference committee, and has served on numerous other committees and as a member of the board of directors. Bob has received the Society’s Bracebridge H. Young Distinguished Service Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award in Corporate Governance from Corporate Secretary Magazine.

Bob is a member of the Florida and New York Bars, a member of Gunster’s Women’s Leadership Forum committee and a Fellow of The Conference Board Governance and Sustainability Center. He previously served on the Markets Advisory Council of the Council of Institutional Investors. He frequently speaks and writes on securities law, corporate governance and related topics, including the “Bob’s Upticks” column on Gunster’s Securities Edge blog, and he serves on the board of editors of The Corporate Counselor. During his tenure at the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness, Bob presented at many programs sponsored by the Center and co-authored many of the Center’s publications. In addition, he is a frequent commentator on securities law and corporate governance matters for a variety of business and general news media.

Partner
Davis Polk

Ms. Lin is a member of Davis Polk's Corporate Department, practicing in the Executive Compensation Group. She advises boards, companies, compensation committees and individual executives on executive compensation, equity-based incentives, deferred compensation, severance plans and other compensatory arrangements, with particular emphasis on issues arising in mergers and acquisitions transactions, initial public offerings, and new and joint ventures.

She also advises on employment and consulting arrangements, the applicability of securities and tax laws to executives and employers, the design and implementation of equity compensation plans and general employment-related matters. Ms. Lin is co-editor of the "Davis Polk Briefing: Governance" blog, which covers current topics in corporate governance, securities law and executive compensation.

In her pro bono practice, Ms. Lin has represented individuals seeking asylum in the United States. She has also advised not-for-profit organizations, including Grameen America and International Arts Movement.

Partner
Goodwin

Senior Editor
TheCorporateCounsel.net and CompensationStandards.com

Dave Lynn is a partner in Goodwin's Capital Markets group and chair of the Public Company Advisory practice. Dave is also a Senior Editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com, and The Corporate Executive, and is the co-author of The Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise and Reporting Guide. His practice is focused on advising a wide range of clients on SEC matters, securities transactions and corporate governance. Dave was the Chief Counsel of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance from 2003 to 2007, where he led the rulemaking team that drafted sweeping revisions to the SEC's executive compensation and related party disclosure rules. Dave initially served on the SEC Staff from 1995-2000 as an Attorney-Advisor and subsequently a Special Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance.

While in private practice from 2000 to 2003, he advised clients on SEC investigations, securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. Dave also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a course on exempt securities offerings.

Managing Partner and COO
Jasper Street

Rob Main, CFA is a managing partner and COO at Sustainable Governance Partners (Jasper Street). Rob focuses on board related matters, investor engagement, executive compensation, ESG strategy, and issue & financial activism.
Rob helps our clients with critical ESG strategy issues, board composition & disclosure, compensation governance, and how to optimize engagements with key investors and other stakeholders. He is an active industry thought leader and regularly speaks with executives, directors, investors, and other market participants on important corporate governance and sustainability topics.

Before founding Jasper Street, Rob was the Head of Investment Stewardship for the Americas and Asia at Vanguard. His responsibilities included company engagement, corporate governance research, policy development, proxy voting, and ESG integration. He spoke on behalf of the firm’s stewardship program regularly at industry conferences and events, and actively contributed to thought leadership discussions and publications in industry. Rob’s prior asset management industry experience included roles as director within Vanguard’s investment manager due diligence team, head of active equity product management, and leader of the firm’s new product development efforts.

Rob earned a B.S. from the University of Richmond and an M.B.A. from Villanova University. He is a CFA charterholder and is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia. He has served as adjunct faculty in Villanova University’s M.B.A. program and has guest lectured at Harvard University, Columbia University, Drexel University, and at Villanova’s Charles Widger School of Law. He currently serves on the advisory board for the Vinyl Sustainability Council and practicalesg.com and formerly served on the Markets Advisory Council of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). He enjoys racquet sports, is active in the Unionville youth sports community, and once served as a ball boy for Martina Navratilova.

Director, Executive Compensation Research
Glass Lewis

Vice President, 
Executive Compensation

Kevan Marvasti is a Vice President at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), where he works on the U.S. executive compensation research team. Kevan analyzes compensation-related proposals, including say-on-pay, golden parachutes, and equity plans, and helps develop the policy that applies to these proposals. He regularly engages with institutional investors and public company boards to discuss executive compensation market practices and ISS policy.

Before joining ISS in 2016, Kevan was a senior analyst at Thomson Reuters. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Hobart College.

Partner
Fenwick

Ryan advises clients in the life sciences and technology industries on capital markets and corporate matters. He has worked closely with executives, boards of directors and underwriters to provide thoughtful counseling in capital market transactions and corporate governance matters. Ryan’s extensive experience includes representing companies, primarily in the life sciences, investors and underwriters in all manner of capital market transactions, including IPOs, reverse mergers, ATM offerings, PIPE offerings, SPAC mergers, convertible debt and other financings. Ryan also advises public companies on various general corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance best practices, ESG best practices, compliance with stock exchange rules and securities laws, and periodic reporting obligations.

Ryan has previously worked at two global law firms, where his practice focused on capital markets and corporate governance.

During law school, Ryan was an articles editor for The George Washington Law Review.

Partner
King & Spalding

Elizabeth Morgan represents public and private companies, as well as investment banks and investors, in a broad range of capital markets transactions, as well as on corporate governance and disclosure matters.

Liz’s capital markets experience includes investment grade and high yield debt, sustainability-linked and green bonds, convertible notes, preferred stock, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, “shelf” offerings, “at-the-market” offerings and Rule 144A transactions, as well as private placement transactions, tender offers, exchange offers, consent solicitations and other corporate reorganization and liability management transactions.

Liz also advises public companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance, securities law and ESG and sustainability matters, including best practices and disclosures.  Representative experience includes advising on Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements, proxy disclosures, stakeholder engagement, director independence, proxy advisory services, board and committee charters and governance guidelines, and disclosure controls and procedures.  Liz also advises public companies on shareholder activism, including on shareholder proposals and preparing for and responding to hedge fund and corporate governance activism. 

Liz’s experience also includes a variety of syndicated loan transactions, leveraged acquisition finance, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic corporate transactions.

Liz represents companies in a variety of industries (including healthcare, retail, technology and REITs) and represents both foreign and domestic companies.

Partner
Gibson Dunn

Ron Mueller joined the Washington, D.C. Office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1986 and works in the securities regulation and corporate governance area with an emphasis on proxy and disclosure issues, executive compensation, and corporate transactions.

Mr. Mueller is listed in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the categories of corporate governance law, corporate compliance law, and securities regulation. He is the immediate past chair of the Subcommittee on Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation of the Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities, Section of Business Law, American Bar Association. Mr. Mueller is a frequent speaker and author on securities and corporate governance matters, including and developments in proxy disclosures and proxy contests, the SEC's disclosure requirements, corporate governance developments, Section 16 rules, and executive compensation issues.

From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Mueller worked as legal counsel to Commissioner Edward H. Fleischman at the United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). While at the SEC, Mr. Mueller worked on many of the matters before the Commission, including executive compensation rules, enforcement matters and regulatory initiatives.

Mr. Mueller received his J.D., from Columbia Law School in 1986, where he was both a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar and a James Kent Scholar, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University in 1982. Mr. Mueller is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association and the American Bar Association and is admitted to practice before the courts of New York and Washington.

Partner
A&O Shearman

Lona Nallengara is the Head of the U.S. Public Company Advisory practice and a member of the Board of A&O Shearman.

He focuses on advising companies, financial institutions and their boards on corporate governance, disclosure, and securities law compliance matters and on the financial regulatory process. He also advises companies and financial institutions on all aspects of public and private offerings of equity, equity-linked, high yield debt and investment grade debt securities.

Prior to returning to the firm in 2017, Lona served in senior positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission for over four years. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Chief of Staff to SEC Chair Mary Jo White, where he was the top advisor to the Chair on all issues, including policy development, rulemaking, strategy and management. During this time, he led the rulemaking and implementation efforts related to all mandates under the Dodd-Frank and JOBS Acts and directed the SEC’s asset management, market structure, public company disclosure effectiveness and private offering reform programs. He also served as the SEC deputy to the Financial Stability Oversight Council and was the primary SEC liaison with other financial regulators.

