Speakers

Mr. Bolash is Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ: ERIE), a Fortune 500 company that serves as the management arm of the property-casualty and life insurance companies of the Erie Insurance Group.  Prior to joining Erie Insurance in 2000, Mr. Bolash was engaged in private practice for 10 years and lectured at Mercyhurst University as a member of their adjunct faculty.  During that time, he also served as president and general counsel of a Pennsylvania-licensed financial institution.

 Mr. Bolash currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania and as a Director of Independent Statistical Service (a subsidiary of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association).  He has held other professional leadership roles, including Chair of the In-House Counsel Division of the Erie County Bar Association and Program Chair for the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Society for Corporate Governance.

Mr. Bolash received his undergraduate degree from Gannon University and his law degree from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University.  He also holds the Certified Corporate Governance Professional (CCGP) designation.

Mr. Briggs is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s San Francisco, CA office, where he works in the firm’s securities regulation and corporate governance practice group.  Mr. Briggs’ practice focuses on advising public companies of all sizes (from pre-IPO to mega-cap) and their boards of directors, with a focus on technology and life sciences companies, on a wide range of securities and governance matters, including SEC compliance, corporate governance, ESG and sustainability reporting, investor engagement and disclosure effectiveness, proxy solicitation and annual meeting process, shareholder activism and executive compensation matters.

Before rejoining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Briggs served as Executive Counsel - Corporate, Securities & Finance, at General Electric Company.  His in-house experience, which included driving GE’s revamp of its full suite of investor communications (proxy statement, 10-K, earnings releases, and integrated report), provides a unique insight and practical perspective on the issues that his clients face every day.

In 2023, Mr. Briggs was elected a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel, an organization of leading corporate governance lawyers from the US and Canada. In 2016, Corporate Secretary Magazine named Mr. Briggs Governance Professional of the Year.  Mr. Briggs’ work has also been recognized by Financial Executives International, ReportWatch, Sustainability Investment Leadership Council, and TheCorporateCounsel.net.

Mr. Briggs is a frequent speaker on governance, proxy and securities disclosure panels and serves on the Certified Corporate Governance Professional Oversight Commission for the Society for Corporate Governance.  Recent presentations include to the Center for Professional Education, Practicing Law Institute, and Society for Corporate Governance.  Mr. Briggs also is the author of several governance and securities-related publications, including a chapter on “Proxy Disclosure Effectiveness” in the Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules treatise.

Mr. Briggs received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School in 2007, where he was a Kosmerl Scholar.  He received his Bachelor of Arts with high honors from the University of Notre Dame in 2004.

Ms. Demidio Chase is Senior Counsel and CSO Manager of Bechtel Global Corporation.  A 2000 graduate of Rutgers Law, Kristi has focused her career in corporate and securities law, having most recently served as General Counsel of CRF Inc. and as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Encorium Group, Inc.  Kristi began her career at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia, PA where she practiced from 2000-2007.   Kristi lives in Ashburn VA with her husband, Mike, and two children.  Outside of work, Kristi is involved in community theater and is the owner of a local performing arts theatre, Imagine, Create, Explore Collaborative Arts.

Mr. Brown serves as vice president, assistant general counsel and corporate secretary of The New York Times Company. Mike joined The Times Company as vice president, assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary in May 2022 and was named corporate secretary in March 2023.

In addition to his role as corporate secretary, Mike leads the company’s corporate and securities practice. He oversees its core responsibilities of securities law compliance, corporate governance, executive compensation and transactional matters.

Prior to joining The Times Company, Mike was deputy general counsel and corporate secretary at Cipher Mining, an emerging technology company specializing in Bitcoin. Before that, he was deputy general counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Clearway Energy, Inc., one of the largest renewable energy owners in the United States. In both roles, he led governance- and board-related activities, coordinated S.E.C. reporting and advised on significant financial transactions. He also played a key role in the development of E.S.G. strategic initiatives.

Mike was honored as a Rising Star by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association in 2023 and was a finalist for Governance Professional of the Year at the 2020 Corporate Governance Awards hosted by Corporate Secretary magazine.

Mike began his in-house career at NRG Energy, Inc., serving as senior counsel, securities and finance, and he also worked at the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. He received his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his law degree from Boston College Law School.

Mr. Barnett is Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Cardinal Health, Inc., where he currently works on securities and corporate governance matters, including board governance, the proxy statement, shareholder engagement and proposals, executive and equity compensation, insider trading compliance, and ESG legal oversight. Prior to going in-house, he was an associateat Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP, where his practice focused on securities matters, corporate governance, and capital markets. Prior to going to law school, Jim was a commercial lending relationship manager at Bank One Corporation.

Mr. Fields leads the firm's Board Effectiveness Practice and is a member of the firm's Board and CEO Advisory Partners and Family Enterprise Advisory Practices. He is a trusted advisor to boards, corporate leaders, and investment professionals who regularly ask him to customize and deliver annual board and director assessments, enhance oversight of CEO succession planning, benchmark boards against both peers and evolving investor standards, avoid or mitigate activist vulnerabilities, and develop more productive relationships with their largest and most influential shareholders.

Rich joined the firm from King & Spalding, where he was a partner who advised companies on complex, high-stakes corporate governance issues. Before that, Rich was a partner at governance boutique Tapestry Networks, where he led the firm's programs with lead directors and the chairs of boards and board committees.  

Rich is a recognized authority on corporate governance who regularly writes and speaks on critical governance and board leadership topics. He has been quoted in leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, and the Financial Times. He has authored chapters in each edition of The Handbook of Board Governance, including most recently "Evaluations that Enhance Board Effectiveness." Rich was also one of four global winners of the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership's Rising Star of Corporate Governance Award in 2015 and recently was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors' Directorship100 as one of the 100 most influential leaders in corporate governance. 

Rich earned his JD with honors from the University of Chicago Law School and a BA in government from Clark University, magna cum laude. Rich serves on the Board of the Society for Corporate Governance and is the past President of the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Middlesex County.

Paula Tuffin serves as Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel at Better. She oversees the Company’s legal, compliance, and governance programs, ensuring Better operates responsibly in a highly regulated industry.   

Before joining Better in 2016, Paula was Senior Litigation Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFB) and a partner in litigation at Mayer Brown LLP. She earned her B.A. from Williams College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Ms. Sydlowski is vice president of corporate governance at Prudential Financial, Inc.  She manages the Board Governance Team and specializes in conflict of interest and related party transaction issues for the company’s Board of Directors and Executive Officers, as well as other regulatory and disclosure items related to the Board.  Prior to joining Prudential in 2011, Ms. Sydlowski was a litigation attorney in private practice.

Ms. Sydlowski received her J.D. from William & Mary Law School and her B.A. in Government and English from the University of Notre Dame.

She is a member of the Women in Insurance Peer Exchange and the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice.