FT-ODX (Outstanding Directors Exchange) New York 2018

Dick Swift served as chairman and CEO of Foster Wheeler from 1994 to 2001. He served as COO from 1992 to 1994, having spent a total of 29 years with the company. Mr Swift also served as chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council from 2002 until his retirement from the organization in 2006. He earned a BS from the United States Military Academy, an MS from Purdue University and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Bill Anderson is a senior managing director and global head of Evercore’s activism/raid defense business and strategic shareholder advisory practice. Prior to joining the firm, Mr Anderson was a partner in the M&A group at Goldman Sachs. He is the leading advisor to companies facing hostile activity, including defending over 200 companies against activism or hostile takeovers, including many of the largest proxy fights and raid defenses in the US, Europe and Asia across all industries. He advises companies worldwide in connection with mergers and acquisitions, special committee situations, corporate governance issues, cross-border transactions, contested shareholder situations and preparing for hostile activity. Earlier in his career, Mr Anderson was a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, clerked on the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, was a certified public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand and served as a captain in the US Army Reserves. He earned a BS/BA in accounting and history, magna cum laude and a JD, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University.  

Ed Batts leads Orrick’s global M&A and Private Equity practice group, which includes more than 50 partners across the world dedicated exclusively to M&A/PE transactions. He is resident in the firm’s Silicon Valley office and regularly counsels publicly traded technology companies in complex mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and cyber security. Mr Batts is a military officer veteran, who was deployed to Yemen and twice to Iraq. He is an active participant in Orrick’s veterans programs, including the firm’s annual Veterans' Legal Career Fair in Washington, DC.

Tim Bernlohr founded TJB Management Consulting in 2005. The firm specializes in providing project specific consulting services to businesses in transformation, including restructurings, wind downs, interim executive management, and strategic planning services. Since the inception, Mr Bernlohr has served over 100 public and private boards in a variety of capacities including chairman, lead director, strategic consultant, president, CEO, and trustee. Mr Bernlohr is the former president and CEO of RBX Industries. RBX was sold to multiple buyers in 2004 and 2005. Previously, he spent 16 years in the international and industry products division of Armstrong World Industries in a variety of management positions. Additionally, Mr Bernlohr serves as an independent director of the following private companies: Neenah Foundry, Omnimax International, Pinnacle Agricultural Enterprises, Hercules Offshore, The Manischewitz Company, and WIS International. Mr Bernlohr is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University.

Bob Bostrom has been SVP and special counsel of Abercrombie & Fitch since October 2018. He served as SVP, corporate secretary and general counsel of Abercrombie & Fitch from 2014 to September 2018. From 2012 to 2013, Mr Bostrom was co-chairman of the Financial Regulatory and Compliance Group at Greenberg Traurig, an international law firm. He served as co-head of Financial Institutions and Funds Sector and partner of Dentons US from 2011 to 2012. Prior to this, Mr Bostrom was EVP, corporate secretary and general counsel of The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) from 2006 to 2011. From 1996 to 2001, he served as managing partner of the New York office of Winston & Strawn, where he was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and head of the Financial Institutions Group. Prior to that, Mr Bostrom was EVP of Legal, Regulatory and Compliance and general counsel of National Westminster Bancorp (NatWest). He was previously a member of the board of NeuLion and Coutts International.

Rhonda Brauer was director of Corporate Engagement for the Bureau of Asset Management in the Office of New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer until October 2018. The Comptroller serves as investment advisor, custodian and a trustee to the New York City Pension Funds, with more than $190 billion in assets and a long history of active ownership. Ms Brauer is responsible for strategic priorities for the Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment team, where she spearheads outreach to boards at the City pension fund’s portfolio companies, with an emphasis on improving board quality and diversity in order to create long-term sustainable growth for the pension funds. Recent initiatives include the Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0 launched in September 2017. Previously, Ms Brauer was secretary & corporate governance officer for The New York Times Company and as senior managing director for Corporate Governance at Georgeson, a proxy solicitation firm. She began her career with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a cross-border transactional corporate lawyer in New York and Brussels. Ms Brauer was also a Senior Fellow at The Conference Board’s Governance Center, and served four years on the Board of Society for Corporate Governance. She is currently a member of the Council of Institutional Investors and the American Bar Association. Ms Brauer has an AB from Cornell University and a JD from Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington.

Rose Crane retired in 2014 from MELA Sciences, where she served as president and CEO beginning in 2013. From 2011 to 2013, she was a partner and head of Commercialization at Appletree Partners. From 2008 to 2011, Ms Crane was CEO and president of Epocrates. From 2002 to 2008, she served in several senior executive positions at Johnson & Johnson, lastly as company group chairman, OTC and Nutritional Group. From 1982 to 2002, she was at Bristol-Myers Squibb, ending her tenure there as president, US Primary Care. Ms Crane received an MBA from Kent State University and a BA from State University of New York at Oswego. She previously served as a director of Unilife, Cipher Pharmaceuticals and Targanta Therapeutics.

Michael Delikat, a partner in Orrick's New York office, serves as chair of the firm's Global Employment Law Practice, spanning the EU, Asia and the US. Under his leadership, the practice group has been named Labor & Employment Department of the Year in California for four consecutive years by The Recorder, in recognition of their significant wins on behalf of leading multinational companies on today’s most complex and challenging employment law matters. The practice group has also been chosen as one of the top national employment law practices by Law 360. Mr Delikat also is the founder of the firm’s Whistleblower Task Force. He has an active trial, arbitration and appellate practice and handles a number of high-visibility class action and impact cases. He has extensive experience with litigation arising from trade secret misappropriation and the enforcement of post-employment restrictions, EEOC systemic investigations and litigations, wage-and-hour collective actions and other class actions based on gender and race, with particular expertise representing companies in the financial services industry.  

Dave Dorman has been the non-executive chairman of CVS Health since 2011. He has been the founding partner of Centerview Capital Technology Fund since 2013. Mr Dorman served as non-executive chairman of Motorola Solutions (formerly Motorola, Inc.) from 2008 through 2011, and served as lead director until his retirement from the Motorola Solutions board in 2015. From 2006 to 2008, Mr Dorman was a managing director and senior advisor with Warburg Pincus. From 2005 to 2006, he served as president and a director of AT&T, Inc (formerly SBC Communications). From 2002 to 2005, he was chairman and CEO of AT&T Corporation. Prior to this, he was president of AT&T Corporation from 2000 to 2002 and CEO of Concert Communications Services, a former global venture created by AT&T and British Telecommunications, from 1999 to 2000. Mr Dorman is as a trustee for Georgia Tech Foundation. He was a board member of Yum! Brands until 2017.

Jon Foster is managing director of Current Capital Partners, a private equity investing and management services firm. From 2007 to 2008, was managing director and co-head of Diversified Industrials and Services at Wachovia Securities. From 2005 to 2007, Mr Foster served as EVP — Finance and Business Development of Revolution. From 2002 until 2004, Mr Foster was a managing director of The Cypress Group and from 2001 to 2002, he served as a senior managing director and head of Industrial Products and Services Mergers & Acquisitions at Bear Stearns. From 1999 to 2000, Mr Foster served as  EVP Vice President, COO and CFO of Toysrus.com. Previously, he was with Lazard, primarily in mergers and acquisitions, for 10 years. Mr Foster was previously a member of the board of Chemtura, Sabine Oil & Gas and Smurfit-Stone Container. He has a bachelor’s degree from Emory University, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and attended the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.

David Garfield is managing director of AlixPartners LLP. He consults with board members and senior executives to develop winning strategies and drive step-change improvements in operating and financial performance. He has more than 28 years of experience as an executive and a consultant, with a consistent record of achieving dramatic increases in cash flow, profitability, and shareholder value. He helps high-performing companies that want to extend their lead or tackle specific challenges (e.g., accelerate growth, expand margin, increase M&A synergy); and he helps companies with underperforming businesses that want to achieve a “step-change” in results.  At AlixPartners, he serves as the global leader of the firm’s Consumer Products Practice, and the co-leader of the firm’s Performance Improvement Practice for North America. Prior to AlixPartners, he served as a director and president of Encore. He also served as a partner and practice leader for Price Waterhouse. Mr Garfield has been cited by CEO magazine as a leading investment thinker, and is frequently quoted in leading business periodicals on the topic of shareholder value. He has won the Turnaround Management Association’s Annual Turnaround of the Year Award. Mr Garfield holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he now serves as a guest-lecturer.

Tony Guzzi is chairman, president and CEO of EMCOR Group, a leader in mechanical and electrical construction, industrial and energy infrastructure, and building services. Prior to joining EMCOR in 2004, Mr Guzzi was president of the North American Distribution and Aftermarket Division of Carrier. Previously, he served as an engagement manager with McKinsey & Company. Mr Guzzi is Ranger-qualified and served in the US Army as a Light Infantry Captain from 1986 to 1991. He graduated with a BS with highest distinction from The United States Military Academy at West Point and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School with distinction. Mr Guzzi helped found the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund, whose mission is to provide educational opportunities to the children and spouses of soldiers who perished in combat or training defending our country.

Duncan Hennes is the managing member of Atrevida Partners. Prior to co-founding Atrevida in 2007, he co-founded Promontory Financial Group, an advisory firm focused on the financial services sector. Before this, Mr Hennes was CEO of Soros Fund Management and at Bankers Trust for 12 years, where positions included EVP in charge of the Sales, Trading and Derivatives, treasurer of Bankers Trust, member of the firm's Management, Asset Liability and Capital Commitment Committees, and member of the board of directors of BT Alex Brown. Mr Hennes also represented Bankers Trust on the board of Oversight Partners I, the consortium that took over Long Term Capital Management, where he was elected chairman. Mr Hennes was a CPA and audit manager with Arthur Andersen for eight years. He holds a BS and an MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr Hennes is on the board of Standard & Poor’s and was previously a director of Syncora Holdings.

Sujeet Indap joined the FT in 2013 and is currently US Editor of the LEX Column. He has several years of investment banking experience, most recently as a vice president at the M&A boutique firm Foros Group. Previously, Mr Indap was with with Lazard Frères and Merrill Lynch. He holds a BA in Economics from Pomona College and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Since joining in 2010, Erin Lantz has built one of Zillow Group’s fastest growing and most profitable businesses, despite operating in a highly regulated environment and in an industry slow to adopt innovative consumer technology. Previously, Ms Lantz was SVP at Bank of America, where she led the Direct-to-Consumer purchase home loan business. Before entering the mortgage industry, she worked at the Boston Consulting Group. She holds a BA from University of Pennsylvania and a MBA from Harvard Business School and formerly served on the board of Washington Federal.

Steve Lipin is chairman and chief executive of Gladstone Place Partners, an advisor to companies, CEOs, boards and chief communications officers on evolving strategic communication needs. He founded the firm after 16 years at Brunswick Group, where he was US senior partner. Mr Lipin was instrumental in incorporating digital and social media into financial communications, and worked on many landmark deals, including InBev’s acquisition of Anheuser-Busch; AB InBev’s acquisitions of Grupo Modelo and SAB Miller; Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth; the combination of Kraft and Heinz; Air Liquide’s purchase of Airgas; Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood; Burger King’s combination with Tim Horton’s; and American Airlines’ sale to US Airways. He has also advised many companies on shareholder activist defense, including Heinz, PepsiCo, eBay, Yahoo!, Macy’s, AIG, Freeport McMoran and Arconic. Mr Lipin joined Brunswick in 2001 from The Wall Street Journal, where he was the finance editor, supervising the paper’s coverage of mergers, commercial banking, private equity and corporate finance. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Journal and was a member of a team that won an Overseas Press Club award. Mr Lipin joined the Journal in 1991 to cover banking after cutting his teeth at financial publications such as Institutional Investor and American Banker.

Linda Koch Lorimer spent almost 40 years serving higher education. She retired from Yale in spring 2016 after 34 years at the university where she served in an array of senior positions including vice president for Global & Strategic Initiatives. She oversaw the development of Yale’s burgeoning online education division and the expansion of Yale international programmes and centres. During her tenure, she was responsible for many administrative services, ranging from Yale’s public communications and alumni relations to sustainability, human resources, and the university press. Previously, Linda was president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and chair of the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She also served on the boards of several public companies, including as presiding director of the McGraw-Hill companies. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Marge Magner is a founding member and partner of Brysam Global Partners, a specialized private equity firm that invests in consumer financial services, since 2006. She was chairman and CEO of the Global Consumer Group at Citigroup, where she was responsible for the company’s operations serving customers through retail banking, credit cards and consumer finance. Ms Magner was named to the Fortune magazine
list of Most Powerful Women in Business from 2001 to 2004. In 2014, she won the NYSE Governance Services Inaugural Leadership Award for a non-executive chairman when she was chairman of Gannett (now TEGNA). Ms Magner holds a BS from Brooklyn College and an MSIA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

Mylle Mangum has served as CEO of IBT Enterprises since 2003 and chairman and CEO of IBT Holdings since 2007. Prior to that, Ms Mangum was CEO of True Marketing Services from 2002 to 2003 and CEO of MMS Incentives from 1999 to 2002. From 1997 to 1999, Ms Mangum served as president-Global Payment Systems and SVP-Expense Management and Strategic Planning for Carlson Wagonlit. From 1992 to 1997, she was EVP-Strategic Management for Holiday Inn Worldwide. Ms Mangum was previously employed with BellSouth as director-Corporate Planning and Development from 1986 to 1992, and president of BellSouth International from 1985 to 1986. Prior to that, she was with the General Electric. Ms Mangum previously served as a director of Collective Brands, Emageon, Matria Health, Scientific-Atlanta and Respironics.  

