Senior Managing Director, Evercore

Bill Anderson

Bill pioneered the practice of activism defense and has advised over 400 companies facing activists or strategic raids including many of the largest proxy fights and raid defenses over the past two decades. He advises companies worldwide across all industries in connection with mergers and acquisitions, special committee situations, corporate governance issues, cross-border transactions, contested shareholder situations, activism/raid defense and preparing for hostile activity.

Prior to joining Evercore, Bill was at Goldman Sachs for over 15 years where he served as an M&A partner and leader of their activism and raid defense team. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was a Mergers and Acquisitions attorney for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, clerked on the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, was a certified public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand and served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves (where he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal). He earned a B.S.B.A. in accounting and history, magna cum laude, and a J.D., magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Georgetown University (where he served as Managing Articles Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal). He has published articles and speaks frequently on mergers and acquisitions, hostile activity and board / shareholder interaction.

Partner, US West Audit Leader, EY

Chris Anger

Chris is a Partner in the Assurance practice at EY in San Jose. With over 20 years of experience in public accounting, Chris has extensive industry experience that spans a broad range of high technology sectors with a focus on software, hardware and cloud companies.

Chris is also currently EY’s West Region audit leader, and is involved in running the West Region practice and the firm’s strategy to identify and grow the practice.

He currently serves as the global coordinating partner on Oracle, a $40 billion software company and Dropbox a $2 billion cloud company.  He also served as the GCSP on Intuit, a $6 billion software and cloud-based company. He has recently taken two companies public, one through a regular IPO and one through a SPAC.

Chris enjoys snowboarding with his wife, Mikel, and two daughters, Sadie and Sam, on the weekends. He also enjoys running marathons, riding his mountain bike, and golfing. His son, Mason, is currently in New Mexico on a two-year service mission.

Director, WD-40 Company and Inspire Medical Systems

Cynthia Burks

Cynthia Burks is a Board Director, Advisor, and Consultant for a variety of companies spanning different industries. She is currently a Director, and serves on the Compensation Committee, for public companies WD-40 Company and Inspire Medical Systems. Her most recent full-time role was as the Chief People and Culture Officer for Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. Prior to joining Genentech, Cynthia worked in a variety of industries, including media, consumer goods and technology, as both a consultant and HR leader.

An innovative leader, Cynthia brings system-thinking, strong analytical skills and expertise in all areas of human-capital strategy — talent management; culture; diversity, equity and inclusion; organizational design — to her portfolio of work and projects.

Cynthia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Finance from Marquette University, a Master of Business Administration in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Juris Doctor from University of San Francisco School of Law. She is also a licensed attorney in California.

Author, Going First; Faculty, EQUUS; Partner, PurposeFused; Director, B Local Connecticut

Nell Derick Debevoise

Nell Derick Debevoise, a catalyzing force in business, is a vibrant, holistic, and practical Speaker, Coach, Facilitator, CEO, Advisor, and Author. She ignites organizational growth by illuminating leaders’ unique energies to contribute, enhancing performance and wellbeing for individuals, teams, and society around them.

A celebrated Speaker and Forbes Senior Contributor, Debevoise’s work is underpinned by research, including her thesis on ethics and identity at work, as well as experience on four continents, across industries and sectors. This multidimensional expertise informs her book, Going First: Finding the Courage to Lead Purposefully and Inspire Action, and its proprietary framework for leaders to recognize and expand their impact. The companion Purpose Party Playbook is an accessible tool for purpose-seeking professionals to apply the framework.

As a Coach and EQUUS Faculty, Debevoise integrates neuroscience, research and data, and horses’ ancient wisdom to provide immersive, transformational learning for executives and teams. She joined PurposeFused to apply purpose as a lens for organizations navigating change.

Deeply committed to a regenerative form of capitalism, Debevoise founded the Purposeful Growth Institute to support purpose-driven leaders. Board roles for B Local Connecticut and the Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia amplify her advocacy for conscious business.

Debevoise’s impact at Inspiring Capital inspired a community of global leaders to blend business acumen with social impact. It also earned her recognition by Social Venture Network, The Venture, PAVE NYC, and Gifted Citizen. Her advisory roles in organizations like Bricks and Mortals NY and Gentle Beast highlight her commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and conscious business.

