agenda

Essentials Express & Western Regional Conference Agenda

September 12 - 14, 2018
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, NV


Seminar Agenda (subject to change)

ESSENTIALS Express - Wednesday, September 12, 2018
8:00 - 9:30 am

Continental Breakfast

8:30 am - 5:45 pm Registration
8:30 am - 6:45 pm Exhibit Hall
9:15 - 9:30 am

Welcome & Introductions

9:30 - 10:30 am

General Session: Fundamentals of Corporate Governance & Sources of Authority

»What is "corporate governance?"

»Overview of relevant state (Delaware) and federal laws

»Board fiduciary duties and business judgment rule

»Overview of significant case law

»What constitutes "good governance"

»Articles of incorporation, by-laws, delegations of authority and charters

»Policies, codes of conduct and governance principles

Panelists:
Raj B. Dave, Chief Securities Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Newell Brands (Leader)

Kari H. Endries, Assistant Secretary & Managing Counsel, Chevron

Christina Y. Lai, VP Corporate Legal Affairs, Corporate Secretary, Applied Materials, Inc.

10:30 - 10:45 am

Refreshment Break

10:45 -11:45 am

General Session: Internal Sources of and Limits on Governance Authority

»Articles of Incorporation

»Bylaws

»Delegations of Authority

»Committee Charters

»Resolutions and Consents

»Corporate Governance Principles

»Corporate Policies

»Code of Business Conduct

Panelists:

Susan Baur, Head of US Corporate Secretariat & Special Counsel, BP America Inc.

Katherine Blair, Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

James F. Brashear, Vice President & General Counsel, Armstrong McCall of North Texas (Leader)

11:45 am - 12:45 pm

General Session: Board & Committee Meetings: Best Practices

»Number of meetings

»Forward looking schedules

»Agenda development

»Presentations/formats

»Logistical support (travel, lodging, food)

»Scripts and follow-up

»Strategy retreats

Panelists:

Dane Allen, Corporate Secretary, QEP Resources, Inc.

Carrie Darling, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, FICO (Leader)

R. Read Hudson, Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary, Tyson Foods

12:45 - 2:00 pm

Luncheon & Address: "My Life as a Corporate Secretary"

Carol Ward, Vice President and Corporate Secretary, Mondelez International, Inc.

2:15 - 3:00 pm

General Session: Board Materials and Preparation

»Timeline for materials preparation

»Review and approval of board materials

»Executive summaries

»Mailing and/or uploading to your portal

»Evolution of portals, and best use now

Panelists:
R. Read Hudson, Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary, Tyson Foods (Leader)

Jennifer MacDougall, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Asst Secretary, Jack in the Box, Inc.

Thessaly Startzel, Executive Director, Corporate Legal, Dell Technologies, Inc.

3:00 - 4:00 pm

General Session: Taking Minutes

»Purpose

»Required elements

»Form/style

»Protecting privilege

»Executive sessions

»Draft and review process

»Special situations

»Post-approval changes

»Review by auditors or regulators

Panelists:
James F. Brashear, Vice President & General Counsel, Armstrong McCall of North Texas

Jessica Goldman, Corporate Secretary, El Paso Electric Company 

Jennifer MacDougall, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Asst Secretary, Jack in the Box, Inc. (Leader)

4:00 - 4:15 pm Refreshment Break
4:15 - 5:00 pm

Concurrent Session:

Public Company Track: Annual Meetings I

»Proxy statement drafting, schedule & logistics

»Notice and Access and mailing

»Dealing with management and shareholder proposals

»Reviewing proxy advisory firm recommendations

Panelists:
Bryan Brown, Partner, Reed Smith LLP

Keith Larson, Senior Attorney and Assistant Secretary, Edison International (Leader)

Jung-Kyu K. McCann, Associate General Counsel, Corporate and Finance, Broadcom Inc.

Concurrent Session:

Private Company Track: Public vs. Private Company Governance

»Understanding the difference between governance requirements 

»What rules/regulations apply universally?

»What governance/compliance is mandatory vs. what is best practice? 

