Leo E. Strine, Jr., is Of Counsel in the Corporate Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Prior to joining the firm, he was the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from early 2014 through late 2019. Before becoming the Chief Justice, he served on the Delaware Court of Chancery as Chancellor since June 22, 2011, and as a Vice Chancellor since November 9, 1998.
In his judicial positions, Mr. Strine wrote hundreds of opinions in the areas of corporate law, contract law, trusts and estates, criminal law, administrative law, and constitutional law. Notably, he authored the lead decision in the Delaware Supreme Court case holding that Delaware’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional because it did not require the key findings necessary to impose a death sentence to be made by a unanimous jury.
For a generation, Mr. Strine taught various corporate law courses at the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania law schools, and now serves as the Michael L. Wachter Distinguished Fellow in Law and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance. From 2006 to 2019, Mr. Strine served as the special judicial consultant to the ABA’s Committee on Corporate Laws. He also was the special judicial consultant to the ABA’s Committee on Mergers & Acquisitions from 2014 to 2019. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
Mr. Strine speaks and writes frequently on the subjects of corporate and public law, and particularly the impact of business on society, and his articles have been published in The University of Chicago Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Stanford Law Review, among others. On several occasions, his articles were selected as among the Best Corporate and Securities Articles of the year, based on the choices of law professors.
Board Member, Games Global, Paloma Health and StoneAge Tools
Sheila Bangalore is a board member and former public company C-level executive with global business experience spanning public and private multinational technology (B2B/C), healthcare and specialty materials businesses over 20+ years. Presently, Ms. Bangalore serves as a non-executive director for StoneAge Holdings, Inc., an ESOP company pioneering innovation for the global industrial sector; and Games Global Limited, a private global gaming technology company, where she chairs the Risk & Compliance Committee and serves on the Nominations and Audit Committees. She also acts a Venture Partner at Springtide Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investment in cutting-edge healthcare technology businesses. Previously, Ms. Bangalore served as Chief Strategy Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of MP Materials (NYSE: MP), a regulated specialty materials company she helped take public in 2020. MP’s IPO raised $545 million in capital. At MP, Ms. Bangalore promoted business sustainability and optimization strategies while overseeing legal, compliance and corporate governance on behalf of the company. Prior to MP, spent close to 15 years in senior legal and business roles at Zappos.com, Aristocrat Technologies, and Bally Technologies. Ms. Bangalore received her MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; her Juris Doctorate from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis; and her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Tufts University.
Former Board Member, P&F Industries, A&M Castle & Co. and PICO Holdings
Howard Brownstein is a nationally-known turnaround and crisis management professional, and is the President of The Brownstein Corporation, which provides turnaround management and advisory services to companies and their stakeholders, as well as investment banking services, fiduciary services, and litigation consulting, investigations and valuation services. Previously he held partner- ship or senior executive roles in turnaround management firms, where, in addition to leading turnaround assignments for clients, advising senior management and fulfilling a senior management role, he had overall responsibility for transactional activities and the marketing of the firm’s services, and gained extensive experience in valuing businesses, obtaining financing, and selling businesses.
Howard Brownstein has served as Financial Advisor to Debtors and to lenders and Creditor Committees in bankruptcy proceedings, and as a litigation expert in several cases, including the landmark Merry-Go-Round bankruptcy. Mr. Brownstein served as Chief Re- structuring Officer in U.S. Mortgage which involved a $138 million mortgage fraud, and as Plan Administrator in Montgomery Ward LLC, the largest retail liquidation in history.
Mr. Brownstein regularly serves as an independent corporate board member for publicly-held and privately-owned companies, as well as large nonprofits. He has been named “Directorship Certified” and a “Board Leadership Fellow” by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and served as Board Chair and President of its Philadelphia Chapter. He also served as Vice Chair of the ABA Corporate Governance Committee and co-chaired its programming, and has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which includes only one percent of lawyers admitted to practice in any state. He has been a board chair, and also chaired board Audit, Risk, Nominating and Strategic Planning/Risk Assessment committees, and is a Qualified Financial Expert (QFE) for Sarbanes-Oxley purposes.