Academic roles at NYU, Lycee Chagall in France, and as a co-founder of Tomorrow’s Youth Organization showcase Debevoise’s dedication to lifelong, experiential learning. A true polyglot, her academic journey includes MBAs from Columbia and London Business Schools, a Master’s from Universita di Roma III, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an AB from Harvard College. Business coaching credentials, GCologist accreditation, and Neuroscience for Coaches training augment her expertise.

Founder & CEO, Conectado Inc.; Director, Jack in the Box, Blue Shield of California and Unicoin Inc; Former Chairman, Hispanic Technology Executive Council

Guillermo Diaz, Jr

Guillermo Diaz, Jr., is a transformative global business leader and champion of diversity, equity and inclusion. He most recently served as the Chairman of the Hispanic Technology Council (HITEC), the premier global executive leadership organization of senior business and technology executives who have and are building
outstanding careers in technology.

Diaz is the Founder and CEO of Conectado Inc., an innovative Web 3 / AI digital platform with the mission to accelerate access to opportunities for increased representation in STEAM. He serves on the Board of Directors for Blue Shield of California, Jack in the Box (JACK) and Unicoin Inc. Also, social impact boards for the Cristo Rey High School Work Study, Npower- supporting veterans and young adults and the Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Initiative. Previously, he was a transformational innovator across Cisco Systems and the technology industry where he developed a strong track record for accelerating results through people, process, and technology. Guillermo served as Cisco’s Global Chief Information Officer and was responsible for the IT organization, strategy, and services. Guillermo began his career in technology with the U.S. Navy, where he received a military scholarship that led to his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Regis University in Colorado. He went on to hold technology leadership positions with some of Silicon Valley’s most respected companies, including Silicon Graphics, Ingram Micro, and Alza Corporation.

Former CEO and Board member, Aerojet Rocketdyne

Eileen P. Drake

Eileen P. Drake served as a member of the board and chief executive officer, president of Aerojet Rocketdyne until the sale of the company to L3Harris in August of 2023.

Ms. Drake joined Aerojet Rocketdyne in March 2015 as chief operating officer. She was previously with United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where she served as president of Pratt & Whitney AeroPower’s

auxiliary power unit and small turbojet propulsion business. She also served as the vice president of Operations and vice president of Quality, Environmental, Health & Safety, and Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) for UTC’s Carrier Corporation, as well as for Pratt & Whitney.

Prior to joining UTC, Ms. Drake managed production operations at both the Ford Motor Company and Visteon Corporation, where she was Ford’s product line manager for steering systems and plant manager of Visteon’s fuel system operation.

During her military career, Ms. Drake served on active duty for seven years as a U.S. Army aviator and airfield commander of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Ms. Drake is a distinguished military graduate of the U.S. Army Aviation Officer School. She received a Master of Business Administration from Butler University and a Bachelor of Arts from The College of New Rochelle. She also received an honorary doctorate degree in Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She holds commercial and private pilot’s licenses in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.

Appointed to the board of Woodward, Inc. in 2017, Ms. Drake currently serves as the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of the Compensation Committee. Woodward, Inc. is an independent designer, manufacturer and service provider of control system solutions and components for the aerospace and industrial markets.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) recently announced that Ms. Drake has been elected to the company’s board of directors, effective March 1, 2024. MPC is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company that operates the nation’s  largest refining system.

Ms. Drake served on the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) from  2018-2023 and was a member of AIA’s Executive Committee from November 2018 to November 2020. AIA helps shape the American aerospace and defense industries’ future by advocating for polices and responsible budgets that keep our country strong, bolster our capacity to innovate, and spur our economic growth.

Ms. Drake served on the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) National Board of Directors from 2020 -2023. The 2.5-million-member GSUSA is the nation’s preeminent leadership development organization for girls, with programs coast to coast and across the globe.

From June 2020 to June 2022 Ms. Drake served on the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group (UAG). The UAG is a federal advisory committee that advises the National Space Council on U.S. national space policy and approaches to strengthen U.S. leadership in space.

