Board of Directors ForumAt Cornell Tech in NYC, March 26 -

27 2025

LizAnn is a trusted advisor to companies, organizations and individuals facing complex business and legal challenges. She is a highly accomplished professional with a remarkable career that spans the legal, academic, and public sectors. Her career has been shaped by working collaboratively to identify opportunities, implement value-enhancing strategies and solve problems. LizAnn brings an unusual range of business, strategy and regulatory expertise in both large organizations and startups. She regularly advises entrepreneurs, evaluates and invests in businesses, and serves on public, private and governmental boards.

LizAnn is an Acting Professor of the Practice at Cornell Law School, and has taught at Cornell in Ithaca and Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island since 2018. At the end of 2018, LizAnn retired from Cravath, where she had been a Corporate Partner since 2005, and had a wonderful 20 plus-year career. Her practice focused on domestic and international public and private corporate finance transactions, corporate governance and reporting matters, M&A, and liability management transactions. She has worked across many industries, including technology, financial services, industrials and consumer products.

From January 2022 to September 2022, LizAnn served as the Deputy Director, Disclosure Operations, Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC. In that seat, she led a team of over 350 people overseeing the disclosure review program for ‘33 and ‘34 Act disclosure, including in emerging areas such as fintech and digital assets, and division-wide performance evaluation, risk oversight and strategy.

LizAnn’s experiences have deepened her passion to work with entrepreneurs as a valuable sounding board to them on strategy, regulatory matters and talent. She was on the board of a SPAC and serves on the board of CEA company capitalizing on emerging market trends. Since 2018, through teaching at Cornell Tech, she has spent time with entrepreneurs early in their startup journey. This complements her role as a Senior Partner, Strategy & Regulatory, at Braven, an early-stage investment firm, and as an independent advisor to startups in the fintech, digital health and consumer products.

Matthew D’Amore is a Professor of Practice at Cornell Tech and in the Law School at Cornell University; he currently serves as an Associate Dean at Cornell Tech and as Director of the Law, Technology & Entrepreneurship Program. Professor D’Amore comes to Cornell after a 20-year career at the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster, where he represented high technology and life sciences clients in the resolution of complex intellectual property disputes and licensing matters.

In addition to his work for technology clients, Professor D’Amore has been recognized for his pro bono work in impact cases for children denied special education services and for citizens deprived of the right to vote, and he has served as an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School.

Now at Cornell Tech, Professor D’Amore brings his legal industry experience to the Cornell Tech community, teaching Technology Transactions and Trade Secret Law and Practice. He received his B.S., with distinction, in Biology and Society from the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Sarah Kreps is the John L. Wetherill Professor in the Department of Government, Adjunct Professor of Law, and the Director of the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and public policy.

She has written eight books, including the forthcoming book: Harnessing Disruption: Building the Tech Future without Breaking Society (Oxford University Press). Beyond these books, Professor Kreps’ work has appeared in a number of academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Science Advances, American Political Science Review, World Politics, International Security, and Journal of Cybersecurity, policy journals such as Foreign Affairs, and media outlets such as CNN, the BBC, New York Times, and Washington Post.

Professor Kreps is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations (and is a life member), Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, West Point, and the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Affairs.

Professor Kreps received her undergraduate degree from Harvard, a master’s from Oxford and her Ph.D. from Georgetown. She served as an active-duty officer in the United States Air Force from 1999-2003.

Andrew Karolyi is the Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He is a Professor of Finance and International Business as well as holder of the Harold Bierman Jr. Distinguished Professorship in the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Dr. Karolyi is also a Professor of Economics in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences.

A scholar in the area of investment management, with a specialization in the study of international financial markets, Dr. Karolyi has published extensively in journals in finance and economics, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. He has also published several books and monographs, and his research is featured in print and electronic media such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Time, New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and CNBC. Dr. Karolyi recently completed a four-year term as executive editor of the Review of Financial Studies, one of the top-tier journals in finance. He has also served as an associate editor for a variety of journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Review of Finance, and the Pacific Basin Finance Journal.