Howard Brownstein served for over 13 years until its sale in late 2023 on the Board of P&F Industries (NasdaqGM: PFIN), a publicly- held manufacturer/importer of air-powered tools, and chaired its Nom/Gov and Strategic Planning Risk Assessment Committees, He serves on the Board of Merakey, a large nonprofit provider of education and human services with more than 10,000 employees in several states. He serves as the sole board member of Community Council Health Systems, a nonprofit provider of behavior health and other services. He served as the Board Chair/CEO of Universal Services Associates, a designer and manufacturer of museum exhibits. He also served on the Board of Renew Financial, a leading provider of innovative PACE financing for home improvement projects, where he chaired its Risk and Operating Committees, as well as the Board of A.M. Castle & Co. (OTCQB: CASL), a multinational metals distribution and supply chain solutions company. He also served on the Board and chaired the Audit Committee of PICO Hold- ings (Nasdaq: PICO), a publicly-held diversified holding company with investments in water resources and storage operations, and real estate operations, and chaired the Audit Committee of LMG2, successor to Chicago Loop Parking, a $600Mil parking infrastructure entity in downtown Chicago, in which a lender group led by Société Générale succeeded to ownership following a restructuring. He also served as sole Board member of Betsey Johnson LLC, a privately-held designer and retailer of women’s apparel with equity sponsor Castanea Partners, and he previously served on the Board of Directors of Special Metals Corporation, a $1 billion nickel alloy producer, where he also chaired the Audit Committee. He also served on the Board and Audit Committee of Magnatrax Corporation, a $500 million manufacturer of metal buildings. He also served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the National Philanthropic Trust, then the largest independent provider of donor advised funds. Mr. Brownstein previously served on the boards of a regional bank, a retail department store, and nonprofit Boards including Chair of a United Way agency.
Board Member, SealSQ, Wisekey and GRIID
Cristina Dolan is a renowned advanced technology executive and cybersecurity executive at Crimson Vista. She has been serving on the boards of several prominent public technology companies involved with Industry 5.0 technologies, including SEALSQ (NASDAQ:LAES), WISEKEY (NASDAQ:WKEY), and GRIID (NASDAQ:GRDI). At RSA Security, Netwitness, she held key leadership roles, including Managing Director for LATAM, Head of the Americas Channel, and Global Head of Alliances. An accomplished entrepreneur, Cristina launched startups such as iXledger, a cyber insurance marketplace focused on advanced technologies, and she co-founded OneMain.com, which achieved remarkable success as the tenth-largest Internet Service Provider following a groundbreaking IPO that surpassed records set by Amazon and eBay. Later, she was appointed CEO of a venture-backed computational linguistics and machine learning MIT spinout during the nascent stages of data-driven AI transformation. She is also a co-founder of Additum, a European ‘Value Based Healthcare’ ecosystem. Currently, Cristina is a Senior Lecturer at Columbia University’s Technology Management Program and has contributed to the World Economic Forum’s cybersecurity publications and authored books on ESG and Data. Her career includes executive roles at IBM, Oracle, Disney, and Hearst. Cristina’s achievements have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Harold E. Lobdell Distinguished Service Award from MIT and the Coup de Coeur du CEFCYS Cybersecurity Europe award. The award-winning student competition she founded, Dream it. Code it. Win it., was the subject of her TEDx Talk, Just Solve It. She earned a Master of Science degree from the MIT Media Lab and a Master of Computer Science and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree. In addition to her professional achievements, Cristina is a former member of the US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, achieving first place in the US National Championships and Empire State Games in Skeleton in 1992. She also competed in the 1990 World Cup Championship in Konigsee, Germany, securing second place among female competitors.
Board Member, Lear Corp. and Berry Global Group
Jonathan F. Foster is the founder and a managing director of Current Capital Partners LLC. He has over 35 years of experience as an advisor (mergers and acquisitions and restructuring advisory as well as capital raising) and as an investor (private equity). He has also been on the boards of more than 50 companies and is an experienced expert witness in corporate litigation.
Among other investment banking positions, Jon spent more than ten years at Lazard, largely focused on mergers and acquisition advisory work, ultimately becoming a Managing Director.
Jon has been on the boards of more than 50 companies, including privatecompanies, companies involved in restructurings and Fortune 500 companies; he has been chairman, lead director and chair of audit, compensation, and nominating and governance committees as well as a member of other committees such as special, transaction and chief executive officer succession committees. He now chairs two Fortune 500 audit committees. Jon was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors 2015 Directorship 100 List.
In addition, as an expert witness in major corporate litigation, Jon has filed reports in some 60 cases, been deposed more than 30 times and testified in court or at
arbitration nine times about mergers and acquisitions, governance, distressed companies, valuation and damages.
Jon has written, spoken and been quoted frequently about corporate board, mergers and acquisitions, finance and governance issues and has guest lectured at various universities. His book on corporate governance will be published by Radius Book Group in 2025.
Board Member, CSX and Guidewell Mutual Insurance Company
Steve Halverson is a corporate director and advisor to private equity and other investors. Steve is Chairman-elect of Gilbane, Inc., a 154-year-old, $8 billion real estate and construction enterprise with global operations. He is the retired Chairman and CEO of the Haskell Company, one of the nation’s largest integrated design-build-manufacturing organizations, with operations in the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Steve served as CEO from 2000-18.
Steve received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s University, his Juris Doctorate degree from American University in Washington, D.C. and has completed executive business education at Dartmouth University, Wharton, and Berkeley Law School.
Steve has served as national Chairman of three industry associations – the Construction Industry Roundtable, the Design Build Institute of America, and the National Center for Construction Education and Research. He also was elected to the National Academy of Construction. In addition to Gilbane, Steve currently serves as a corporate director of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX), where he chairs the Compensation and Talent Committee, and Guidewell Mutual Holding Company, a $32 billion health solutions company, where he has chaired the Governance and Compensation Committees. He previously served as director of PSS World Medical (NASDAQ: PSSD). Steve is a Fellow and certified director of the National Academy of Corporate Directors and received certification in ESG governance from Berkeley Law School.
Steve is active in civic organizations. He is past chairman of the Florida Council of 100, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Jacksonville Civic Council, Teach for America Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the United Way of Northeast Florida. Steve is a 2007 recipient of the Prime Osborn Distinguished Business Leader Award. In 2008 he was elected by the Florida Council on Economic Education to the First Coast Business Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the University of North Florida Presidential Medallion (2011), the Governor’s Business Leader of the Year Award (2012), the OneJax Humanitarian Award (2013), the Jacksonville Business Journal Multicultural Lifetime Achievement Award (2015), the Cathedral Arts Guardian of the Arts Award (2017), and the JDRF Living and Giving Award (2019). Steve was named among the Most Influential People in Healthcare in Florida, and every year the list has been published, Florida Trend magazine named Steve as one of Florida’s most influential business leaders.
Board Member, Credit Suisse Funds, Chief Data Scientist, Numerati® Partners LLC
Samantha Kappagoda is an Independent Director of the Credit Suisse Funds, Chief Data Scientist of Numerati® Partners, Visiting Scholar at NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and a Member of the Business Board of the Governing Council at the University of Toronto.
Samantha contributes insights in the boardroom by leveraging her extensive operating experience harnessing data and analytics to drive ROI and mitigate risk throughout her career as a data scientist, economist, entrepreneur, investment and capital markets professional. She is a seasoned leader with over twenty-five years of global experience across digital transformation, data analytics, financial management, risk governance, and strategy. Samantha has founded data analytics and emerging technology firms, as well as a journal on risk, established a research lab at NYU, and led analytics at the World Bank and global macro hedge fund Caxton Associates with $15 billion of assets under management, and she has successfully navigated emerging opportunities, mitigated unanticipated risks, and addressed complex issues in highly regulated multidisciplinary settings. She was recently featured in Directors to Watch (by Directors & Boards magazine), and is a frequent speaker on Artificial Intelligence and risk governance.
Former Washington Spirit, USWNT Member; Author, Raising Tomorrow’s Champions
Joanna Lohman is a global keynote speaker, former professional soccer player, and performance coach who lives to ignite the human behind high performance and unleash authentic excellence. She does this as a global keynote speaker, performance ignitor and leadership coach. As a former professional soccer player and member of the United States Women’s National Team, she gained elite insights into leadership and team building. She also built a platform for social impact and became the first player in Washington Spirit history to have her jersey retired. During her 16-year professional career, she set herself apart through her ability to sustain excellence, connect with the fan base and grow the game. She is the author of “Raising Tomorrow’s Champions”, an extraordinary parenting and life lessons book as told through the eyes of the greatest women’s soccer players of all-time. Joanna is also a human rights activist and a Sport Diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. She travels the world running programs in less developed nations utilizing sport to battle sex trafficking, promote conflict resolution, empower women and leaders, and develop our youth.
For the last 20 years, Joanna has infused the lessons of elite level sports into the business world, building high performing teams and individuals who thrive under challenge, change and chaos. She has ignited companies to optimize their human potential through transformational leadership and inspire sustained excellence. Joanna drills down to the essence of greatness with emphasis on processes, systems and routines, and deeply connects with the audience through personal stories of injury, adversity and struggle. With a powerful combination of both lived experience and cutting edge science and data, Joanna is a compelling and captivating speaker.
As a performance coach, professional speaker, and courageous leader, she has impacted organizations all over the world, including: The Minnesota Vikings, The Human Rights Campaign, Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Qualcomm, Lifetime Television, American Staffing Association, Amgen, Sanofi, and McDonald’s. She has been featured on national television and radio across the globe including CNN, Fox 5 DC, and Sirius XM as a leading voice in sports performance, equality, change management, and leadership.
Joanna grew up in Silver Spring, MD and went on to attend Pennsylvania State University on a full athletic scholarship. She became one of the most decorated players in Penn State history as a four-time Academic All American, Big Ten Player of the Year, captain of the Women’s Soccer Team, and graduated with a 3.98 GPA. She is a member of both the Springbrook High School and Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame. She is an active and well known community member in Silver Spring, MD with a social media presence that invites each individual to use their platform for impact. With her trademark blonde mohawk, multi-hyphenated existence, and profound identity evolution, Joanna is a model for authentic leadership and resilience.
She now takes on her greatest adventure yet as wife to Melodie and parent to Luna and dog, Dewey.
Former Board Member, CIT Group; Co-Founder, Former Pro Athlete Professional Governance Certificate Program at UTD
Brad Oates once had a distinguished professional football career in the National Football League after a noted athletic career at Brigham Young University (“BYU”) where Brad was a two-time captain of the football team and was named to the 1975 Associated Press All-American team. Brad augmented his off seasons in the NFL by attending law school at BYU’s Law School. He graduated with honors in 1982, and he was awarded the Professional Responsibility Award by the Utah Bar Association. In 1985, Brad began a professional career in the Texas banking industry. Brad is currently Chairman of Stone Advisors, LP, a Dallas-based buyout, business advisory, and resolution services firm. Former senior executive positions include: Chairman of NFC Global; Chairman of Universal Hardwood Flooring; Chairman of eBureau; Chairman of RiskWise International; President of LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group; Executive Vice President of Stone Capital; President/COO of Bluebonnet Savings Bank; and SVP/General Counsel of Stockton Savings Bank. Brad holds a Masters Professional Director Certification, and serves as an independent board member at CIT Group (NYSE:CIT). He is a former Chairman of the Texas Savings and Community Bankers Association. And, he is a noted lecturer on business ethics and corporate governance.
Vice President of Football Development, NFL
Roman Oben is currently the NFL’s Vice President of Football Development where he drives the league’s football development strategy across multiple platforms from the growth of flag football to college all-star games and NFL prospect initiatives. He has also helped reshape the way the collegiate student athlete is educated on NFL preparedness both on & off the field.
Born in Cameroon, West Africa, Oben moved to the United States when he was four years old and grew up in Washington, D.C. As a teenager, he worked concessions at RFK Stadium.
Oben played college football at the University of Louisville where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and was inducted into Louisville’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Oben’s professional career began with the New York Giants in 1996 and continued in Cleveland playing for the Browns. In 2002, he helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers capture their first championship in Super Bowl XXXVII and was later traded to the Chargers where he started at left tackle and finished his playing career in 2008.
Starting in more than 90% of the games throughout his 12-year NFL career, Oben concurrently earned a master’s degree in public administration at Farleigh Dickinson University and was an NFLPA player rep for seven years on three different teams.
After retiring from the NFL, Oben held several business development roles and had an extensive media career, serving as a recurring guest on several MSNBC shows discussing sports and their larger societal impact.
Oben has been a leader in the sports business, an advocate for post-playing career transition, and has received countless awards for community service both as an NFL player and off the field.
Board Member, LivePerson and Prisidio
Vanessa Pegueros currently serves on the boards of LivePerson Inc. (Nasdaq: LPSN), Boeing Employees’ Credit Union (BECU), and Prisidio and is a board observer for Vouched.id. At LivePerson, Pegueros chaired the CEO search committee and serves as the chair of the cybersecurity and technology committee. At BECU, the fourth-largest credit union in the United States, she serves on the audit and the nominating and governance committees. While serving as a board member of Carbon Black (Nasdaq: CBLK), she was a part of the $2.1 billion sale of Carbon Black to VMware where she gained valuable mergers-and-acquisitions experience.
Pegueros is a venture partner at Flying Fish Partners, a venture capital firm focusing on artificial intelligence / machine learning early-stage companies.
Pegueros has over 30 years of experience managing technology, security, privacy, and risk teams in a variety of verticals (including wireless telecommunications, e-commerce, banking, software as a service, and security), giving her a unique perspective as a business leader and in serving on corporate boards. Enabled by her operational experience and ability to execute, she has been successful in leading companies through their technology and risk challenges.
Board Member, Air+ Inc
Tate Pursell is an experienced board member, CEO, and business veteran with broad industry expertise in
both industrial distribution and manufacturing sectors. He has served on thirteen boards of directors, acted as corporate secretary of four of those, chaired the compensation/human resources committees of two boards. served on governance committees and audit/risk as an Audit Committee Financial Expert.
Presently, Tate is an operating partner of MSI Capital Partners, an independent
sponsor private equity firm focused on acquiring and managing manufacturing and business services companies. He is currently a director of two privately-owned companies and chairs the compensation/HR committee of one. Tate is a subject matter expert and public speaker on the board’s role in operational improvement, growth via acquisition, executive compensation, and director recruitment.
Boards seek Tate for his expertise in mergers and acquisitions. As a group executive and operating partner of Cortec Group, a private equity fund investing in manufacturing and distribution businesses, his role was both to oversee the CEOs of four portfolio companies and, as a member of the deal team, to engage in deal sourcing, valuation, due diligence, negotiation, and integration for the fund. As corporate secretary and independent director of Plasma Air International, a distributor/ manufacturer of air purification equipment, he prepared the company and executed a successful sale to a European private equity fund, generating a 5x cash-on-cash realization to shareholders. Before that, he led a division of a “buy-and-build” acquisition
platform that acquired and integrated 16 companies, then sold the $450 million entity to a strategic buyer.
As an operating executive, he has over 30 years’ experience as a C-suite executive, board member, and private equity partner. With knowledge in industrial distribution, manufacturing, and services, he is expert in strategic planning, new product development, new market expansion, acquisition valuation, due diligence, and integration. Industries include: building products (HVAC/hearth products, electrical, hardware, flooring,
and fenestration), materials distribution, plastic molding, fasteners, and business services. He lived overseas for years in Asia and Europe, and has done extensive business in Latin America.
As Group President of Applied Tech Products, he oversaw four private equity owned portfolio companies. He was also CEO of Panorama Windows, and before that, CEO of Unique Home Designs, a manufacturer of aluminum doors. Previously, he was CEO of three Masco companies: American Metal Products, Baldwin Hardware Corporation, and Baldwin Home Accent Stores. Early experience includes executive roles with GE Lighting, Thomas & Betts, and Unilever. Earlier, he was a decorated Air Force Captain and Management Analysis Officer. Tate earned a BA in Biology and Chemistry and an MBA from Washington
University in St. Louis. He also holds a National Association of Corporate Directors Certification and both a Certificate in Private Company Governance and a Certificate in Private Equity Governance from the Private Directors Association.
Board Member, Dillard’s and Paycom Software
J.C. Watts, Jr. is a former congressman from Oklahoma, celebrated athlete, businessman and broadcast and cable news veteran.
Today he is chairman, President and CEO of JC Watts Holdings, a multi-industry holding company headquartered in Norman, Ok with operations in Texas, Oklahoma and Washington DC. JC provides strategic focus and leadership to the firm’s business engagements,
alliances and initiatives. Mr. Watts has built a diverse business organization that included the first Black-Owned John Deere dealerships in America. He also serves on the corporate boards of Dillard’s Department Stores and Paycom Software.
In 1990, JC was the first Black Oklahoman elected statewide when he was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The commission regulates oil and gas, public utilities and trucking for hire in Oklahoma. He became chairman of the commission before being elected to congress in 1994.
In 1998, he was elected by his peers to serve as chairman of the Republican Conference, the 4th ranking leadership position in the majority party in the US House of Representatives. He provided daily council to the speaker of the house and participated in bi-weekly
meetings with the president of the United States. Watts served on the Armed Services, Transportation and Banking committees. He authored legislation to create and later served on the house select committee on Homeland Security.
JC helped developed the American Community Renewal/New Markets
Act targeting underdeveloped communities and was the author of President GW Bush’s faith-based initiative. He also developed legislation
with former Congressman John Lewis to establish the Smithsonian
Museum of African American History and Culture.
Watts was born on November 18, 1957, in Eufaula, Ok the fifth of six kids to JC Sr. and Helen Watts. JC graduated high school in 1976 and attended the University of Oklahoma graduating in 1981 with a BS in Journalism. While at OU, he quarterbacked for the Sooners and was MVP in the 1980 and 1981
Orange Bowl games. He started for Ottawa and Toronto in the Canadian Football League and was MVP in the Grey Cup, the CFL’s super bowl, his
rookie season.
After retiring and returning to Oklahoma Watts served as youth pastor at Sunnylane Baptist Church in Del City, Ok from 1987-1994. JC Watts, Jr. has 6 kids and is married to his high school sweetheart.
Partner, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Adam Echter is a Partner based in Simon-Kucher’s Silicon Valley office. He brings two decades of B2B sales & pricing experience across manufactured goods, industrial equipment and technology industries. Adam has built pricing & sales organizations throughout North America, Europe & Asia with an emphasis on transitioning transactional businesses toward recurring revenue models. Serving firms across America from base of operations in Silicon Valley provides a unique perspective for bringing SaaS-pioneered monetization models to legacy, industrial firms.
CEO and Principal,
TGN Consulting
Kari Zeller is an authentic leader and combat veteran known for her ability to seamlessly transition her expertise from the battlefield to the boardroom.
As the Founder and CEO of TGN Consulting, she has spent over two decades guiding companies—including Fortune 100 firms, healthcare systems, and governmental organizations—through pivotal transformations. Kari is renowned for her ability to mobilize workforces by reducing friction and gaining traction in order to execute in new strategic directions, while aligning leadership behaviors with enterprise priorities to ensure sustained value creation. Her hallmark is uncovering and addressing underlying conditions that impede progress, enabling executives and boards to drive breakthrough results.
Kari’s expertise extends across strategy, culture, and leadership, making her a trusted advisor in navigating today’s multifaceted challenges such as large-scale turnarounds, M&A integration, technology adoption, re-structuring, and more. A Master Certified Coach with over 5,000 hours of coaching experience, she partners with CEOs and directors to anticipate emerging trends, resolve stakeholder tradeoffs, and embed resilience into organizational cultures. Recognized for her candor and strategic acumen, Kari equips leaders and boards with tools to unlock systemic value. A decorated Air Force officer, Kari led operations for an aircraft fleet valued at over $1.2 billion and spearheaded logistics for critical missions, including hurricane evacuations and combat deployments in Iraq. Her deep commitment to ethical and stakeholder-centric leadership underpins her vision of empowering organizations to embed the conditions for enduring success. As a sought-after advisor, speaker, and author, Kari inspires directors and executives to harness the transformative power of workforce mobilization, fostering resilience, agility, and readiness for the challenges ahead.
Managing Director, FW Cook
Alexa Kierzkowski joined FW Cook in 2004. She consults across many industries and stages of growth, from pre-IPO to Fortune 500 companies. She has advisory experience in areas including total compensation reviews, ongoing program management, corporate transactions, director compensation, short- and long-term incentive design, and pay-for-performance assessment. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. Prior to joining the firm, she held positions with McKinsey & Co. and Mattel.
Principal, FW Cook
Austin Lee joined FW Cook in 2014. His primary responsibilities include conducting market analysis on executive pay levels, designing performance based annual and long-term incentive programs, and evaluating the relationship between executive pay and company performance.
Prior to joining the firm, he worked at Occidental Petroleum in the trading and marketing department, focusing on natural gas trading.