Lona joined the SEC in 2011 as Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and later became its Acting Director. In this role, he was responsible for the division’s overall activities and operations, including rulemaking, interpretive guidance and the public company filing review program. Following his SEC tenure, Lona joined Bridgewater Associates, LP, where he was the Chief Governance Officer and a senior advisor to founder Ray Dalio.

Partner
K&L Gates

Ali is a partner in the firm’s Capital Markets practice and is a key member of the firm’s renowned public company Executive Compensation practice. He advises US registrants, senior policymakers, and other market participants on management compensation matters, with specific focus on governance, disclosure, and transition issues.

Ali previously took leave from the firm to lead the management compensation legal function at a large US registrant, assisting the registrant with three CEO and two President transitions, as well as ongoing engagement with institutional stockholders and proxy advisory firms.

A recognized leader in the field of management compensation, Ali has advised senior members of the executive and legislative branches, as well as interested parties in many of the most significant and high-profile management compensation matters of the last two decades. Ali has been cited by numerous publications and treatises, and recent articles by Ali have appeared in Bloomberg and Harvard Law School’s Forum on Corporate Governance, including the Forum’s seminal article on using cryptocurrencies as compensation.

Ali holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Yale Law Journal, and a B.A. in mathematics, Phi Beta Kappa and with highest distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Partner and Co-Lead, Technology Industry Group
Stoel Rives LLP

Contributing Editor
TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com and DealLawyers.com

Meaghan Nelson is co-leader of the firm’s Technology Industry Group and represents companies of all stages of maturity, including formation, funding, expansion, and exit, with an emphasis on the technology industry. She advises public and private companies on general corporate law and governance matters as well as transactions, including venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. She also counsels clients on public company disclosure, stock exchange listing compliance, and reporting to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 Prior to Stoel, Meaghan was the General Counsel of SingleStore, Inc., a venture-backed start-up in the database industry, and prior to that, led the corporate legal function as Associate General Counsel at Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), a life sciences technology company she took public as outside counsel in 2013. Meaghan also worked in private practice previously at Cravath Swaine & Moore in New York and Wilson Sonsini and Gunderson Dettmer in Silicon Valley.

 In addition to her legal practice, Meaghan is an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho College of Law and is a Contributing Editor for TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com, and other CCRcorp resources, providing practical guidance to publicly traded Fortune 100 companies, AmLaw 100 firms, and countless smaller and midsized companies and firms.

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Constellation

Mr. Phillips is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Constellation Energy. Constellation is the nation's largest producer of carbon-free energy and a leading supplier of sustainable solutions to millions of residential, public sector and corporate customers.

Mr. Phillips has advised boards and senior management on a variety of matters, including risk oversight; fiduciary duties; board succession; executive compensation; SEC disclosures; and shareholder activism. He also has expertise in organizational change management, implementing and structuring effective corporate governance systems and communicating key messaging to shareholders and other stakeholders.

Mr. Phillips is a frequent speaker and writer on corporate governance issues and has been published in several periodicals. He also is past chair of ACC's the Corporate and Securities Law Committee and formerly served on the board of directors of the Society for Corporate Governance.

He has a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University and J.D. from the Duke University School of Law. He obtained a NACD Directorship Certification™ in 2021.

Lead Director
Huntington Bancshares

Well-known and respected in the banking community, David serves on numerous boards of directors.  He is currently lead director of the Board of Directors of Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. He is a past director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis and Chemical Bank Central.

Dave is a recognized authority on economic development and has served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), the Michigan Strategic Fund, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the State Correction Commission, and the Alliance for Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In 1998, Dave was elected to the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University, serving as board chairman from 2003 to 2006. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Michigan State College of Law.  Dave is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York, and the Michigan 4-H Foundation. He is a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan, and was appointed to the Attorney Grievance Commission by the Michigan Supreme Court in 2007.

David Porteous graduated from Michigan State University Cum Laude in 1974 and went on to receive his Juris Doctorate with distinction from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.  He was raised in Reed City and has practiced law in Western Michigan since 1978.