»Financing issues 

»Equity awards & the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act 

Panelists:
Katherine Blair, Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Raj B. Dave, Chief Securities Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Newell Brands

Barry Ira Medintz, General Counsel and Secretary, Rubicon Global (Leader)

5:00 - 5:45 pm

Public Company Track: Annual Meetings II

»Scripts, agendas, briefing books, logistics

»Soliciting proxies, tabulating and reporting the vote

»Virtual meetings

Panelists:

Shannon Kinney, Deputy General Counsel, Governance, Corporate & Commercial and Chief Compliance Officer, ConocoPhillips

Joshua P. McGinn,  Senior Vice President, Western Region Relationship Management, AST

Douglas Allen Stewart, Vice President, Securities Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Visa, Inc. (Leader)

5:45 - 6:45 pm Networking Reception
for Essentials attendees & faculty
Sponsored by Diligent
6:30 - 8:00 pm

Dinner & Discussion: ESG Basics: What It All Means For You

»Impact on the corporate secretary function

»Drivers of ESG's increased relevance

»How to translate the ESG alphabet soup

»Expectations in investor engagement & shareholder proposals

(Members & Issuers Only)

Panelists:
Yafit Cohn, Associate Group General Counsel, Travelers

Michael Flaherty, Senior Vice President, Gladstone Place Partners

Granville Martin, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Society for Corporate Governance (Leader)

Samantha Sue Ping, Vice President, Head of ESG Issuer Communications, ESG Research, MSCI

ESSENTIALS Express - thurSday, September 13, 2018
7:00 - 8:00 am Pilates (Milano Vl)
8:00 - 9:30 am Continental Breakfast
8:00 am - 12:15 pm Exhibit Hall
8:00 am - 1:30 pm Registration
8:45 - 9:00 am Welcome & Introductions
9:00 - 9:45 am

Concurrent Sessions:

Public Company Track: Shareholder Engagement

»How to identify your shareholders (retail v. institutional)

» Shareholder voting policies

»How to be effective in talking to your shareholders

» How shares are voted by institutional investors

»Board involvement

»Proactive v. reactive approaches

»Shareholder proposals

Panelists:
Vikas Arora, Vice President, Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Secretary, Avery Dennison

Virginia K. Fogg, General Counsel, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Society Board Chair

Simona Katcher, Senior Counsel and Assistant Secretary, Visa, Inc. (Leader)

Private Company Track: Private Company Boards

»Defining the board’s role

»Founder power

»Family councils

»Refreshment and removal

»Compensation

Panelists:
Nita Dudley, Secretary, Levi Strauss & Co. (Leader)

Richard Blake, Partner, Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP

John R. Mayo, Mayo Governance Advisors

9:45 - 10:00  am

Refreshment Break

10:00 - 11:15 am

Concurrent Sessions:

Public Company Track: Regulation & Disclosure

»Regulators: Overview of SEC and stock exchanges

»Compliance with SEC regulations

»Forms 3, 4, and 5 and Form 144

»Compliance with listing standards

»Basics of disclosure

»Periodic reports (Forms 10-Q and 10-K), current reports (Form 8-K)

»Proxy statement

Panelists:
Luci Altman, Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Securities & Corporate Affairs, Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Hagen Ganem, Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Sophie Hager Hume, Vice President, Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Secretary, Starbucks Coffee Company, (Leader)

Private Company Track: Risk Management for Private Companies

»Internal controls

»Compliance with Federal and state regulations

»Compliance with lending requirement

»Contract compliance

Panelists:
Lakeeta Hill, Director of Executive Administration and Corporate Governance, Cargill, Incorporated (Leader)

Barry Ira Medintz, General Counsel and Secretary, Rubicon Global

11:15 am - 12:15 pm

Concurrent Sessions:

Public Company Track: Corporate Entity Management

»Important legal significance

»Different types of and impact on the company

»Formation

»Selection of directors and officers

»Maintenance, annual filings

»Dissolution

»Systems for support

»Reports

Panelists:
Kari Endries, Assistant Secretary & Managing Counsel, Chevron

Kari McCulloch, Director, Corporate Governance and Assistant Secretary, Sempra

Justin Whittenburg, Partner, Corporate, Baker & McKenzie LLP

Private Company Track: Private Company Roundtable Discussions

12:15 - 1:25 pm

Luncheon & Address
Essentials & Western Regional Conference Attendees invited to participate

Michael Callahan, Executive Director of Stanford's Rock Center for Corporate Governance and Professor of the Practice of Law
Interviewer: Carrie Darling, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Secretary, FICO

1:25 pm Essentials Seminar concludes

Western Regional Conference Agenda - Thursday, September 13, 2018
11:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration
11:00 am - 5:00 pm Exhibit Hall
12:15 - 1:25 pm