Board Director, Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp.; Chairperson, Advisory Board, Boats Group; Senior Advisor, Nassau Street Ventures and Serendipity Capital

Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles

Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles is a technology executive with experience as a founder, CEO, COO, advisor, investor, and public company Board Director. She has a proven track record of building and leading high performing teams, unlocking growth & margin, and driving successful exits.

As an operating executive, she led 2 growth stage companies to successful exit, including an ecommerce company in which she executed a complete turnaround of the company in just 12 months and facilitated an acquisition. Previously, she led the turnaround at Zynga, where she was responsible for the largest P&L in the company, representing more than 90% of the company’s revenue. She also served as Founder & CEO of her own startup, which she bootstrapped and led from inception through to acquisition.

She has held executive roles with eBay, Levi Strauss & Co., and WPP, and was Head of Media Planning & Analytics for the Obama for America 2012 campaign. Dr. Bolles has also held Board Advisory positions with growth businesses including Havenly, CleanCapital, Boats Group, and with investment firms including Nassau Street Ventures and Serendipity Capital.

Dr. Bolles has been named “Who’s Who in America 2022,” to the 2020 Global Top 100 Innovators list and the Top 10 Women Leaders of 2020 list as well as one of the Top 15 Women in AI by Forbes. She was also named one of the Top 50 Women to Watch in Tech and one of San Francisco’s Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times. She has been a commentator on NPR, Bloomberg News, ABC News, and for various print outlets including the New York Times, and has published articles in TechCrunch, Business Insider, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Datamation, and several peer-reviewed academic journals.

She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Chief Executive Officer

Jessica N. Grounds

Jessica N. Grounds is an internationally recognized leadership expert and a visionary executive who has spurred movements of change across business and politics by developing the next generation of leaders.

Over her two-decade career, she has advised Fortune 500 executives, trained political candidates and governments worldwide, and conducted original research on leadership, all through the lens of gender diversity as a proven strategy for innovation and impact.

Jessica is the CEO of Corporate Directors Forum, which equips board directors, executives, and company decision-makers with training and tools designed to enhance their leadership effectiveness and corporate performance. She also serves on Nasdaq’s Center for Board Excellence Insights Council and recently served on UN Women’s We Empower G7 Programme.

Most recently, Jessica co-founded Mine The Gap, which partners with Fortune 500 companies, organizations, and government agencies to create more effective and inclusive workplaces. She also co-authored reports about the impact of SB 826, the first-in-the-nation legislation to require women board directors on publicly held companies headquartered in California, and served as an expert witness on related court cases.

Previously, she was the Executive Director of Running Start, an organization she co-founded that has trained thousands of young women to run for elected office. Jessica speaks regularly about the importance of advancing women and historically overlooked populations and the barriers to gender equity in leadership. She has trained women leaders from every region of the globe, including extensive work with women in Sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, and across Europe.

Jessica and her work have been profiled in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Roll Call, The Hill, NPR, ELLE, National Journal, Washington Post, San Diego Union Tribune, Politico, Marie Claire, and Forbes. She’s received awards including The New Guard: America’s 50 Most Influential Women by Marie Claire magazine, “40 Under 40” recipient by the American Association of Political Consultants, Outstanding Alumni Pepperdine University, and the 2022 Magis Award from Georgetown Business School.

VP and Chief Economist of Global Technology, Cornerstone Research; Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Executive Director, Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley; Fmr. Chief Economist, Qualcomm

Kirti Gupta

Kirti Gupta is a noted economist and expert specializing in global matters related to technology, antitrust, and intellectual property (IP). Dr. Gupta’s diverse expertise spans engineering, product, litigation, and policy issues in the technology sector. She has more than twenty years of experience working at the forefront of technologies, including mobile/wireless telecommunications, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. She is a leader in Cornerstone Research’s technology, digital economy, and artificial intelligence practice.

Before joining Cornerstone Research, Dr. Gupta was a vice president and chief economist at Qualcomm Inc. In this role, she provided economic analysis and strategic guidance on global technology, IP, antitrust, and macroeconomic policy issues in collaboration with business stakeholders and a global network of experts, economists, attorneys, and policymakers. She worked directly on Qualcomm’s strategic IP initiatives, antitrust investigations in various regions around the world, global litigation matters, mergers and acquisitions, and global trade issues.

During her tenure at Qualcomm, Dr. Gupta provided fact witness testimony in high-profile antitrust and IP litigation matters, including FTC v. Qualcomm. She is experienced in all phases of litigation and regulatory proceedings. In the United States, she has regularly presented to government entities, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Commerce (DoC), and National Security Council (NSC), among others. Internationally, she has spoken before various directorates-general (DGs) of the European Commission (EC), Competition Commission of India (CCI), Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), and World IP Office (WIPO), among others.

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she serves as a senior adviser, Dr. Gupta chairs the Geoeconomic Council of Advisers. The newly formed Council provides diverse, senior-level perspectives on emerging issues and trends affecting the global economy. In addition, Dr. Gupta is the executive director at the Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. She is also the founding member and executive director of LeadershIP, an industry platform that analyzes complex IP and antitrust concepts and provides data-driven dialogue on innovation and innovation policy issues.

Dr. Gupta has taught and presented at various academic institutions, including Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others, and served as a visiting professor at National Law University (NLU) in New Delhi. She has been featured in such mainstream media outlets as Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes, Reuters, and The Economist.

Prior to her work as an economist, Dr. Gupta spent over a decade as a wireless systems-engineering expert for global wireless standards and semiconductors that connect most of the mobile devices in the world today.

Director, Lloyd’s of London, Hays plc, and Trustpilot plc; Operating Partner, SOSV

Joe Hurd

Joe Hurd is a public company board director and early-stage investor. Currently, he is a Non-Executive Director of Trustpilot, Hays, and Lloyd’s of London. He is also the Operating Partner at SOSV, a $1.6B early-stage venture fund, where he leads strategy and business development efforts for the fund’s climate tech and deep tech portfolio companies. Joe built his business career leading global business development and sales teams for Facebook, Gannett, and AOL/TimeWarner. From 2009 to 2012, he served as a senior political appointee in the U.S. Commerce Department during President Obama’s first term. Active in his community, he is on the Board of Trustees for Menlo College and the Computer History Museum, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and the Private Directors Association. Joe graduated from Harvard Law School, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and Harvard College. He lives in Los Altos, California, and is married with one daughter, two sons and one Cavachon. In his spare time, Joe enjoys running, traveling, and reading historical biographies.

Founder, Voce Capital Management

J. Daniel Plants

Mr. Plants founded Voce Capital Management LLC, a value-oriented, employee-owned investment adviser, in 2011. His two decades of experience prior to Voce featured executive positions in the mergers and acquisitions groups at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase.  His prior career spans dozens of successful M&A transactions and more than $20 billion in public and private capital raising across a broad range of industries and market capitalizations.

Mr. Plants is an expert on corporate governance, having begun his career as a securities attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell and later having led the corporate defense advisory business at JPMorgan.  Mr. Plants was previously the Executive Chairman of Cutera, Inc. (Nasdaq: CUTR), formerly the Chairman of the Strategic Committee of Argo Group (NYSE: ARGO) and earlier the Chairman of the Strategic Committee of Calix (NYSE: CALX).

Mr. Plants began his career serving a one-year appointment as a law clerk to the Hon. Alex Kozinski, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Mr. Plants received a JD from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, where he won the Campbell Moot Court competition and was a publishing editor of the Michigan Law Review.  He received a BA in economics from Baylor University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa; he was the National College Debate Champion in 1989.

Co-Founder, President & CEO San Diego Squared (SD2)

H. Puentes

H. is Co-Founder, President and CEO of San Diego Squared (SD2.org), a nonprofit focused in increasing diversity in STEM-driven companies through partnerships, programs, and financial support for high school students, college students, and their educators. Prior to starting SD2, H. served on the leadership team at CONNECT where he founded CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center – the region’s first diversity focused startup accelerator and business resource center. To-date, H. has raised nearly $10M to increase diversity in tech and the life sciences.