Married with three children, Dave is involved in community activities including Rotary International, the Osceola County Community Foundation and the United Methodist Church.

Partner
Ballard Spahr

Partner
Pay Governance

Tara Tays is a Partner with Pay Governance LLC and has over 20 years of executive compensation experience and advises management and boards of directors on a wide range of compensation matters, including the design and implementation of annual incentive and long-term incentive plans, the review and development of internal compensation policies and procedures, the assessment of risk associated with incentive programs, and the adoption and review of employment agreements and change-in-control/severance plans. She has extensive knowledge of institutional shareholders' and proxy-advisory firms' concerns with executive compensation programs and helps companies improve shareholder support on Say on Pay and other executive compensation related proposals.

Tara is often a guest speaker at the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals and CCRcorp's annual executive compensation conferences and the National Association of Corporate Director's (NACD) Leading Minds in Governance conference, and has authored articles published in NACD Directorship magazine, Practical Law, and Deloitte's On the Board Agenda. She received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California's Leventhal School of Accounting.

Partner
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Elina (Lina) Tetelbaum is a Corporate Partner and Head of Shareholder Engagement and Activism Defense at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Lina regularly counsels on proxy fights, takeover defense, corporate governance, crisis management and mergers and acquisitions. Lina has been named a Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer, one of The Deal’s Top Women in Dealmaking, a Power Player in Shareholder Activism by Financier Worldwide, a Leading Partner in Shareholder Activism by Legal500, a Law360 Rising Star for M&A, and one of the 500 Leading Dealmakers in America by Lawdragon, among other honors.

Lina has advised companies in numerous industries navigating activist situations across an array of established and new activists, including Phillips 66 in its response to three years of activism from Elliott Management and first-ever contested vote by Elliott in the United States, United States Steel Corporation in its successful defense against a proxy contest by Ancora, The J.M. Smucker Co. in its response to activism by Elliott Management, Hexcel Corporation in response to activism by Vision One, Macy’s, Inc. in its response to activism and unsolicited takeover proposals, Match Group in its response to activism by Elliott Management and later Anson Funds, and numerous REITs in their response to activism by Land & Buildings. Ms. Tetelbaum has extensive expertise advising companies in response to unsolicited takeover offers, including National Instruments in its $8.2 billion acquisition by Emerson following its unsolicited offer, and Kansas City Southern in its unsolicited transaction with Canadian National Railway and $31 billion acquisition by Canadian Pacific Railway. Ms. Tetelbaum has also advised public and private companies in a wide range of industries in mergers and acquisitions, including The Free Press in its acquisition by Paramount, Allergan in its $83 billion acquisition by AbbVie, PDC Energy in its $7.6 billion acquisition by Chevron and successful proxy fight defense against Kimmeridge, Barnes Group in its $3.6 billion acquisition by Apollo Global Management, and Masonite International in its $3.9 billion sale to Owens Corning.

Ms. Tetelbaum is the President of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association, an Advisory Board Member of the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance, the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, and the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate law. She frequently lectures, presents and publishes on corporate governance and M&A at law schools and corporate governance conferences around the world. Ms. Tetelbaum received an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and completed a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation and editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, Ms. Tetelbaum served as a law clerk to the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Deputy Director & Chief Advisor on Disclosure, Policy and Rulemaking
SEC's Division of Corporation Finance

Christina M. Thomas is deputy director and chief advisor on disclosure, policy, and rulemaking in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. She recently rejoined the SEC from private practice, where she represented public companies on capital markets transactions, SEC disclosure and compliance, and corporate governance matters. She previously served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Elad L. Roisman and was detailed to the Office of International Affairs and Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Ms. Thomas started her legal career as an attorney-adviser in the Division of Corporation Finance. Ms. Thomas received her J.D. from New York Law School and her B.A. from Fordham University.

Partner
Latham & Watkins

Maj Vaseghi, Global Vice Chair of the firm's Public Company & Board Representation Practice, advises a wide variety of clients on corporate governance, executive compensation, and employee benefits, including:

• Representation on ongoing executive compensation and employee benefits matters, including advising board compensation committees and senior executives with respect to employment arrangements, equity and cash-based incentive plans, deferred compensation plans, and preparation of proxy materials and other securities filings related to executive compensation matters
• Corporate transactions, including M&A and IPOs, where she advises companies on employee benefit and executive compensation aspects, including negotiating transactional documents, drafting disclosures and identifying issues arising under, and assisting in complying with, the Internal Revenue Code, labor laws, federal and state securities laws and applicable exchange rules
• Public company representation, including advising companies on corporate governance, securities law reporting and compliance, and proxy advisory and institutional stockholder voting guidelines

Maj leverages experience representing dozens of public companies across multiple industries and complementary perspectives on tax and securities matters to advise clients regarding their most sensitive issues.

Drawing on her previous role as in-house securities and corporate governance counsel at VMWare, Maj keenly understands the business issues that large public companies commonly face.

She frequently writes and speaks on executive compensation, corporate governance, and tax-related issues.

Partner
Gibson Dunn

Geoffrey E. Walter is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn and a member of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Practice Group. He advises public companies and their boards of directors on a wide range of corporate law matters, including securities and corporate governance practices and disclosure issues, compliance with SEC regulations and executive compensation, shareholder engagement and activism matters, insider trading, shareholder proposals, and responses to SEC inquiries. Geoffrey also has experience advising nonprofit organizations on issues related to corporate governance.

Geoffrey received the Certified Corporate Governance Professional designation, is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance, and is recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America 2025. He co-authored a chapter in the “Executive Compensation Disclosure Handbook: A Practical Guide to the SEC’s Executive Compensation Disclosure Rules” and is a frequent speaker on securities law and corporate governance issues.

Geoffrey earned his Juris Doctor in 2013 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. While at Columbia, Geoffrey was awarded the Isaac and Jacqueline Weiss Shapiro Fellowship in Japanese Law and received a Certificate in International Law from the Parker School. He graduated in 2004 from Amherst College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, he was an associate in the Executive Compensation Group of another international law firm in New York, where he advised clients on executive compensation, equity-based incentive, severance plans and other executive compensation arrangements.

Partner
Mayer Brown

Jennifer Zepralka offers clients years of experience advising public companies on their obligations under the federal securities laws and on related corporate governance requirements. She also works with growth companies as they seek to raise capital under the federal securities laws and become public companies. Jennifer is the former Chief of the Office of Small Business Policy in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance and has also held other roles within the Division over her years with the Commission.

At the SEC’s Office of Small Business Policy, Jennifer was responsible for administering the securities laws and regulations that particularly affect small businesses, including the smaller reporting company requirements, as well as the capital-raising exemptions from Securities Act registration. She was also responsible for interpreting and administering Regulation D, which is used by issuers of all sizes to raise amounts of capital that exceed the amount raised annually in registered offerings. Jennifer led the Division’s efforts on substantial revisions to the exempt offering framework, from the 2019 concept release through the 2020 adoption of changes to the accredited investor definition and rule amendments intended to harmonize and simplify the offering exemptions. Jennifer also played a key role in the drafting and implementation of the pay versus performance disclosure rules and participated in the recently adopted amendments to the SPAC rules.

Jennifer advises public companies with SEC disclosure documents and provides advice on reporting obligations, including compliance with SEC executive compensation disclosure requirements and Section 13 and Section 16 reporting. She advises on corporate governance matters, including advice regarding director independence, board committee structure and charters, codes of conduct, corporate governance guidelines, controls and procedures, CEO and CFO certifications, and NYSE and Nasdaq requirements.

For emerging companies, Jennifer provides practical advice on federal securities law compliance in connection with capital raising activities, including private placements of debt and equity under Regulation D, Section 4(a)(2), or other Securities Act exemptions from registration. Jennifer also advises companies, particularly in the fintech sector, on the securities law implications of their business models. Jennifer also advises pre-IPO companies on preparation for their initial public offerings.

The Legal 500 US recommends Jennifer for M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Corporate Governance, Financial Services Regulation: Banking, and Fintech, highlighting her role in “strengthening the team’s capabilities when advising on regulatory issues and securities law.”