Mack is a Vice President in BlackRock’s Americas Investment Stewardship group. Mack is the lead analyst for the REIT and Software sectors in BlackRock’s Americas Investment Stewardship group and is responsible for the evaluation of corporate governance, proxy voting and engagement with boards and management across this portfolio.

Mack has a particular expertise in shareholder activism and capital return strategy. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mack worked at Deutsche Bank as an Associate within the Equity-Linked Origination team; he served as junior structurer heading coverage of sponsors, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds. In this role, Mack worked to structure bespoke equity derivatives, convertible bond offerings and share repurchase programs. Prior to Deutsche, Mack was an Associate within Nomura’s Corporate Equity Derivatives team where we structured products for activist investors, sponsors and corporates.

Mack earned an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at University of Virginia and a BA from Georgetown University.

In December 2018, The Financial Times described Frank Aquila as “one of the most influential and high-profile M&A and corporate lawyers in the U.S.” who has “played a role in many of the largest and most complex deals.” In December 2019, Mr. Aquila was one of the dealmakers profiled in an article in The Financial Times titled “Deal lawyers are masters of seeing the next move.” The Wall Street Journal profiled him as one of the six top dealmakers of the year in 2019 and one of the seven top dealmakers in 2018. These recognitions highlight Mr. Aquila’s consistently broad multidisciplinary practice.

During the course of his career, Mr. Aquila has advised on deals totaling more than $1 trillion in value, including advising on more than $100 billion in 2019. He has been called upon by global leaders such as Amgen, Andeavor, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cheniere Energy, Diageo, Diebold Nixdorf, International Airline Group, Kraft, Navistar International, Novartis, Tiffany & Co. and United Rentals to advise them and their boards of directors on M&A, proxy contests, activism, unsolicited bids, corporate governance, crisis management and a range of matters affecting corporate policy and strategy.

Mr. Aquila is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee and is Global Head of the Firm’s M&A Practice.

Kenneth A. Bertsch was Executive Director of the Council of Institutional Investors from March 2016 to July 2020. He currently serves on an advisory council for PJT/Camberview. He has more than 30 years of experience across a wide range of investment, consulting, management and corporate governance roles, including serving as a Partner at Camberview Partners; President and CEO of the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals; Executive Director for corporate governance and proxy voting at Morgan Stanley Investment Management; Managing Director for corporate governance analysis at Moody’s Investors Service; Director of the governance engagement program at TIAA-CREF; and in various roles at the Investor Responsibility Research Center. He holds a JD from Fordham University School of Law and an undergraduate degree from Williams College.

Doug Braunstein is Founder and Managing Partner of Hudson Executive Capital since 2015. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cardtronics plc and USA Technologies, Inc.

Doug has approximately 30 years of prior industry experience and held a variety of positions during his tenure at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which include Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer, and member of the Company’s Operating Committee. He was also Head of JPMorgan’s Americas Investment Banking, Global M&A, and Global Head of Industry Coverage. He served as a member of JPMorgan’s Executive Committee and the Investment Bank Management Committee for over a decade.

Doug has been an advisor to numerous boards and management teams in the planning, structuring and implementation of the full range of corporate finance solutions. He has worked on over $1 trillion in transactions. Doug previously served on the board of Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. and Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Kathleen Camilli is one of the nation’s leading economists, highly regarded by investors across the world. Her insights and forecasting track record have helped corporations avert financial disaster and preserve capital for decades. She brings gravitas to the boardroom, plus a wealth of money management and operating experience. Her insights are amplified by her work for institutional investors, boards and companies. Ethical, discreet, and objective, Kathleen is a valued board member.

Since June 2015, she has served on the board of AGF Investment Management (TSX), one of the oldest independent investment management firms in Canada with global operations in London, Dublin, and Hong Kong. Since 2012, she serves on the board of the UniFirst Corporation (NYSE) the third largest uniform rental company in the North America with facilities in Europe, Central America and Canada.

Benjamin Colton is a Global Co-Head of Asset Stewardship within State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). He and his team are responsible for developing and implementing SSGA’s global proxy voting policies and guidelines across all investment strategies, and managing SSGA’s proxy voting activities and issuer engagement on ESG issues.

Prior to his current role, he was based out of Tokyo, Japan serving as the Head of Asia-Pacific leading SSGA’s Asset Stewardship efforts across the region.

Prior to joining SSGA in 2018, he worked at Norges Bank Investment Management for a total of eight years based in Oslo, Norway and later in New York City.

He earned Master’s degrees from both the London School of Economics & Political Science and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Josh Dubofsky, a corporate partner in the Silicon Valley and New York offices, advises clients on shareholder activism matters, as well as complex cross-border M&A and private equity transactions.

Mr. Dubofsky’s practice focuses on corporate governance and takeover defense planning. He has frequently represented special committees of boards of directors, bidders and financial advisors in activism defense, corporate governance, going-private and other conflict of interest transactions.