Prior to his work in diversity and inclusion, H. drove marketing at a venture-backed Bay area startup, worked as a management consultant in London, and served as regional director for an international non-profit. H. holds a master’s degree from The London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University.

When he’s not operationalizing innovative ideas that increasing diversity in STEM, H. is an ardent painter and digital artist and enjoys spending quality time with his two young children, Emily and Owen, and his boss wife Dr. Roisin Puentes, PharmD, PhD.

Chairman, San Diego Squared, Neurocrine Biosciences, Fate Therapeutics, and Daré Bioscience; Director, Regulus Therapeutics

Bill Rastetter

Bill Rastetter focuses on identifying and growing investments in biotechnology. He serves as the chairman for four San Diego companies: San Diego Squared (a non-profit focused on building diversity in STEM; see www.SD2.org), Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX, NASDAQ), Fate Therapeutics (FATE, NASDAQ), and Daré Bioscience (DARE, NASDAQ). He also serves on the board of directors of Regulus Therapeutics (RGLS, NASDAQ), and serves as an advisor to Illumina Ventures.

Dr. Rastetter is the former executive chairman of Biogen Inc., the former chairman of Illumina, a founding board member, interim CEO, and Chairman of Grail (acquired by Illumina, August 2021), and the former Chairman and CEO of Idec Pharmaceuticals. He joined Idec Pharmaceuticals at its founding in 1986 and grew it to a multi-billion-dollar market valuation company. While at Idec, Bill was a co-inventor of Rituxan® the first monoclonal antibody approved by the U.S. FDA for cancer, and one of the world’s most valuable cancer therapies. Prior to Idec, he served in various capacities at Genentech. He also was a founder, interim CEO, and chairman of Receptos, which was acquired by Celgene in August 2015.

Partner, REF; Certified Chair of Advisory Boards & ABC Americas Co-Chair, Advisory Board Centre

Mike Richardson

For the last 20 years, Mike Richardson has been dedicated to elevating modern leadership by helping Boards, CEOs, Executives and their teams future proof themselves with an agility advantage in the face of accelerating disruptive change. That battleground is shifting again with a new era of exponential change fueled by artificial intelligence.  Human intelligence will also become more critical not less, with enterprises needing to develop an intelligence advantage as a collective of Artificial Intelligence + Human Intelligence = Collective Intelligence.  Board governance systems will need to evolve as the top line of that Collective Intelligence for enterprises to develop an advisory advantage, as an integrated spectrum of governance boards and advisory boards. Mike will invite us all to begin a 5 level reset to elevate our modern leadership for this new battleground.

More about Mike Richardson:

Mike brings deep agility insights at the intersection of 3 worlds:

• In the real world, he started his career as Petroleum Engineer working on offshore oil and gas drilling rigs with Shell International. Now, he studies other everyday agile leaders in the real world who face the agility challenge everyday often with life and death consequences (fighter pilots, special forces, fire fighters and others) to understand their secrets.
• In the business world, he ran high technology aerospace hardware, software and systems integration businesses, ending up running the aerospace division of a British public company. Including becoming a world leader in collectively intelligent flight safety systems to prevent aircraft incidents and accidents.
• In the advisory world, for more than 20 years he has been a coach, facilitator, board member/chair and thought leading author and keynote speaker in the field of peer forums, collective intelligence and agility. He has facilitated over 500 peer group meetings, had more than 2000 coaching one-to-ones with CEOs and has done workshops or keynotes more than 500 times globally with groups of CEOs and Executives.

 
To crack the code of agility for CEOs, executives and their teams, he has pioneered the concept of C2C: Conversation-Flow to Cash-Flow, which all of his work revolves around driving.

Mike has roles with REF Global (formerly Renaissance Executive Forums), REF USA and is a Partner with REF San Diego, pioneering what’s next with peer forum experiences.  He is Co-Chair of the Americas with the Advisory Board Centre, the leading professional body globally improving the advisory board sector through research, best practice frameworks and certifications, pioneering what’s next with advisory boards.  Mike is a founding member/investor with The Portfolio Collective, the leading global community for portfolio professionals/careers, pioneering what’s next with the new world of work.

Fellow in Residence, UCSD School of Global Policy and Strategy; Director, EnchargeAI and Niron Magnetics; Fmr. Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Qualcomm Inc. (Retired)

Don Rosenberg

Don Rosenberg is a Fellow in Residence at the Center on Global Transformation in UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. He recently retired as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Qualcomm Incorporated, where he was responsible for overseeing Qualcomm’s worldwide legal matters, its Global Government Affairs organization, and the Corporate Compliance function. During his 14-year tenure at Qualcomm, Don played a key role in shaping and executing the company’s strategic direction and policy initiatives, regularly engaging with governments throughout the world, including the United States, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the EU and its Member States, Brazil and Canada. Before joining Qualcomm, Don served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Apple Inc. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of IBM Corporation. He currently serves on the boards of EnchargeAI and Niron Magnetics.

Don is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; the National Committee on US/China Relations; the International Advisory Board at University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Global Policy and Strategy; and the China Leadership Board of the 21st Century China Center at UCSD.

In 2019, Don served as a commissioner on the Reagan Institute’s Task Force on 21st Century National Security Technology and Workforce. In 2020, he supported the 21st Century China Center’s working group on science and technology in US-China Relations. He recently served as a member of the Working Group on Semiconductors and the Security of the United States and Taiwan, a joint effort of the Asia Society and the Hoover Institution, co-authoring a chapter in the final report.

The Commerce Department recently selected Don to serve on the committee to select a board of trustees for the National Semiconductor Center, a public-private partnership that will award research and development funding for next-generation chips.

Don served as an adjunct professor of law at New York’s Pace University School of Law, where he taught courses in intellectual property and antitrust law. His non-profit board memberships include Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine. He is a past National Co-Chairman of the Board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where he continues to serve on the Board and the Executive Committee.

Managing Director, Pearl Meyer

Susan Sandlund

Dr. Susan Sandlund is a managing director at Pearl Meyer and leads the firm’s leadership consulting practice. For more than 30 years, Susan has worked with boards, CEOs, and multiple levels of management on planned organizational changes at public and private companies and not-for-profit entities across numerous industries. As an organization psychologist, her work includes initiating and leading large-scale change to drive new business strategies, culture change, clarifying governance and decision-making, board and executive team effectiveness and coaching, organization design, executive assessment and development, and CEO succession planning processes.

Prior to joining Pearl Meyer, Susan was co-founder and partner of Veritas Partners, a leadership development and organization change consulting firm. Prior to launching Veritas, Susan was a partner with Oliver Wyman, formerly known as Mercer Delta Consulting (MDC) Group, working with CEOs and c-suite leaders on business transformation. She also served on the MDC board of directors. Prior to Mercer-Delta, Susan was a senior consultant with the Hay Group where she led leadership development initiatives for a wide array of clients. She served five years as an adjunct full professor at Columbia University and served on the board of trustees of Bon Secours Health System, Inc. (BSHSI) for 10 years, chairing the compensation and human resources committees. She is currently a director and the compensation committee chair for Peckham Industries.

Susan is a frequent speaker at board and industry conferences on the topics of CEO succession, board development, and organization change.

Susan is a member of the American Psychological Association and is certified in Hogan Assessments. She received her BA from Marquette University and her PhD from George Washington University.

CEO & Chairman, Dexcom

Kevin Sayer

Kevin joined Dexcom as President and Chief Operating Officer in 2011. In this executive role, Kevin was responsible for research and development, manufacturing, clinical, regulatory, finance, sales and marketing functions. During his tenure with Dexcom, he has been instrumental in leading the development of new technology, including the Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM System, the Dexcom G4 PLATINUM System with Share and several other product launches in the US and Europe.

CEO and Co-Founder, Moveworks

Bhavin Shah

Bhavin Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Moveworks. He is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience taking companies from inception to scale. Prior to Moveworks, he was CEO of Refresh.io, which LinkedIn acquired in 2015.

In 2016, Bhavin co-founded Moveworks, the leading AI copilot for the enterprise. Moveworks currently serves more than 300 enterprise customers, including NYSE, Hearst, Chubb Insurance, DocuSign, Mass General, and Toyota North America.

