Stephen Brown, director, corporate governance, TIAA-CREF
Patrick Daugherty, partner, Foley & Lardner
Steven Davidoff, professor, University of Connecticut School of Law. Writes on DealBook (New York Times) as the Deal Professor
Niels Holch, executive director, Shareholder Communications Coalition (SCC)
Seth Levine, partner, Foley & Lardner
Simon Lorne, former SEC GC, currently chief legal officer, Millennium Management
Charles Rossi, executive vice president, Computershare
Stephen Brown
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Stephen Brown serves is director of corporate governance and associate general counsel for TIAA-CREF, a $363 billion full-service financial services group of companies, working to enhance the governance/social responsibility practices of companies held within TIAA-CREF’s investment portfolios with the objective of increasing shareholder value and improving long term performance of targeted companies.
In 2009 Brown was named as one of 10 global Rising Stars of Corporate Governance by the Yale School of Management’s Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance.
Prior to joining TIAA-CREF, Brown practiced corporate and securities law with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in New York City. Prior to practicing law, he was a financial analyst with Goldman Sachs.
Brown’s pro bono practice has included advising several New York City charter schools and economic development organizations. He is currently a member and immediate past president of the Englewood Public School board in Englewood, New Jersey, a member of the boards of Harlem Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, Queens Economic Development Corporation and the Public Interest Law Foundation at Columbia University Law School.
He received his BA with honors from Yale University and his JD from Columbia University Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an Olin Law & Economics Junior Fellow.
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Patrick Daugherty
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Patrick Daugherty is a partner at Foley & Lardner, with nearly 30 years of experience in customizing solutions for business executives and financiers alike. Early in his career, he was counsel to SEC commissioner Peter Fleischman in Washington, DC and advised him on all major commission initiatives, including the reform of US financial market regulation after the 1987 stock market crash and the prosecutions of Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham. He has co-authored Securities arbitration: practice and forms, published by Matthew Bender and edited Decennial review of developments in business financing, published by the ABA. A member of the Supreme Court Historical Society, he appears on radio, TV and cable news programs as an expert commentator and lectures frequently to legal, accounting, business and financial groups.
Daugherty holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1978 and a law degree, cum laude, from Cornell University in 1981. He is a member in good standing of the bar in New York, Washington, DC, North Carolina and Michigan. He also has been admitted to the bars of the US District Courts for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and both the Eastern District (Detroit) and Western District (Grand Rapids) of Michigan.
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Steven Davidoff
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Professor Steven Davidoff’s research focus is financial regulation, hedge funds and private equity, mergers & acquisitions, deals and deal theory, and the drafting of complex contracts. He has a particular interest in international issues and interdisciplinary research in law and finance. His latest book, Gods at war: shotgun takeovers, government by deal and the private equity implosion, an exploration of modern-day deals and deal-making, will be released on October 5, 2009.
Davidoff writes a regular column as the Deal Professor for the New York Times DealBook website, which primarily focuses on M&A. He also writes in trade journals, lectures, has testified before the US Senate and is frequently quoted in the national media on issues related to our capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to entering academia, Davidoff practiced as an attorney for 10 years with Shearman & Sterling in New York and London, and with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London.
Davidoff graduated from the Columbia University School of Law where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and received a BA cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. He has a master’s degree in finance from the London Business School.
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Niels Holch
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Niels Holch is a founding partner of Holch & Erickson, with more than 25 years’ experience in private practice and government service in Washington. In his private practice, he has represented clients on a wide range of issues before the US Congress and various federal administrative agencies.
Prior to founding Holch & Erickson and its predecessor law firm McGuiness & Holch, he served as chief of staff and legislative director for US Senator Mitch McConnell. before that, he was senior vice president at Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs, vice president and counsel at Gray and Company Public Affairs, legislative representative for the American Iron and Steel Institute, and professional staff member for the Re-Election Campaign of Representative Stewart McKinney.
Active in various non-profit entities, Holch serves as the president of the board of trustees for the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland; secretary of the board of directors for the Retirement Investing Institute in Lakewood, Colorado; executive director of the Coalition of Mutual Fund Investors in Washington, DC; and executive director of the Shareholder Communications Coalition, also in Washington, DC.
Holch graduated magna cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1978, receiving a BA in economics and psychology. In 1984 he received his JD, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
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Seth Levine
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Seth Levine is a partner with Foley & Lardner and vice chair of the securities enforcement and litigation practice. He represents companies and individuals in complex civil and criminal litigation and counseling matters, with a focus on white collar defense, SEC enforcement, internal investigations, antitrust and securities matters.
Prior to joining Foley, Levine served for more than five years as a federal prosecutor in the criminal division of the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York. Before that, he practiced for five years at Cravath Swaine & Moore where he focused on antitrust and business litigation. He received the Director’s Award from the United States Department of Justice for superior performance as an assistant US attorney. Levine earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1993 and his BA, magna cum laude in 1990 from the University of Rochester.
He is admitted to practice in New York before the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
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Simon Lorne
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Simon Lorne has served in a wide variety of public sector, academic and private sector positions during the course of his career. He was most notably general counsel of the SEC from 1993 to 1996. He is currently co-director of Stanford Law School’s Directors’ College, and is an adjunct professor at the NYU Law School and the NYU Stern School of Business. He has previously held positions on the faculties at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Southern California Law School.
Since 2004 Lorne has been vice chairman and chief legal officer of Millennium Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund manager based in New York, with offices throughout the world. Prior to joining Millennium he was a partner in the Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger Tolles & Olson from 1972 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2004, the global head of internal audit at Salomon Brothers from 1996 to 1998, and the global head of compliance at Citigroup from 1998 to 1999. He also serves on the board of directors and audit committee of Teledyne Technologies.
Lorne has written two books - Acquisitions and mergers: negotiated and contested transactions and A director’s handbook of cases - three practitioner-oriented monographs and a number of articles in law reviews, magazines and other publications. He is a frequent speaker at academic and industry symposia dealing with issues in the areas of securities regulation, ethics and internal controls. Lorne is a graduate of Occidental College, with an AB(cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and the University of Michigan Law School (JD, magna cum laude).
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Charles Rossi
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Charlie Rossi joined Computershare through the acquisition of EquiServe. He is president of the Securities Transfer Association, a member of the Joint DRS Committee, and former president, director and national representative of the Northeast Securities Transfer Association (NESTA). At Computershare, Rossi is focused on client relationships, prospects and industry issues. He has more than 25 years’ experience in corporate stock and mutual fund operations management at Boston Financial, Shawmut Bank and BankBoston.
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