
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein Peter Gleason: "We Look at Board Directorships as a Profession with Accountability and Expectations."
0:00 -- Intro.
1:31 -- Start of interview.
1:57 -- Peter's "origin story".
2:40 -- His career prior to NACD, including at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Peter joined NACD in 2000.
4:52 -- On the origin and mission of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Founded in 1977 by John Nash. Today the organization has grown to 23,000+ members.
7:02 -- About the NACD Directorship Certification (created three years ago). About 2,800 candidates have registered, and about ~1,100 have graduated with the certification.
10:38 -- On the evolution of corporate governance in the last 30 years from his vantage point. “Everything has changed [about boards] – it used to be more of an honorary position, we look it now as a profession with accountability and expectations.” The precedent of the ISS corporate governance quotient (CGQ).
14:36 -- About NACD’s Future of the American Board Report: A Framework for Governing into the Future.
20:07 -- On NACD's Summit 2022 and lessons from 2022 from a corporate governance perspective. The impact of the pandemic and getting back to in-person events.
24:29 -- About NACD's 20 chapters throughout the US. Mostly in "NFL cities."
27:53 -- On ESG and the anti-ESG trend and the politicization of corporation governance.
30:30 -- On Institutional Investors passing-through voting power to beneficial owners, retail investors and the Universal Proxy Rule. A revolution in shareholder democracy?
41:01 -- On the increasing influence of private markets and its corporate governance implications. "From NACD's 23,000 members, about 8,000 are directors of private companies." There is a lot of informationsharing between public and private company directors.
43:49 -- On the challenges of founder-led private companies. The case of FTX.
47:20 -- On dual-class share structures (supermajority voting structures). "The NACD doesn't have an official position." The example of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg. On the role of the board in non-profits. "I always recommend to go get a few independent directors for boards, because they will tell you what they are thinking (unvarnished opinions) but you have to listen to their independent advice."
52:10 -- Focus on social issues (pressure on CEOs speaking out). The framework that CEOs and boards must use to communicate their positions.
55:39 - The books that have greatly influenced his life:
- Good to Great, by Jim Collins (2001)
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (1960)
- The Industries of the Future, by Alec Ross (2016)
57:17 - His mentors, and what he learned from them.
- His parents.
- Ken Daly, former CEO of NACD from 2007-2017.
- Ira Millstein
59:32 - Quotes he thinks of often or live his life by.
- "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." (from his parents)
- "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." Rocky Balboa.
- "Man in the Arena" by Teddy Roosevelt (1910).
1:00:59 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves: he watches TV to unwind (noise in the background).
1:01:52 - The living person he most admires: his mother and his wife.
Peter Gleason is the President and CEO of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
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You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
You can follow Evan on social media at:
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