Dr. Karolyi is a recipient of the Michael Jensen Prize for Corporate Finance and Organizations (2017), the Fama/DFA Prize for Capital Markets and Asset Pricing (2005), the William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in Finance (2001), the Journal of Empirical Finance’s Biennial Best Paper Prize (2006), and Johnson School’s Prize for Excellence in Research (2010). Dr. Karolyi leads various executive education programs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, and he is actively involved in consulting with corporations, banks, investment firms, stock exchanges, and law firms. He is president-elect/program chair of the Western Finance Association, has served as a director of the American Finance Association, and is past chairperson of the board of trustees and past president of the Financial Management Association International. Dr. Karolyi received his B.A. (Honors) in Economics from McGill University and worked at the Bank of Canada for several years in its research department. He subsequently earned his MBA and Ph.D. degrees in Finance at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.

Diane Burton is a professor in the ILR School at Cornell University. Her primary appointment is in human resource studies, with courtesy appointments in organizational behavior and sociology. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 2009, Professor Burton was a faculty member at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She began her academic career at the Harvard Business School teaching leadership and organizational behavior. Professor Burton earned her Ph.D. in sociology at Stanford University and served as a lecturer and researcher in organizational behavior and human resources management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

David J. Kappos is Co-Chair of Cravath’s Intellectual Property Practice. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost leaders in the field of intellectual property, including intellectual property management and strategy; the development of global intellectual property norms, laws, and practices; and commercialization and enforcement of innovation-based assets.

Mr. Kappos supports the firm’s clients with a wide range of their most complex intellectual property issues, including those pertaining to blockchain, cryptoassets, and fintech, as well as data security and privacy. From August 2009 to January 2013, Mr. Kappos served as Undersecretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In that role, he advised the President, the Secretary of Commerce, and the administration on intellectual property policy matters. As Director of the USPTO, he led the agency in dramatically re-engineering its entire management and operational systems as well as its engagement with the global innovation community. Mr. Kappos was instrumental in achieving the greatest legislative reform of the U.S. patent system in generations through passage and implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, signed into law by President Obama in September 2011.

Prior to leading the USPTO, Mr. Kappos held several executive posts in the legal department of IBM, including litigation counsel; Asia Pacific IP counsel; and, from 2003 to 2009, Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Lawyer responsible for all patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters worldwide.

Rustom Desai is a visiting faculty member at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He teaches Strategic Alliances and Family Enterprise Management & Governance. Desai brings to his role 25 years of demonstrated success as a technology executive. He spent most of his professional career with Corning Incorporated, where he held leadership positions of increasing impact across tech-heavy industries including semiconductors, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. He has repeatedly delivered dramatic growth through building strong and diverse global teams and has deep experience in general management, product management, mergers and acquisitions, global/emerging markets. As a global citizen, he has lived and worked in the United States, China, Taiwan, and India.

Desai is also a trusted director with extensive expertise serving on public, private, joint venture, and family enterprise boards He also served as an independent director of a publicly traded, woman-run, family-controlled company. He also is on several advisory boards, including the Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell Johnson and the Praxis Center for Venture Development at Cornell.

Alasdair joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 and currently serves as the company’s Chief Security Officer, responsible for management of GS’s security, crisis management programs and geopolitical risk assessment.

From 2008 to 2020 he was the Regional Security Director for Asia Pacific, leading a team responsible for delivery of security and safety services, crisis management planning and testing (including co-chairing the region’s business continuity planning committee), preparation of regional threat assessments and delivery of client briefs on geopolitical security and stability issues. Between 2006 and 2008 Alasdair was the Regional Security Director EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he worked for the British Government’s Ministry of Defence from 1989 to 2006.

Amanda K. Toy’s practice focuses on executive compensation and benefits matters. She advises public and private companies, private investment funds, executives, and boards on a broad range of compensation and employee benefits matters, including in connection with mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, spin-offs, initial public offerings, financings, investments, and other corporate transactions.

Amanda represents clients across various industries on the negotiation, structuring, and implementation of a variety of compensation arrangements, including plans and agreements related to changes-in-control, severance, equity and cash incentives, retention, employment, consulting, termination, and succession.

She also routinely counsels clients on corporate governance and compensation disclosure matters, including in preparation for and during periods of significant corporate change, such as transactions, shareholder activism and senior leadership changes.

Amichai Steimberg retired in March 2020 as the CEO of Orbotech. In his 28 years at Orbotech, he worked throughout the organization leading finance, accounting and investor relations/reporting as CFO for nine years and strategy, operations and business development as COO and President for 10 years.
Mr. Steimberg serves as the Chairman of Innoviz Technologies (NASDAQ;INVZ) , as the Chairman of Airovation Technologies a private Air-tech, Carbon capture company, a board member of OffSec, a private US-based cyber security company, and a board member of the Israel-base start up company in the field of metallization of polymers- Polymertal. Mr. Steimberg was also the Chairman of Highcon Ltd., which he led through a successful IPO on TASE in November 2020.
Mr. Steimberg has a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and Business Administration from the Hebrew University. He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Angela Dunning’s practice focuses on trademark, copyright, trade secrets, unfair competition, and other complex commercial litigation for the world’s top companies. She has tried numerous cases to a jury verdict and has substantial experience in the federal appellate courts, including successful arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in high-profile, published cases.

In 2008, Angela served as an assistant district attorney for the City and County of San Francisco under then- District Attorney Kamala Harris, prosecuting criminal cases. In 2022, she taught trademark law and branding at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Benet J. O’Reilly’s practice focuses on public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, and restructuring transactions.

He has significant experience across a broad array of industries, including TMT, pharmaceuticals and health care, and industrials. He also has experience in cross-border transactions and securities offerings.

Bill Priestap is a founder of Trenchcoat Advisors, a boutique risk management firm. He is a recognized thought leader in national security, with a particular expertise in business security risks. Mr. Priestap spent 21 years at the FBI. While serving as head of the Counterintelligence Division, his responsibilities included the development and implementation of the organization’s global strategy to counter foreign nations’ intelligence efforts against the United States. Earlier in his career, Mr. Priestap handled transnational organized crime and later counterterrorism investigations. Over the years, he has interacted with hundreds of businesses and gained deep insight into the risks they face. Mr. Priestap is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he was previously a Centennial Fellow.

Allen Parker served from March 2017 until March 2020 as an executive at Wells Fargo & Company in San Francisco. He was Wells Fargo’s Chief Executive Officer and a Board Member from March 2019 until November 2019, and was the General Counsel for the remainder of his tenure.

Allen is currently the President of J.H. Whitney Investment Management, LLC, a company that creates investment indices, provides geopolitical risk-rating services, and performs risk analytics for governmental and commercial entities. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of Archer Systems, LLC, a company that provides comprehensive litigation-related claims administration and other settlement services, and was elected an Independent Director of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group following its bankruptcy filing. Allen is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of, or an advisor to, several not-for-profit organizations.

Earlier in his career, Allen was a partner in the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. While at Cravath, he specialized in finance and corporate governance and served in a variety of firm leadership roles, including serving from January 2013 through December 2016 as Cravath’s Presiding Partner.

Allen received a B.A. in 1977 from Duke University, where he majored in political science and comparative area studies. He then received an M.A. in political science in 1980 from the University of Chicago, where he focused on international affairs and political systems in China, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. Allen received a J.D. in 1983 from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of the Columbia Law Review.

Charles “Chuck” Gray, based in New York, is co-Head of our North American Board and CEO Practice. He advises clients on CEO Succession, board recruitment, board effectiveness, and other board related projects. His works spans all sectors including financial services, technology, consumer, industrial, and health care. Previously Chuck led the U.S. Technology Officers practice where he worked with clients on CIO, CTO, CDO and other technical leadership roles. Chuck also co-led the North America Diversity Practice.

