2023 PCCE Directors' Academy

September 21–22, 2023
Lester Pollack Colloquium
245 Sullivan St, New York NY, 10012

PCCE’s annual Directors’ Academy provides public company directors the opportunity to engage directly with C-suite leaders and experienced board members covering cutting-edge issues with in-depth analysis that enhance directors’ ability to discharge their duties as effectively as possible.  Directors will gain expert guidance on corporate governance, shareholder activism, enterprise and legal risk management, cybersecurity, AI, and governance of environmental risks, among other topics, This two-day intensive offers unique networking opportunities as well as NACD credit and NY State CLE credit for attorneys.  Zoom options are also available and approved for NACD and CLE credits.  In alignment with NYU’s academic mission, reasonable individual and groups rates are available, which include catered meals.  Pre-registration is required.

Our event is off-the-record, offers a Directors’ Academy Certificate to those who attend each full day of programming, NY CLE credit for lawyers, qualifies for 14 hours of recertification credits for directors maintaining their NACD Directorship Certification^® and is provided at a reasonable price consistent with our academic mission. Our in-person program is for a select audience of directors of public companies, is not to exceed 90 people and will feature networking breaks, receptions, and meals. All fees are used to offset the cost of hosting the event.

Please visit our registration and payment portal for information on fees and to secure your seat. Early registration is highly recommended as this event will reach capacity. For preferred hotel room rates, we recommend using NYU affiliated partners where you can request the NYU partnership preferred rate or discount.

NYU School of Law is committed to the availability of quality affordable CLE programs for its alumni community and members of the bar-at-large. Prospective attendees interested in obtaining financial aid for this program should contact Carolyn Pautz at crp283@nyu.edu. Written requests for financial aid should include applicant name, phone number, email address, employment status and recent employment history, along with a brief statement of financial need. All requests for financial aid will be kept confidential.  Retroactive applications for those who sought CLEs will be considered for past Directors' Academies.  Read here for more information on eligibility.

Contact crp283@nyu.edu for more information.  If you are not currently on our mailing list and would like to be kept up to date, please visit our website.

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Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

Gurbir Grewal, Director of Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission

Gurbir Grewal is the Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Immediately before joining the Commission, Gurbir was the Attorney General for the State of New Jersey. Prior to that, he served as the Bergen County Prosecutor, the chief law enforcement officer for New Jersey’s most populous county. Earlier in his career, Gurbir served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he was Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, and an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he was assigned to the Business and Securities Fraud Unit. He was also an attorney in private practice. He holds a J.D. from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, and a B.S. in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Heather Lavallee, Chief Executive Officer, Voya Financial Inc.

Heather Lavallee is CEO, and a board member, of Voya Financial, Inc.  Prior to assuming her current role, Lavallee served as Voya’s president and CEO-elect, overseeing the company’s Workplace Solutions and Investment Management businesses, as well as its technology, strategy and risk teams. Lavallee previously served as CEO of Voya’s Wealth Solutions business and, prior to that, as president of the company’s Tax-Exempt Markets business, which became the largest retirement plan provider in the government market in 2020. In 2018, Lavallee was selected to serve as executive sponsor of Voya’s focus on serving people with disabilities and special needs, and their caregivers — which evolved to become Voya Cares.  Before joining Voya, Lavallee was with Mutual of Omaha as a regional vice president of the Group Insurance Division for their Western Region, and at Sun Life New York Insurance and Annuity Company. Lavallee holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colby College and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business.

Peter May, President and Founding Partner, Trian Fund Management, L.P

Peter W. May is President and Co-Founder of Trian Fund Management, L.P. (“Trian”), which seeks to invest in and enhance sustainable shareholder value of underperforming and undervalued public companies.  He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and chairs Trian’s ESG Working Group. Mr. May serves as the non-executive Senior Vice Chairman of The Wendy’s Company. From 2008 to 2017, Mr. May served as a director of Tiffany & Co. From 1993 to 2007, Mr. May served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Triarc Companies, Inc. From 1983 to 1988, Mr. May was President and Chief Operating Officer and a director of Triangle Industries, Inc. Mr. May is the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of The Mount Sinai Health System in New York, and is Co-Chairman of the New York Philharmonic, a director of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a trustee of the New-York Historical Society and a partner of the Partnership for New York City. In addition, Mr. May is an Emeritus Trustee of The University of Chicago and a Life Member of the Advisory Council of The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and past Chairman of the UJA Federation's "Operations Exodus" campaign. He is Chairman of the Board of The Leni and Peter May Family Foundation. A native of New York, New York, Mr. May received A.B. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago and holds an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University.

Marshall Miller, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice

Marshall L. Miller is the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. In this role, he is a member of the Department of Justice senior leadership team and is the principal counselor to the Deputy Attorney General. As PADAG, Mr. Miller helps oversee all DOJ components, which include, among others, the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, and the Department’s law enforcement bureaus. Prior to rejoining the Department of Justice, Mr. Miller was a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink. He earned both his J.D. and B.A. from Yale.

Day One Agenda

8:10–8:30 a.m.  Registration, 245 Sullivan St, Furman Hall Ground Floor Entrance

8:30–8:40 a.m.  Introduction and PCCE Rule, 245 Sullivan St., 9th Floor, Lester Pollack Colloquium Room

8:40–9:45 a.m. Panel: Effective Management of the CEO: Experienced Directors Discuss Balancing the Board’s Advisory and Oversight Roles

• Moderator, Ed Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law; Co-Director, Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance
• Angela Braly, Founder, The Braly Group; Director, Procter and Gamble, ExxonMobil, Brookfield Corporation; former CEO Wellpoint, Inc.
• David Katz, Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz
• Tom Glocer, Executive Chairman, BlueVoyant LLC; Lead Director, Morgan Stanley
• Alicia Syrett, Founder and CEO, Pantegrion Capital; Founder, Madame Chair; Chair of the Board of Directors, Digimarc

9:50–10:55 a.m. Panel: Strategies for Board Effectiveness in a Time of Increasing Demands: Board Composition, Structure, and Management

• Moderator, Marc Treviño, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
• Julie Daum, Consultant, Head of North American Board Practice, Spencer Stuart
• Lisa Shalett, Co-founder, Extraordinary Women on Boards; Director, Director: AccuWeather; MPower Partners; Pennymac
• Maria Vullo, CEO, Vullo Advisory Services, PLLC; NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement Senior Fellow; Director: DayForward Life Insurance; Light and Wonder Inc.
• Larry Quinlan, UBS Americans, ServiceNow Inc, JLL, Booking Holdings, Delinea; retired CIO, Deloitte

10:55–11:15 a.m. Networking Break

11:15 a.m.–12:05 p.m. Presentation: Implications for Company’s DEI Initiatives of the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Case, Speaker: Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law; Moderator, Jennifer Arlen

12:10–1:15 p.m. Panel: Enterprise Risk Management        

• Moderator, Sam Liss, Managing Principal at Whitegate Partners LLC; Director: Verisk Analytics, Argo Group, JS Held; Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern
• Stephen Cutler, Of Counsel, Simpson Thacher and Bartlett LLP; Director, LendingClub Corporation; former Vice Chair and General Counsel, JPMorgan Chase
• Isaac (Ike) Harris, Director, Lumentum; ZT Systems
• Richard Thornburgh, Non-executive Chairman of the Board, S&P Global
• Leslie Seidman, former Chairman, Financial Accounting Standards Board; Director, Moody’s Corporation and Janus Henderson Group PLC

1:20–2:30 p.m.  Luncheon and Fireside Chat with Marshall Miller, Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice - Lipton Hall, 108 W 3rd St, Lower Level

2:40–3:30 p.m. Breakout Sessions

Accounting: How to Read into the Firm’s Financial Statements and Identify Issues to be Raised with the Audit Committee - Snow Dining Room, 40 Washington Sq South, 4th Floor

• George Simeone, Partner, Deloitte

Special Committees: The Lessons Learned, Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Sq South, Ground Floor 

• Eric Swedenburg, Partner, Simpson Thacher and Barlett, LLP
• Maeve O'Conner, Partner, Debevoise and Plimpton

Governance of the Modern Workforce: DEI, Unionization, Hybrid Work, and Employees’ Expectations of the Firm’s Social Commitments - Furman Hall, Room 334, 245 Sullivan St, 3rd Fllor

• Ana McCarthy Duarte, Principal, Ana McCarthy Duarte Diversity Consulting LLC
• Melinda Wolfe, Founder, Melinda B. Wolfe and Associates

3:40–4:35 p.m. Fireside Chat with Peter May, President and Co-Founder, Trian Fund Management, L.P.; Moderator: Edward Rock, Martin Lipton Professor of Law, Co-Director, Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance - Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Sq South, Ground Floor

4:35–4:50 p.m. Networking Break

4:50–5:55 p.m. ESG: Board Governance of Business, Legal, Reputational, & Political Risk

• Moderator: Carmen Lu, Counsel, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz – ESG, Corporate Governance, and M&A
• Cheemin Bo-Linn, Director, Blackline Safety, Data I/O, Flux Power, KORE Wireless, Lake Resources,
• Matt DiGiuseppe, Managing Director, PwC
• Lisa Fairfax, Presidential Professor; Co-Director, Institute for Law and Economics, University of Penn – Penn Carey Law
• Jane Sandowsky, Senior Advisor – Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Moelis and Company; Director, Allied Gold Inc, Nexa Resources, Scientific Games; Faculty Member, NACD

6:00–7:45 p.m. Dinner and Fireside Chat, Heather Lavallee, CEO, Voya Financial Inc.

Day Two  Agenda

8:15–8:35 a.m.  Registration, Furman Hall, 245 Sullivan St, Ground Floor

8:35–8:40 a.m. Introduction and PCCE Rule, Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, 245 Sullivan St, 9th Floor

8:40–9:15 a.m. Presentation: Director Liability for Legal Risk and Emerging Issues, Speaker:  Jennifer Arlen, Norma Z Paige Professor, NYU School of Law

9:20–10:25 a.m. Panel: Governance of Legal Risk

• Moderator, Tim Lindon, Senior Fellow, Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement; former Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Phillip Morris International
• Kathryn Reimann, Senior Fellow, Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement; Director, LendingClub Corporation
• Jane Sherburne, Principal, Sherburne PLLC; Director: Perella Weinberg Partners; HSBC North America Holdings; Teledyne Technologies, Inc.
• Melissa Stapleton Barnes, Director, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corporation
• David Szuchman, SVP, Head of Global Financial Crime and Customer Protection, PayPal

10:25–10:45 a.m. Networking Break

10:45–11:15 a.m. Presentation: Data Privacy & Cybersecurity: What Boards Needs to Know, Speaker: Joseph Facciponti, Executive Director, Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement

11:20 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Panel: AI: Opportunities and Potential Risks

• Moderator, Joseph Facciponti, Executive Director, Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement
• Avi Gesser, Partner, Debevoise and Plimpton
• Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist, Risk Economics Inc; Independent Director and Trustee, Credit Suisse US Mutual Funds
• Christina Montgomery, Chief Privacy and Trust Officer, IBM
• Matthew Merritt, Vice President of Global IT Risk, Royal Bank of Canada

12:40–1:50 p.m.  Luncheon and Keynote Speech with Gurbir Grewal, Director of Enforcement, Securities & Exchange Commission - Lipton Hall, 108 W 3rd St, Lower Level

2:00–3:10 p.m. Panel: Crisis Management - Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, 245 Sullivan St, 9th Floor

• Moderator, Brad Karp, Chairman, Paul Weiss
• Bonnie Jonas, Co-Founder, Pallas Global Group; Director, Churchill Capital Corp VI; Churchill Capital Corp VII
• Julie Kane, Chair, Heliogen; Director, Lygos
• Douglas Lankler, General Counsel, Pfizer
• Steve Peikin, Partner, Sullivan and Cromwell; former Director of Enforcement, SEC

3:15–3:45 p.m. Presentation: Climate Change Legal Issues Relevant to Directors, Speaker: Jack Lienke, Moderated by Steve Solow, Partner, Baker Botts

3:55–4:45 p.m.  Breakout Sessions

Cybersecurity - Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, 245 Sullivan St, 9th Floor

• Ron Green, Executive Vice President, Chief Security Officer, Mastercard
• Lisa Sotto, Partner and Chair – Global Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP; Chair, U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee; Director, NYSDFS – Financial Innovation Advisory Board

Governance Challenges Arising from Mergers & Acquisitions, Furman Hall, Room 910, 245 Sullivan St, 9th Floor

• Demetrius Warrick, Partner – Mergers and Acquisitions, Skadden
• Allie Wein, Partner, Kirkland and Ellis

Conversation with a General Counsel and a Chief Compliance Officer - 40 Washington Sq South, 4th Floor

• Natalie Lamarque, General Counsel and Secretary, Principal Financial Group
• Matt Miner, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, Walmart; former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

4:55–5:30 p.m. Reception - Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, 245 Sullivan St, 9th Floor