CO-Managing Partner, U.S., AO Shearman
Doreen is Co-Managing Partner of the U.S. at A&O Shearman and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She also previously served as the Practice Group Leader for the Global Governance & Advisory Practice Group; Compensation, Governance and ERISA / Private Clients.
She focuses on a wide variety of compensation-related matters, including the design and implementation of retention and compensation plans, disclosure and regulatory compliance, and employment negotiations with senior executives. She has advised both U.S. and non-U.S. issuers on corporate governance and regulatory requirements relating to compensation and benefits matters and high profile individuals in their employment and severance negotiations.
Doreen has been a resident in the Frankfurt, London and Bay Area offices of Shearman & Sterling. For the past twenty years, Doreen has spearheaded the publication of the Shearman & Sterling survey of the compensation-related corporate governance practices of the largest 100 domestic issuers. She is a lecturer in Executive Compensation at the Berkeley School of Law.
Doreen has previously served as a David Rockefeller Fellow for the Partnership for New York City, a program to provide business leaders the opportunity to take more active leadership in New York City civic and public affairs, and was named in Euromoney’s 2020 Women in Business Guide as one of the most respected female practitioners in business law and professional services. She was elected as Fellow by the American College of Governance Counsel in 2021. Doreen was also selected to serve on Law360’s 2022 and 2023 Editorial Advisory Boards for Benefits.
Doreen was recognized as “Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year” by the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) as part of its 2023 Women in Business Law Awards and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Corporate Counsel as part of its 2023 Women, Influence and Power in Law Awards. In 2024, Doreen received the Outstanding Achievement award at the Women in Business Law Awards, which recognizes ground-breaking achievement in advancing the firm’s gender policies, diversity advocacy and overall support for women in the legal profession.
Managing Director, Strategic Communications, M&A, Activism & Governance, FTI Consulting
Val Mack is a Managing Director in the Strategic Communications segment of FTI Consulting.
Ms. Mack advises companies on how to prepare for and approach shareholder activists and navigate M&A. Additionally, she advises private capital on how to build their brands through profile raising and transaction communications. She advises with a keen eye for creating opportunities and managing risk.
Before joining FTI Consulting, Ms. Mack worked for Elliott Management on communications and public affairs as the hedge fund grew assets under management (“AUM”) from approximately $35 billion to approximately $50 billion and built the firm’s private equity arm. Her role encompassed communications on regulatory issues, investment-specific efforts, media prep for executives, reputation management and quarterly investor communications.
Ms. Mack spent a decade in U.S. politics as a communications advisor and opposition researcher working on elections in more than 30 states and worked on two presidential primary campaigns. She also worked in the U.S. Senate and in the Massachusetts State House.
Ms. Mack holds a B.A. in communication studies, cum laude, from Northeastern University.
Senior Vice President, Leadership Insights, DDI
Dr. Matt Paese is a globally recognized author, CEO coach, C-suite consultant, keynote speaker, and pioneer of many of today’s leading approaches for helping leaders succeed at the top. He is the lead author of Leaders Ready Now: Accelerating Growth in a Faster World (2016) and co-author of its award-winning predecessor, Grow Your Own Leaders (2002), which have shaped over two decades of impact in growing leaders into skilled, self-aware, compassionate enterprise executives. Matt is now Senior Vice President of Executive Services for DDI.
Matt has advised thousands of CEOs, senior teams, boards and C-suite executives in more than 20 countries across the world. He is sought-after for his expertise in CEO succession and onboarding, senior team effectiveness, board effectiveness, and executive succession and development. He has authored scores of articles and white papers, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Chief Executive, The Conference Board, and Human Resources Executive to name a few. His team’s research has generated countless insights and discoveries in C-suite leadership, executive team and individual effectiveness, and enterprise succession planning.
As an entrepreneur, Matt was one of several originators who launched DDI’s Executive Services business in 1995. DDI has since provided coaching, development, and consulting to hundreds of thousands of executives in more than 3,000 organizations worldwide. He has led the development and implementation of industry-leading solutions in the areas of executive assessment, coaching, team effectiveness, and board leadership. Matt is the principal architect of many DDI proprietary services, including Business Driver Analysis, Executive Focus CoachingTM, and the newly released Pressure Point CoachingTM, which is rapidly altering the global landscape of high-speed, just-in-time coaching for executives.