Before joining Egon Zehnder, Chuck was a New York-based Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he served as the Chief of Staff for the global head of Treasury Services Operations. Previously, he was based in Boston as a Director in the M&A and strategy departments of Liberty Mutual Group. Earlier in his career, Chuck was an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company in Dallas and an Associate at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York.

Chase Kaniecki’s practice focuses on international trade and national security matters, including CFIUS and global foreign direct investment, economic sanctions, export controls, customs, and trade remedies. He advises clients on international trade and national security issues and foreign direct investment matters, including filing CFIUS notices and negotiating mitigation agreements in the energy, semiconductor, telecommunications, aerospace and defense, and transportation sectors, among others.

Chase also represents clients in economic sanctions and export control matters, including issues related to the embargoes and other restrictions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, as well as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations. He has also counseled importers in all types of U.S. customs matters, and his trade remedy experience includes antidumping and countervailing duty matters, as well as additional duties imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Craig Ivey served as President of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. for nine years, retiring in 2017. While in this role, he was responsible for all aspects of the electric system that serves over nine million New Yorkers.

Mr. Ivey previously spent 25 years at Dominion Energy, rising through the ranks from a part-time position during his college years to become senior vice president of transmission and distribution.

Mr. Ivey serves on the board for Ameren Corporation, a publicly-traded, fully rate-regulated electric and natural gas utility. On Ameren’s board, Mr. Ivey is a member of the Cybersecurity and Digital Technology Committee, the Finance Committee and the Nuclear, Operations and Environmental Sustainability Committee. In addition, he serves on the ISO New England Board. Created in 1997, ISO New England Inc. is the independent, not-for-profit corporation responsible for the reliable operation of New England’s electric power generation and transmission system, overseeing and ensuring the fair administration of the region’s wholesale electricity markets, and managing comprehensive regional electric power planning.

Christopher Drewry, a corporate partner in the Chicago office and Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Shareholder Activism & Takeover Defense Practice, regularly represents multinational corporations across industries and jurisdictions in their highest-stakes M&A transactions and shareholder activism defense matters.

Christopher has built a leading cross-border practice that spans the full spectrum of M&A and shareholder activism defense matters, with a focus on complex transactions and board-level advice for leading global companies. Christopher regularly speaks and writes on new developments in the field, including editing the M&A chapters in the updated third edition of Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A and IPOs and on evolving shareholder rights plan (poison pill) technologies.

He is recognized by The Legal 500 nationally as one of three next generation partners in providing advice to boards of directors on shareholder activism defense matters.

D. Bruce Hoffman’s practice focuses on antitrust enforcement, including merger clearance and conduct investigations, and antitrust and other complex commercial litigation.

Bruce joined the firm as a partner after serving as Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition from August 2017 until late December of 2019. As Director, he was the head of the FTC’s antitrust enforcement and was responsible for developing Bureau policy, supervising all of the Bureau’s investigations and litigation, and conducting high-level relations with other leading antitrust enforcers, including the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission and other international enforcers, and state Attorneys General, as well as communications with Congress. Bruce also spearheaded the creation of the Bureau of Competition’s Technology Task Force (now known as the Technology Enforcement Division) to monitor competition in U.S. technology markets, investigate potential anticompetitive conduct in those markets, and take enforcement actions when warranted.

Bruce’s role as Bureau Director was his second stint at the FTC. He previously served at the agency from 2001-2004, starting as Associate Director for Regional Litigation and then being elevated to Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition. In these roles, Bruce oversaw the Bureau’s programs, activities, and investigations. He also led numerous high-profile cases involving mergers, price fixing, monopolization, conspiracies, and other issues in a broad range of industries, and he participated in amicus brief efforts before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prior to joining the FTC in 2001, and then again from 2005 to 2017, Bruce developed and led successful antitrust practices as a partner at leading global law firms. Bruce had an extensive merger review practice, including transactions before the DOJ, FTC, EC, several U.S. states, and other enforcers. He also has wide-ranging experience in high-profile antitrust litigation and investigations, including representing clients in some of the largest antitrust class actions ever filed, as well as competitor lawsuits and conduct investigations. Bruce has handled every aspect of federal and state court litigation, including appellate arguments, jury and bench trials, and numerous court hearings and arguments, as well as arbitration proceedings.

Holden Triplett spent nearly 15 years with the FBI and has extensive international and domestic risk intelligence and security experience. He also spent several years in overseas assignments, notably leading the FBI’s offices in Russia and China. Holden is conversant in Mandarin and Russian, and has a unique understanding of the objectives, capabilities, and methodologies of the Chinese and Russian intelligence services. During his time in Russia, Holden coordinated U.S. government security efforts for the Sochi Winter Olympics, including establishing a first of its kind joint threat intelligence unit with the Russian security services. While in Beijing, he worked closely with People’s Republic of China security services to plan for the joint security of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Upon his return to the United States, he served as the Director for Counterintelligence at the National Security Council, at the White House. In his last government position, Holden was the FBI Faculty Chair at the National Intelligence University, where he taught courses in Counterintelligence, National Security Law, and Intelligence, and Chinese Intelligence and Information Warfare. He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching a course on PRC Intelligence, Security & Influence, and at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government & Public Service, teaching a course on Private Sector Intelligence and Insider Risk.

Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger is a Research Affiliate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He is a Fellow of the Initiative on the Digital Economy, of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan, of MIT Connection Science, and of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

Dr. Wladawsky-Berger retired from IBM in May of 2007 after a 37-year career with the company, where his primary focus was on innovation and technical strategy. He led a number of IBM’s companywide initiatives including the internet, supercomputing, and Linux. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger has been Adviser on Digital Strategy and Innovation at Citigroup, at HBO, and at MasterCard; Adjunct Professor at the Imperial College Business School; and guest columnist at the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal. Since 2005, he has been writing a weekly blog, irvingwb.com.

Dr. Wladawsky-Berger is a member of the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Linux Foundation Research Advisory Board. He was co-chair of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee as well as a founding member of the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council.

Dr. Wladawsky-Berger is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A native of Cuba, he was named the 2001 Hispanic Engineer of the Year. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger received an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago.

James Hu’s practice focuses on public and private merger and acquisition transactions. He regularly advises investors, boards of directors, senior executives, and founders on strategic, legal, and business matters in all types of M&A transactions, including leveraged buyouts, public company mergers, corporate carve-outs, minority investments, and distressed situations. James advises on transactions across the industry spectrum, with substantial experience in the technology, life science and health care, and consumer space. James also serves as an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech, where he teaches an M&A class.

Joon H. Kim is a member of Cleary Gottlieb’s Executive Committee. His practice focuses on litigation and enforcement, including internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, high stakes litigation and arbitration, and crisis management.

Joon has enjoyed a distinguished career at the highest levels of government and in private practice at the firm, personally trying over a dozen federal jury trials and actively participating in dozens more. A recognized leader of the bar, he is regularly called upon to represent and advise companies, boards, government agencies, and senior executives in their most serious and consequential matters.

From March 2017 to January 2018, he served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As the most senior federal law enforcement officer in the district, he oversaw all criminal and civil litigation conducted on behalf of the United States and supervised the work of about 220 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, corruption, money laundering, cybercrime, tax, terrorism, racketeering, Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations, theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage, as well as civil rights, false claims act, civil enforcement, and environmental matters. Before becoming Acting U.S. Attorney, Joon served in various leadership positions in the office, including Deputy U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Criminal Division, and Chief Counsel to the U.S. Attorney. He rejoined the firm in 2018.

Josh Dubofsky is a partner in the M&A and Private Equity Practices and Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Shareholder Activism & Takeover Defense Practice. Josh advises market-leading companies and private equity firms on strategic transactions and corporate governance matters as well as shareholder engagement and activism and takeover defense.

Josh has more than 20 years of experience advising corporate clients and private equity firms in their most complex domestic and cross-border transactions. He regularly advises on significant public company transactions and governance matters, private company mergers and acquisitions, and private equity investments.

Simpson Thacher Partner Karen Hsu Kelley, Head of the Firm’s Public Company Advisory Practice, regularly assists public companies and their boards on navigating a wide range of matters, including SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, disclosure of board and executive compensation, corporate governance, conflicts of interest, crisis management planning, shareholder proposals, director independence, insider trading considerations, the impact of proxy advisory firms, and responses to formal and informal SEC inquiries. In particular, she regularly advises boards of directors and committees regarding board and committee structures, new developments and changing best practices in governance, sensitive management and board leadership transitions, and board and committee self-assessments.

Kimberly Spoerri is Co-Leader of Cleary Gottlieb’s Americas Public Company Group. Her practice focuses on advising corporate clients in connection with all aspects of their domestic and cross-border M&A activities and corporate governance and activism matters.

Kim has significant experience with acquisitions and divestitures of public and private entities, joint ventures, carve-out transactions, spin-offs and RMTs, and other complex corporate transactions. Kim joined the firm in 2008 and became partner in 2017.

Simpson Thacher Partner Leah Malone leads the Firm’s Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Practice. Leah advises boards, management teams and investors on sustainability and ESG matters from conception through strategic implementation, oversight and reporting. Her work includes issues related to shareholder engagement, shareholder activism, board effectiveness, board composition and DE&I and other employee initiatives, as well as reporting and disclosure, green initiatives and risk and crisis management, among other areas.

Lillian Tsu’s practice focuses on complex securities and corporate matters. She is a trusted advisor to U.S. and foreign public companies providing practical advice on legal and compliance issues affecting their day-to-day and strategic operations. She represents management and boards of directors on SEC disclosure requirements, corporate governance matters, board and executive compensation, accounting restatements, shareholder activism, equity and debt offerings, public company mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, and take-private transactions.

Lillian regularly counsels clients on capital markets transactions, including registered public offerings, private placements, and offerings under Rule 144A/Reg S, as well as tender offers, recapitalizations, debt exchange offers, consent solicitations, and private equity investments. She advises public companies in a variety of industries with respect to general corporate and securities matters, including ongoing disclosure obligations under U.S. federal securities laws and compliance with the rules of the NYSE and NASDAQ.

Linda Guilano is a C-Suite executive with over 30 years in asset management where she led strategic initiatives that capture new avenues for growth, optimize operational efficiency, and enhance the client experience. Linda seeks a board position where her skills in operations, financial and risk management, coupled with her Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) expertise will deliver value to the board and its committees. Industries: Asset management Education FinTech Professional Services Functional expertise: Operations Financial management Information technology Risk management Talent management ESG/Sustainability Regulatory.

Machua Millett is the Chief Innovation Officer and Alternative Investment Practice Leader at Lockton Financial Services, in which role he creates new insurance products for unaddressed risk exposures and serves as a technical expert on management and professional liability issues for private equity, venture capital and hedge fund managers, SPACs and target companies, and private and public companies. He works on a regular basis with GPL policies, portfolio companies, D&O programs, SPACs, and companies making the transition from private to public through initial public offerings (IPOs) and reverse mergers, D&O/management liability, pension trust liability, fidelity/crime, employment practices liability, private equity/venture capital professional services liability, internet/e‐commerce/cyber liability, kidnap and ransom, and merger and acquisition facilitation products. Mach has also been involved in creating new insurance products relating to wage and hour liability, FCPA investigation costs, FERC investigation costs, the responsible corporate officer doctrine, Dodd Frank compensation claw-back, cyber liability, social engineering loss, Chief Compliance Officer personal liability, intellectual property infringement liability, reputational risk, medical billing and coding liability, and transaction facilitation.

Mach came to Lockton after twelve years at Marsh and ten years as an attorney at Skadden Arps, Bingham McCutchen, and Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, where he practiced law as an intellectual property, securities and general commercial litigator and insurance coverage defense lawyer. He has extensive experience crafting insurance contracts and litigating, arbitrating, mediating and negotiating the settlement of complex securities, intellectual property, business and insurance coverage disputes.

