Speakers

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  Colin Ruegsegger Glass Lewis
  

  Colin Ruegsegger

  Glass Lewis

  Colin has worked in the proxy advisory industry for nearly 20 years, having joined Glass Lewis in 2006. Following several years covering key, regionally focused governance developments as senior governance analyst for the U.S. market, Colin joined Glass Lewis’ M&A and contest research group in 2009, where he has focused on undertaking engagements and providing research and recommendations relating to high profile transactions and proxy fights. Recent research includes contested campaigns at Illumina, Silverbow and Disney, as well as the acquisition of Catalent by Novo Nordisk and the purchase of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel. Colin graduated from California State University Chico in 2005 with a degree in business administration (finance focus).

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  Andrew Shapiro Founder & CEO, Lawndale Capital Management
  

  Andrew Shapiro

  Founder & CEO, Lawndale Capital Management

  Andrew Shapiro is a seasoned corporate leader with a 35+ year track record in finance, investment, and corporate governance. As Founder and CEO of Lawndale Capital Management, he has managed activist/relational hedge funds for over three decades, making him one of the most experienced practitioners of this investment strategy. In this role, he has employed a unique combination of corporate governance, finance, investment, legal, investor relations, and turnaround/restructuring skills. In addition to leading Lawndale, Mr. Shapiro has personally served as a Board leader or Advisor to many corporate boards, debt and equity bankruptcy committees as well as non-profit boards.

  Mr. Shapiro is a thoughtful advisor who helps a company transform its capital allocation, business strategy, governance practices, executive compensation, and stakeholder engagement to reposition its business toward sustainable cash flow growth and optimal valuation. With a robust background in addressing diverse and complex board challenges as well as experience in structuring acquisition, divestiture, turnaround, and reorganization transactions, Andrew brings creativity, integrity, and passion in procuring negotiated solutions and improved corporate governance processes.

  Andrew's extensive corporate board experience and recognition for governance thought leadership, including being named to the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship 100 and serving on the Council of Institutional Investors Corporate Governance Advisory Council, underscore his expertise. He holds Board Leadership Fellow credentials from the NACD for over 12 years, a Certification in Private Company Governance from the Private Directors Association, and is qualified as an Audit Committee Financial Expert.

  Mr. Shapiro is a frequent speaker on corporate governance, fiduciary duty, and activist investing topics for several corporate governance & director’s education programs and has received national recognition through feature articles in Forbes, Barron’s, Institutional Investor, and a Business Week article that labeled him “The Gary Cooper of Governance.”

  In addition to his public company engagements, Mr. Shapiro is serving or has served as a Board Member or Advisor to early-stage start-ups, VideoXRM, Shareholder Vote Exchange, and Miravel. Mr. Shapiro also is a Board and Executive Committee member of the Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and serves as Board Advisor, Past Chair/President, and on the Investment Committee of the Mill Valley Library Foundation, on whose board he served in various leadership positions over many years.

  Before Lawndale's 1992 founding, Mr. Shapiro was a trusted advisor, portfolio manager, and workout specialist in the family office of Sam Belzberg. Before joining First City, Mr. Shapiro was a Credit Officer involved in numerous corporate LBO and recapitalization transactions for Manufacturers Hanover Trust (now JP Morgan) and an Associate at the Spectrum Group, a private equity firm.

  Mr. Shapiro earned dual JD and MBA degrees from UCLA’s School of Law and Anderson School of Management and a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.