Moveworks has more than 450 employees, is headquartered in Mountain View, CA and has raised over $300M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, ICONIQ, Alkeon Capital Management, and Tiger Global. Moveworks has been named to the Forbes AI 50 list five years running and was named #24 on Newsweek’s Most Loved Places to Work in America in 2022.

Bhavin has a Master’s degree in Education, Technology, and Business from Stanford University and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego.

Executive Chairman, Berkeley Research Group; Professor of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley

David Teece

David J. Teece, Executive Chairman of the Berkeley Research Group and Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. He has authored over 30 books and 200 scholarly papers, and he is co-editor of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management, and Industrial and Corporate Change, an Oxford University Press Journal. Dr. Teece has received eight honorary doctorates and has been recognized by Royal Honors and is a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

In 2020, Teece was rated #1 worldwide in management by London-based Clarivate and was given “Clarivate Laureate” status in economics (for innovation, entrepreneurship, and competition) in 2021 he was saluted as a ‘Distinguished Management Thinker’ by Thinkers50. Google Scholar indicates that he has been cited over 190,000 times.

He has co-founded three companies and taken two public and serves on several boards. Dr. Teece has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has held teaching and research positions at Stanford University and Oxford University.

Board Director, Lucid Group, Inc.; Lumentum Holdings, Inc.; Enviva Inc; Tri-Cities Chapter of National Association of Corporate Directors

Janet Wong

Janet S. Wong is an accomplished executive including a 30-plus year history of demonstrated business leadership. Currently, she is an independent board director with strong governance experience and recognition as a qualified Financial Expert by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. She serves on the boards of Lucid Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: LCID), a sustainable mobility company producing luxury electric vehicles and electric powertrain systems; Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA), a global energy company manufacturing sustainable wood bioenergy; and Lumentum Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LITE), a high-technology manufacturer of innovative photonics to accelerate the speed and scale of the cloud, networking, advanced manufacturing and 3D sensing. From April 2020 to September 2022, she served on the board of Allegiance Bancshares, until it completed a merger on October 1, 2022. In December 2018, Directors & Boards magazine named her to its Directors to Watch list in recognition of her board governance and leadership experience. In April 2022, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) named her to its 2022 Directorship 100™, an annual honor for leading directors and governance professionals. In May 2023, Board Prospects recognized her as one of the Top 30 Asian American Board Directors in the U.S.

Partner, Shareholder Activism and Corporate Defense Practice, Sidley

Leonard Wood

Leonard Wood is a partner in the Houston office and focuses his practice on shareholder activism campaigns, shareholder activism preparedness, and M&A. He has advised over 100 public companies in shareholder activism defense and preparation for shareholder activism and hostile takeover threats. Additionally, as an active member of Sidley’s corporate governance and global ESG practices, Leonard has advised several of the world’s largest corporations on governance and ESG matters. Prior to joining Sidley in 2018, Leonard was a lawyer at another global law firm, where he worked with other current Sidley partners in the development of a prominently ranked shareholder activism and corporate defense practice.

Sidley’s Shareholder Activism and Corporate Defense practice has risen since 2018 to the top of all shareholder activism defense league tables, including No. 1 rankings by Bloomberg, FactSet, and Refinitiv. Chambers USA ranked Sidley Band 1 in New York for Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense (2022–2023) and The Legal 500 ranked the firm Tier 1 in the U.S. for Shareholder Activism – Advice to Boards in 2023. The firm was recognized by The Deal as “Activist Defense Law Firm of the Year (Large Cap)” in 2021 and 2022.

Leonard publishes widely on shareholder activism and corporate governance, with articles appearing in the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Forum, The M&A Journal, Lexology’s “Getting the Deal Through” series, Law360, Insights, The National Law Journal, and The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation.

Leonard holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an M.Phil. from Oxford University, and a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Law Review and was named to The Best Lawyers in America’s “Ones to Watch” list for his work in Corporate Governance and Compliance law (2022).

Leonard is a member of the State Bars of Texas and New York.