Jack “Rusty” O’Kelley III is a senior member of the firm’s Board & CEO Advisory Group, and is the Global Leader of the Board Consulting and Effectiveness Practice. His areas of expertise are board effectiveness and governance, CEO succession planning and activism defense. He has also designed long-term CEO succession plans for Fortune 500 companies and large-scale family businesses. Mr O'Kelley joined Russell Reynolds Associates from a search and leadership firm where he led the Leadership Consulting Practice for the Americas. Previously, he was with Katzenbach Partners (now PwC). Mr O'Kelley began his career as a corporate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell. His numerous white papers and articles include recently published pieces in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation: “Looking Beyond the CEO,” “The Elegant Transition,” “Preparing for an Activist Before There is One,” and three “Global Trends in Corporate Governance.” Mr O'Kelley earned a BS from Hampton University and a JD from Yale Law School. He has served as a director for Seventy-Fifth Avenue Investments and Track Chicago 1 Investments, and has served on the boards of Bennett College and the Yale Law School Fund.

Dan Ryterband consults to organizations on all aspects of executive compensation strategy and design, including the related tax, accounting, and securities law implications, as well as matters of corporate governance. He has 30 years of consulting experience and his clients include US and overseas multinationals in a variety of industries, as well as smaller start-up organizations. Representative clients include Automatic Data Processing, Ameriprise Financial, Best Buy, Citigroup, Clorox, Colgate-Palmolive, Danaher, GE, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Macy’s, Merck, Office Depot, PepsiCo, Raytheon, Sprint, Thomson Reuters, and Travelers. Mr Ryterband also works with smaller companies and private equity financed companies in a variety of industries. He has extensive experience working with compensation committees and participates in over 100 committee and/or board meetings annually.

Eva Sage-Gavin is senior managing director of Accenture’s Global Talent and Organization consulting practice. She leads the team that helps Accenture’s clients harness digital technologies and evolve their workforces to innovate, unlock new sources of value and “lead in the new.” She also plays a pivotal role in shaping the practice’s market strategy, including offerings and investments. Ms Sage-Gavin has previously served in human resource and C-suite leadership roles at Gap, PepsiCo, Disney Consumer Products, Sun Microsystems and Xerox. As a former senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group, she contributed to the firm's CEO Advisory Practice, directly coaching CEOs. She also served as a senior advisor to G100 companies, supporting CEOs, board directors and chief human resource officers. Ms Sage-Gavin was a director at Broadsoft prior to its acquisition by Cisco and is now co-chair of the Bay Area chapter of the Women Corporate Directors. She is also executive-in-residence at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a guest lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Ms Sage-Gavin was formerly vice chair of Skills for America's Future at the Aspen Institute. Sheholds a bachelor's degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. 

Gaby Sulzberger is a General Partner of Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners, a private equity fund, which she co-founded in 2005. From October 2011 to February 2013, she served as interim CEO of Johnson Products Company, a portfolio company of RC/Fontis that manufactures hair care products. From 2002 to 2005, Ms Sulzberger was CFO of the Villanueva Companies, a private holding company with diverse investment interests. She was on the board of Whole Foods Market from 2003 to 2017, serving as chairman from May to August 2017. Other prior directorships include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Stage Stores and Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Ms Sulzberger received a JD from Harvard Law School, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Princeton University.

Sally Susman is currently executive vice president, Corporate Affairs for Pfizer, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company. Ms Susman also heads the firm’s corporate responsibility group and plays a key role in shaping policy initiatives. Before joining Pfizer in 2007, Ms Susman was EVP of Global Communications at Estée Lauder, where she directed global corporate affairs strategy and served as a member of the Executive Committee. Ms Susman held several senior corporate affairs posts at American Express, working in both London and the US. She started her career in government service focused on international trade issues and her positions included Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs in the US Department of Commerce. She serves on the board of the International Rescue Committee. Ms Susman holds a BA in Government from Connecticut College in the US and has studied at the London School of Economics.

Phoebe Wood currently serves as principal of CompaniesWood Properties, a Louisville-based investment firm. She was CFO of Brown-Forman from 2001 to 2006 and vice chairman from 2006 to 2008. Ms Wood served as CFO and vice president at Propel from 2000 to 2001 and as a vice president of Finance, Planning and Control at ARCO Alaska from 1996 to 2000. From 1976, she served in various financial and administrative positions at Atlantic Richfield Company and several affiliates. Ms Wood is a trustee of the Gheens Foundation, Pitzer College and the American Printing House for the Blind.