NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Directors of publicly traded companies will gather at Vanderbilt University Law School in June to address the issues directors now face as a result of recent regulatory changes in a climate of investor uncertainty.
The Vanderbilt Directors College, to be held June 9-10, is endorsed and supported by the New York Stock Exchange Foundation and is one of only a few of its kind being offered around the country.
Speakers will include Paul Atkins, commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; James L. Cochrane, senior vice president of the NYSE; Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the SEC; and Leo E. Strine Jr., vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, the most important trial court for corporate law in the country.
Representatives from the top levels of the SEC, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, law firms and some of America’s largest corporations will lead panel discussions, each to be followed by an array of breakout sessions designed so that participants can discuss the issues they are confronting in the corporate boardroom.
Topics will include the “Reforms of 2002,” examined from the perspectives of the federal, state and self-regulatory organizations which contributed to the recent dramatic changes in the rules of corporate governance. Other sessions will focus on nomination and governance committees, the compensation committee, the audit committee and “The Role of Attorneys in Corporate Governance After the New SEC Rules.”
Responding to the current corporate governance climate, the NYSE Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee last year recommended the enhancement of director education programs. When he spoke at Vanderbilt in September, Dick Grasso, chairman and CEO of the NYSE, announced a grant to the University’s Law and Business Program to fund educational programs on corporate governance responsibilities for directors of public companies.
“With recent regulatory changes, falling investor confidence and rising market exposure, it is vital for anyone involved in corporate governance to gain a thorough understanding of their fiduciary, legal and ethical responsibilities,” said the program’s co-director, Robert B. Thompson, New York Alumni Chancellor’s Chair and professor of law at Vanderbilt. “The Vanderbilt Directors College provides an ideal opportunity for those who chair or sit on nominating, governance, compensation and audit committees of the boards of public companies and for senior executives and those who advise and participate with them in corporate governance to learn about the higher expectations that have been placed on them.”
The Vanderbilt Directors College is sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Law School and the Owen Graduate School of Management. The conference is accredited by the Institutional Shareholder Service (ISS) as an Accredited Director Education Program. Registration is required, and space is limited. The program fee is $2,600 per participant. To register or for more information, call (615) 343-6835 or go to www.law.vanderbilt.edu/directorscollege.
Media contact: Susanne Loftis, 615-322-NEWS, susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu