Podcast episodes
Season 3
Greg Taxin of Spotlight Advisors: Activist Investing from All Angles.
Greg previously served as the CEO of Glass, Lewis & Co., an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Securities, a lawyer and a hedge fund portfolio manager.Greg has been on all sides of activist investing over the last 20 years: he has advised companies responding to activists; he has been an activist investor at more than 40 companies; he has advised investment funds leading proxy fights; and he has been the Chief Executive of the country’s second largest proxy advisory firm, Glass Lewis, helping to provide voting advice to institutional investors in proxy contests.Before forming Spotlight Advisors, Greg was the President of the Clinton Group, a multi-strategy hedge fund that engages in activist investing. While there, Greg guided the firm through four proxy fights (three of which Clinton won) and to a dozen settlement agreements with public companies. Previously, Greg was the Chief Executive Officer of Glass, Lewis & Co., an independent research firm that assists institutional investors in making more informed investment and proxy voting decisions. While Greg was the Chief Executive, Glass Lewis covered more than 13,000 public companies from 65 countries and sold research to more than 350 institutional investors that collectively managed more than $13 trillion.Prior to co-founding Glass Lewis, Greg was an investment banker. He provided strategic and financing advice to public and private companies, principally in the technology and telecommunications industries. Greg was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co., a Director of Epoch Partners and a Managing Director with Banc of America Securities.
Holly Gregory, Trailblazing Lawyer, the Calm at the Centre of Corporate Crises, on Repotting, HBO's "Succession" and Mastering the Mandolin.
Holly Gregory, Trailblazing Lawyer, the Calm at the Centre of Corporate Crises, on Repotting, HBO's "Succession" and Mastering the Mandolin.
Holly Gregory is at the pinnacle of America's top corporate lawyers. She co-chairs law firm Sidley Austin's global Corporate Governance practice and also co-leads its Chambers-recognized ESG and Crisis Management teams.She's won just about every honor available to her. She chaired the American Bar Association's Corporate Governance Committee. The National Association of Corporate Directors named her one of the hundred most influential people in corporate governance 16 straight years. Ethisphere calls her one of the Attorneys Who Matter. She's been recognized by Euromoney and by Legal 500. The National Law Journal says she was a "white collar regulatory and compliance trailblazer". Corporate Secretary Magazine gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award.Holly played a key role in drafting the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and advised the Internal Market Directorate of the European Commission on corporate governance regulation. And while most service assignments at Sidley are confidential, those that have been made public are eye-opening.She advised the Business Roundtable on its 2019 Statement on the Purpose of the Corporation, advised ICANN, the international Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (so you can thank her for the fact that your URL still works). She advised the Board of The Pennsylvania State University on governance reforms in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal.Holly always has a sharp eye for current culture and a wicked sense of humor. Her video breakdowns of the law and corporate governance practices underlying HBO's "Succession" have made her a social media star, and on top of all that, she plays a mean Bluegrass mandolin.
Adam Barsky, New York Power Authority's EVP and CFO: Making a Difference; Transforming New York.
Adam Barsky is the New York Power Authority's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, he joined the Power Authority in 2019. He is an accomplished senior executive who brings more than 30 years of dedicated experience in management, finance and public policy.Adam previously served as Chief of Staff and Special Counselor at the Port Authority of NY and NJ. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of IDB bank NY from 2006 to the 2017. In that senior role, he oversaw all aspects of risk management for the bank including credit, market and operational risk, and strategic and reputation risk.Adam has held numerous positions in state and local government including Deputy Secretary to the Governor of New York for Public Authorities, Financing and Housing and New York City Issues.Before that, he served as Budget Director and Chief Financial Officer of the City of New York and as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations. Adam also worked as Chairman of the New York City Employees Retirement System, Chairman of the New York City Transitional Finance Authority, and Chairman of the NYC Municipal Water Finance Authority, Acting Commissioner of the New York City Department of Finance, and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Uri Gneezy, Behavioral Economist and Author of "Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work".
Professor Uri Gneezy is one of the world's leading behavioral economists. He holds the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics at the University of California San Diego, and is also visiting professor of Economics at Amsterdam University.Uri is the author of "Mixed Signals", the well received book about how incentives designed to get people to do one thing, sometimes send unintended signals that confuse people about what they're supposed to do, or worse. In some ways, "Mixed Signals" is the logical sequel to his previous book, "The Why Axis", co-written with John List. In both books as well as in his academic papers, Professor Gneezy focuses on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world.
Estelle Parsons, an Actor's Actor: Authentic, Humble, Memorable.
Amongst theater people, Estelle Parsons is revered as an actor's actor. She won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in "Bonnie and Clyde", another Academy nomination for her work in "Rachel, Rachel". Five Tony nominations, a BAFTA award, an Obie, a Theater World Award, and has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.She created a memorable character as Bev Harris, Roseanne's television Mom. And that doesn't even scratch the surface of Estelle's acting or directing credits. As a director, she has staged works by Shakespeare, Brecht and Oscar Wilde amongst others. She's a former artistic director at the Actors Studio and is still a stalwart at that esteemed institution.She is, she says, most alive on stage in front of a live audience. Anyone who's ever seen her in "Miss Margarida's Way" or "August: Osage County" understands intuitively and completely what she means.