Luncheon & Address
Essentials & Western Regional Conference Attendees invited to participate

Michael Callahan, Executive Director of Stanford's Rock Center for Corporate Governance and Professor of the Practice of Law
Interviewer
: Carrie Darling, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Secretary, FICO

1:25 - 1:30 pm

Welcome & Introductions

1:30 – 2:25 pm

Artificial Intelligence – Implications for Corporate Governance

» Current State of AI and opportunities presented
» IP Issues and challenges of data
» Selected risk management considerations for legal and the Board
» Regulatory developments and non-governmental initiatives (note: this will involve discussion of data-sharing and anti-bias campaigns)
» The path forward: corporate responsibility (Norms & Ethics/Efforts to counter Bias and Disparate Impact)

Panelists:
Lisa Fontenot, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Leader)

Peter Kraus, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, Microsoft

Carrie LeRoy, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

2:25 - 3:20 pm SEC Hot Topics

»SEC rulemaking initiatives
»Proxy season developments
»Comment letter trends

Panelists:

Martin P. Dunn, Of Counsel, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Dave M. Lynn, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

3:20 - 3:35 pm Refreshment Break
3:35 - 4:30 pm

Concurrent Sessions:

Proxy Season/ESG/Shareholder Engagement

»SASB/TCFD standards

»SLB 14I effect on shareholder proposals and Board oversight

»Perspectives on effective and ineffective governance efforts

Panelists:
Elizabeth Ising, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Jung Kyu McCann, Associate General Counsel, Corporate and Finance, Broadcom Inc.

Yumi Narita, Vice President of Investment Stewardship, Blackrock

William Ultan, Managing Director, Morrow Sodali LLC

Indemnification and D&O Insurance

»Indemnification & advancement basics

»The role and fundamentals of D&O Insurance

»Current issues and evolving risks

»Protecting non-US subsidiaries

Panelists:
Kristin Beaulieu, Account Executive, Woodruff Sawyer

Mary Brodd, Corporate & Business Attorney (Leader)

Katherine Henderson, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

4:30 - 5:25 pm  Blockchains - The Next Frontier


»An overview of blockchains and how do they work

»Is there a problem that needs solving?

»Blockchain to the rescue?

»Examples of potential use cases

»Understanding smart contracts

»Key takeaways

Panelists:
Elizabeth Maiellano, Vice President, Product Strategy, Broadridge Financial Services, Inc.

James Talbot, Counsel Intellectual Property and Technology, Cybersecurity and Privacy, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP 

Kristina Veaco, Principal, Veaco Group (Leader)


5:30 - 7:30 pm

Networking Dinner, poolside at Caesars


Western Regional Conference Agenda - FridaY, September 14, 2018
7:00 - 8:00 am Pilates (Milano VI)
8:30 - 9:30 am Continental Breakfast
8:30 - 11:00 am Exhibit Hall
9:30 - 9:35 am Welcome & Introductions
9:35 - 10:30 am

The Directors Speak

»Top of mind issues

»Culture

Panelists:
Christina de Vaca, Chief Executive Officer, Directors Forum (Leader) Nora M. Denzel, Director, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Company (Leader)

Daniel Cooperman, Former General Counsel at Apple and Oracle,  board member at Molina Healthcare, Inc.; Chair Audit Committee, Zoox, Inc.

George Anderson, Partner, Spencer Stuart

10:30 - 10:55 am Break & Raffle Drawings
11:00 - 11:55 am

Cybersecurity - Data Breach Response and Boards of Directors:  Lessons, Caveats and Reminders

»Recent cybersecurity issues and current trends in data breach response;

»Typical workflow in a data breach response, including legal and regulatory issues;

»New standards – the nuts and bolts of how boards, counsel and secretaries should oversee cybersecurity

Speaker:

John Reed Stark, President, John Reed Stark LLC

12:00 - 1:00 pm

A Conversation with Corporate Secretaries

Panelists:
Rick E. Hansen, Asst. General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, General Motors Company

Andrew Howard, Corporate Counsel, Scientific Games

Barbara E. Mathews, Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Chief Governance Officer and Corporate Secretary, Edison International, and Southern California Edison

Douglas Allen Stewart, Vice President, Securities and Assistant Secretary Visa, Inc. (Leader)

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