Michael Chao is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, where he focuses his practice on public and private mergers and acquisitions, investments, dispositions, joint ventures and other significant corporate transactions. He regularly counsels private equity sponsors and strategic clients on a broad range of domestic and cross-border transactions and has experience representing clients across a variety of sectors, including technology, healthcare, infrastructure, consumer products and financial services. Michael’s clients have included private equity firms such as Blackstone, KKR and Integrum, and leading public and private companies, including Mars, Johnson Controls, Genesee & Wyoming and Avalara.

Michael received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was elected to Order of the Coif, was a member of the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review and was the Executive Editor of the Virginia Tax Review. He received his M.A. and B.A. (cum laude and with distinction) from Yale University.

Nicholas A. Dorsey focuses his practice on representing corporate issuers and borrowers, financial institutions, lenders, and other parties in public and private offerings of securities, loan transactions, and other financing transactions. He also represents companies in mergers and acquisitions and regularly advises clients in connection with public disclosure and corporate matters. Additionally, Mr. Dorsey dedicates a significant portion of his practice to providing commercial and strategic advice to startup, early‑stage, and founder‑led companies as well as investors in such companies. Clients regularly seek his counsel for the practical, commercial advice he offers with respect to their most challenging matters.

In addition to traditional capital markets offerings and banking transactions, Mr. Dorsey’s financing practice includes advising on liability management transactions and asset financings and securitizations. He has extensive cross‑border experience and counts multiple international companies and financial institutions among his diverse client base.

Noah Joshua Phillips is Co-Chair of the Antitrust Practice and previously served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He advises clients on a range of antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, business conduct and compliance, litigation and investigations, consumer protection, data security and privacy.

On the FTC, Mr. Phillips played an integral role in precedent setting enforcement actions and regulatory efforts concerning antitrust, consumer protection and privacy. He decided dozens of merger and other antitrust enforcement matters across the economy, including in the consumer product, defense, energy, entertainment, healthcare, technology, pharmaceutical and retail industries. Mr. Phillips’ written antitrust opinions were consistently upheld by federal appellate courts.

Recognized by The Legal 500 and The Best Lawyers in America for his work in both antitrust litigation and antitrust merger control, Mr. Phillips currently represents Tesla in consolidated putative class action antitrust litigation alleging Tesla has monopolized access to parts and services needed to repair its vehicles, and that the company’s actions have resulted in delays and supracompetitive pricing for Tesla vehicle maintenance, in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, California’s Cartwright Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law.

Mr. Phillips speaks and writes frequently on a range of topics, including antitrust, consumer protection, and privacy issues, as well as the evolving artificial intelligence landscape and the various risks that might be addressed through enforcement and regulation. In addition, in his role as an FTC Commissioner, Mr. Phillips frequently testified before Congress and represented the FTC before international bodies, including the G7, the Competition Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.

Prior to the FTC, Mr. Phillips served as Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, of Texas, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He advised Senator Cornyn on a variety of legal and policy issues, as well as judicial nominations.

Mr. Phillips received an A.B. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2000, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2005. He began his career at a New York-based investment bank. After law school, Mr. Phillips clerked for Hon. Edward C. Prado of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and joined Cravath’s Litigation Department in 2006. He left the Firm in 2010, and he rejoined Cravath as a partner in December 2022.

Pär advises senior executives and boards on the responsible use of AI to drive growth, productivity, innovation, and transformation. He spear-heads the Firm’s efforts to help clients navigate the Generative AI market disruption, as the AI Go-To-Market Acceleration Leader for the advisory practice. Pär also chairs the board committee that oversees the Firm’s own use of AI as a strategic differentiator. Pär’s work with Artificial Intelligence spans a period of more than 30 years. He is passionate about the opportunities to leverage technology to drive human productivity and creativity in a business environment, for both Corporate and Private Equity clients.

Pär Chairs the Board Committee that provides oversight of the Firm’s technology and operations. This includes restructuring the organization of the Firm around AI and the launch of Advisory GPT—one of the earliest large- scale deployments of a LLM in a corporate environment used more than 2 million times. Pär started his career at the European Space Agency and worked on the use of space technology to mitigate natural disasters and the civil use of drones to augment Broadband satellite communications.

Puja Patel’s practice focuses on a range of antitrust and competition issues, including antitrust clearance, antitrust litigation, and non-merger antitrust investigations.

Puja advises clients on all aspects of the merger review process, including Second Request investigations before the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, antitrust risk assessments, SPA aspects, multijurisdictional filing analysis, and Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compliance. She also has significant experience in representing clients in complex antitrust litigation matters, from fact and expert discovery, pleadings and motions, to settlement strategy. Puja also counsels clients on complex, high-stakes antitrust issues including competitor collaborations, vertical arrangements, joint ventures, and Section 8 interlocking directorate issues.

She has worked on dozens of complex cross-border matters in an array of industries including life sciences, financial services, technology, airlines, industrials, and food/agriculture.

William is the founder and former lead of BlackRock’s Innovation Capital, the firm’s +$1B venture group. He served as the group’s lead investor and as a trusted advisor to over 25 early- and growth-stage companies with 8 successful IPOs. William spent over a decade at BlackRock and previously held both investment and technical roles at Bridgewater Associates, including Head of Fixed Income Trading Strategy and head architect of the firm’s FX trading system. William also served as founder of LogisticScience, a strategic consulting firm that used advanced data analytics & computational models to support decision making across Fortune 1000 clients.

William P. Rogers, Jr. retired from Cravath’s Corporate Department in December 2015. His practice encompassed the representation of both corporate and financial institution clients in a wide variety of matters, including international securities offerings, corporate governance and SEC compliance matters, mergers and acquisitions, and derivative financial products.

Mr. Rogers was repeatedly cited as one of the country’s leading practitioners in capital markets by, among others, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 US and IFLR1000.

Mr. Rogers regularly advised a wide variety of the Firm’s clients, including Royal Dutch Shell plc, Bacardi Limited, Time Warner Inc., Northrop Grumman Corporation, CBS Corporation, INEOS Group Limited, Tetragon Financial Group Limited, Costamare Inc., priceline.com Incorporated, FactSet Research Systems Inc., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, GasLog Ltd. and Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Rogers advised Royal Dutch Shell plc in its $70 billion acquisition of BG Group plc and in connection with its reserves and financial restatements and the corporate restructuring that created Royal Dutch Shell plc. He represented Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup in the refinancing by Chrysler LLC of the debt provided by the U.S. Treasury and the Canadian Government. Mr. Rogers also advised Banco Santander SA in the $100 billion acquisition of ABN AMRO by a consortium of bidders, including Santander; and INEOS Group Limited, a major UK chemical company, in the financing of its acquisition of the Innovene chemicals business from BP plc and subsequent debt refinancings.

Mr. Rogers represented a number of non‑U.S. companies in their equity IPOs and initial listings, including GasLog Ltd. (U.S. IPO and NYSE listing), GasLog Partners LP (U.S. IPO and NYSE listing), Costamare Inc. (U.S. IPO and NYSE listing), Safe Bulkers Inc. (U.S. IPO and NYSE listing), Tetragon Financial Group Limited (Global IPO and Euronext Amsterdam listing), T.E.R.N.A S.p.A. (Global IPO and Milan listing) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (Global IPO as part of a unification of predecessors and NYSE, LSE and Euronext Amsterdam listings).

Mr. Rogers also regularly advised the Firm’s corporate clients on derivatives matters, including the implications of the new Dodd‑Frank swaps regulation. He was involved in the formation of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and, prior to his move to London, regularly represented ISDA on legislative, regulatory and documentation matters.

Mr. Rogers was born in Bronxville, New York. He received a B.A. from Union College in 1972 and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law in 1978.

Mr. Rogers joined Cravath in 1979 and became a partner in 1985. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the Managing Partner of the Corporate Department and, from 2001 to 2007, headed the Firm’s London office. Mr. Rogers most recently served on the Firm’s Strategy Board.