UW-Madison School of Business - UPDATE Alumni Magazine - Fall 2001 - U.S. Corporate Directors Attend Summit in Madison

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Photo of session from Director's Summit 2001

Inside the Boardroom
U.S. Corporate Directors Attend Summit in Madison

In recent years, corporate governance issues have increasingly come to the forefront. Under what circumstances should corporate directors be held legally accountable to shareholders? How should conflict-of-interest situations involving board members be addressed? How proactive should boards be in removing underperforming CEOs?

This fall, the UW–Madison School of Business played an important role in focusing the discussion. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, the tenth largest public pension fund in the U.S., worked closely with the Executive Education arm of the School of Business, to create this first-ever corporate governance program from the vantage point of the institutional investor.

More than 150 corporate directors and key executives, including general counsels and chief financial officers from across the U.S., attended the 2001 Directors' Summit held at the Fluno Center for Executive Education in September.

The Directors' Summit 2001 had the endorsement and participation of other large pension funds such as CALPERS, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., located in California, and TIAA-CREF, the world's largest private retirement system, based in New York. Other program sponsors included the National Association of Corporate Directors, Pfizer, Inc. and NASDAQ.

Abby Joseph Cohen photo

Lynn Turner
Abby Joseph Cohen, chair of the Investment Policy Committee of Goldman Sachs & Co., and Lynn E. Turner, former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, were among the keynote speakers at the inaugural Directors' Summit.

Keynote speakers and panelists were a "who's who" of institutional investing. Abby Joseph Cohen, chief market strategist for Goldman Sachs in New York, gave an inside look at investment strategy at her firm. Patricia Dunn, global chief executive for Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco, spoke on the importance of corporate governance to stakeholders. Other keynote speakers were Lynn E. Turner, former chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission, who spoke on government regulatory issues and Constance Horner, a director with Pfizer, Inc., who spoke on director independence and board culture.

According to Ted Beck, associate dean for executive education, and conference co-developer, Cynthia L. Richson, director of corporate governance at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, the goal of the conference was to give corporate directors a look at governance issues from the vantage point of institutional investors. The program was designed to provide opportunities to discuss governance best practices and hear from corporate leaders, legal experts, top government officials and the media. Beck said that the Directors' Summit was one of the first conferences to be accredited by Institutional Shareholder Services as a Preferred Boardroom Education Program.

Those who attended the conference were welcomed by Patricia Lipton, executive director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, and Katharine Lyall, president of the University of Wisconsin System. Attendees learned about the growing emphasis on director training and professionalism. In plenary sessions, participants explored issues such as how to avoid conflict-of-interest situations as board members and how to comply with changing regulatory requirements and practices that help reduce the risk of shareholder litigation. Other cutting-edge topics included methods of objectively evaluating and fairly compensating key executives while preserving shareholder value.

Response to the 2001 Directors' Summit has been so positive, it is expected to become an annual event. Lipton, of the Wisconsin Investment Board, said, "The purpose of our creating the first-ever Directors' Summit was to offer a positive education forum for institutional investors and directors on important governance issues. Investors and directors obviously agree on the necessity of this forum based on the feedback we received from our inaugural conference - already we are planning next year's conference with substantial interest from companies eager to send their board members."

The next Directors' Summit is scheduled for September 4–6, 2002.