National Managing Partner – Governance, Emerging Issues and External Communications, BDO
Amy has spent over 16 years with BDO as part of the National Assurance practice office. She founded and directs BDO’s Center for Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting, designed for financial executives and those charged with governance of both public and private companies. She is responsible for the development and presentation of a significant volume of BDO’s continuing professional education (CPE)-worthy webinar, on-demand and podcast programs and thought leadership pieces on a variety of matters related to corporate governance, including cybersecurity, fraud, succession planning, and audit quality. Amy further develops certain of our firm’s board of director forums as well as participates in external events for corporate directors.
She also participates in the development and implementation of BDO’s national strategies and initiatives that support industry, business, technical, and client service goals. She is responsible for publication and issuance of BDO’s annual voluntary Audit Quality Reports and tools and templates supporting communications with our client Audit Committees.
Amy currently serves as BDO’s Policy Lead to and participates on the Center for Audit Quality’s (CAQ) Advisory Committee and has assisted in CAQ initiatives, including audit committee communications and audit quality indicators. She has participated in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)’s EDMAX forum for accounting firm learning specialists to share knowledge/practices on learning methods.
She fully supports BDO initiatives aimed at flexibility, development, and career progression, and serves on the BDO’s Women’s Inclusion initiative and the Virtual Parenting Network as well as BDO’s focus on the audit of the future.
Senior Managing Director, Strategic Communications – Americas Head of M&A, Activism & Governance, FTI Consulting
Pat Tucker brings a depth of experience on all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A – across multiple sectors – including but not limited to interloping bidders, complex structures, antitrust litigation, foreign ownership review, SPACs, founder/family ownership and shareholder challenges. He has led transaction matters for companies including Advent International, Carlyle Group, Comcast, KKR, JAB, Intuit, Keurig Dr Pepper, Royalty Pharma, Sanofi, Symbotic, Tapestry, TPG and T-Mobile.
In addition to transactions work, Pat has also helped create communications strategies to help clients navigate the evolving field of shareholder engagement as it relates to economic activists, increasingly vocal institutional investors and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds. He has advised AECOM, Callaway Golf, F5, LogMeIn, Nuance and Office Depot in engaging with activists.
As a recognized leader in M&A and activism communications, Pat has been invited to speak at events including the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, National Investor Relations Institute National Conference and Transaction Advisers forum at the University of Chicago.
Pat is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance and the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and was named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 list in 2019. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, he led the M&A and Activism practice at Abernathy MacGregor.
Partner, Co-Chair, Shareholder Activism & Corporate Defense Practice, Sidley Austin LLP
Derek co-chairs Sidley’s Shareholder Activism & Corporate Defense Practice. He spends 100% of his time on shareholder activism, contested and complex M&A, and corporate governance matters. With more than two decades of experience, Derek has been involved in hundreds of activist campaigns and contested M&A situations. Prior to Sidley, Derek was the head of the activism and corporate defense practice at a leading shareholder engagement and corporate governance advisory firm. He also served as an investment professional at activist and event-driven hedge funds.
Since 2023, Derek has been named one of the leading lawyers for “Shareholder Activism – Advice to Boards” by The Legal 500, calling him and his partner Kai Liekefett “two of the best lawyers in America.” In 2022, The American Lawyer named Derek as a Trailblazer in the Western Region of the United States for his work in shareholder activism and contested M&A. Derek was also recognized in the 2021–2024 editions of Chambers USA as one of the leading lawyers in New York Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense with clients noting that “he is deeply knowledgeable, very easy to work with and is able to bring defense expertise with multiple perspectives,” and, “his client advice is consistently excellent and nuanced, and he delivers it with a calmness that is often important in tense activist situations.” Derek was selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 “Leading Dealmakers in America” in 2025.
Derek has defended against the vast majority of top tier activist hedge funds, as well as many others including one time and occasional activists. He has counseled management teams and directors on hundreds of engagements with proxy advisory firms and institutional investors relating to shareholder activism, contested M&A, corporate governance and other matters.
He is a highly sought after speaker for panels on the topics of shareholder activism and related matters, is frequently quoted and regularly speaks on the topic. He teaches a class on shareholder activism, contested M&A, and corporate governance at Stanford University Law School.
Derek holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he graduated Order of the Coif; an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, concentrating in Finance; and a bachelor’s degree in Systems Science and Mathematics, cum laude, from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis.