Mr. Dubofsky is a core member of the firm’s Activism Task Force, and has provided activism and takeover planning and defense to dozens of public companies (ranging from Fortune 100 to small cap), with notable success in defeating active proxy solicitations, negotiating workable settlement arrangements and persuading activists to reconsider their insurgencies, even after material share accumulations. He and his team have worked opposite many of the most prominent activist funds, including:

• Starboard Value
• Elliott Management
• Carl Icahn
• JANA Partners
• Third Point
• JCP Investment Management
• Marathon Partners

Mr. Dubofsky’s representative activism matters include representing:

• Aecom in its engagement with Starboard Value
• Cerner in its cooperation agreement with Starboard Value
• Nevro in its settlement agreement with Broadfin Capital
• e.l.f. Beauty in its engagement with Marathon Partners
• Mellanox in its settlement agreement with Starboard Value

Mr. Dubofsky regularly writes on activism-related topics, including new developments in shareholder rights plan (poison pill) technologies.

Chief Executive Officer of Macellum Capital Management, LLC, which operates a series of special purpose vehicles used to invest in retail and create shareholder value through activist campaigns. Past campaigns include Perry Ellis, The Children’s Place, Citi Trends, Bed Bath and Beyond and Big Lots.

Mr. Duskin has over 20 years of experience investing in the consumer and retail sector. Mr. Duskin has previously served as a Managing Director and Partner at Prentice Capital Management, LP, an investment management firm, as a Managing Director at S.A.C. Capital Associates LLC, a New York-based hedge fund, and as a Managing Director, the Head of Product Management and Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee within the Research Department at Lehman Brothers Inc.

Mr. Duskin currently serves as lead director on the board of Citi Trends, Inc.

Michael E. Ellis is a partner in the Corporate Department. He is a general corporate lawyer with a focus on public and private mergers and acquisitions and securities. He has participated in multiple buy- and sell-side representations in a variety of transaction structures, including tender offers, stock and asset purchases and sales, mergers and joint ventures.

Mike has represented public companies in their ongoing corporate and securities law matters, including providing advice on corporate governance matters and drafting various types of documents required to be filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, such as periodic reports and proxy statements.

Clients Mike regularly represents include Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Henry Schein, Inc. and Ascena Retail Group, Inc.

Patricia Figueroa is a senior vice president at Gladstone Place Partners, where she has advised companies on investor relations, M&A, shareholder activism defense, as well as issues management and crisis communications. Her work includes advising Johnson Controls on the $13.2 billion sale of its Power Solutions business, Hasbro on its $4 billion acquisition of eOne, and AB InBev on its $5 billion IPO of Budweiser APAC on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition, she has worked on a broad array of financial communications, activism and investor relations engagements for companies including AT&T, Cars.com, Markel, Marriott International, MEMX and The Howard Hughes Corporation.

Patricia holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a Master’s degree in Psychology from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Universidad de las Americas (Mexico). Patricia is fluent in English and Spanish and conversant in French and Italian. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Hunts Point Alliance for children (HPAC), a Bronx based nonprofit focused on building community, empowering parents and mentoring young scholars.

Ms. Foran is Chief Governance Officer, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Prudential Financial, Inc. Her role at Prudential also includes oversight of the Company’s Shareholder Services and Sustainability divisions.

She has been a corporate governance leader throughout her career at Sara Lee Corporation, Pfizer, Inc. and J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc. Ms. Foran is a director on the board of Orion Group Holdings, Inc. and serves on its Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. From December 2010 through May 2020, Ms. Foran served on the Board of Directors of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation. During her Board tenure, Ms. Foran served as Chairperson of its Sustainability and Shareholder Engagement Committee, Compensation Committee and Governance Committee. Ms. Foran previously served on the Board of Directors of The MONY Group and MONY Life Insurance Company.

Ms. Foran received her B.A., magna cum laude, and J. D. degrees from the University of Notre Dame. She is admitted to the New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey (In-house) Bars.

Patrick’s principal areas of practice are private equity, mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism. Patrick is the co-head of V&E’s Shareholder Activism practice, which advises public companies in competitive proxy solicitations, strategic investor relations, and corporate governance. He also counsels senior management, boards of directors, investment managers and both private equity and strategic investors in a wide variety of complex business transactions, corporate governance matters, strategic investor relations and other special situations. His experience includes advising clients in connection with shareholder activism related investments, hostile takeovers, public and private M&A transactions, strategic minority investments and corporate capital investments. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Patrick practiced law at a leading shareholder activism law firm and a preeminent corporate law firm in New York City.

Daniel Ganitsky is co-head of our global Private Equity and M&A Group and a member of the Latin America Practice Group. Over the course of his career, Daniel has had significant roles in numerous public company transactions, acquisitions of private companies or businesses, restructurings, proxy contests and financial advisor representations. Since joining Proskauer less than a decade ago, he has worked on over 70 publicly announced transactions with an aggregate value of more than $100 billion.

In 2014, Law360 selected Daniel as one of ten “Rising Stars” in mergers & acquisitions and two years earlier, M&A Advisor selected Daniel as one of the top 40 M&A professionals under the age of 40. He also has been recognized by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America, The Legal 500 United States, The Legal 500 Latin America and Super Lawyers.

Richard Gluckselig is an Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an S&P 500 biotechnology company headquartered in New York whose mission is to help patients with serious diseases. In his role, Richard focuses on disclosure, corporate governance and financing matters, as well as strategic transactions, shareholder engagement and board support. Previously, Richard worked as a member of the securities and public companies practice group of an international law firm in Manhattan. Richard holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan.

Kal Goldberg is a Partner at Finsbury Glover Hering. He advises managements and boards on communications strategies across a wide variety of domestic and cross-border M&A, restructuring, shareholder activism defense and preparedness, IPO, litigation and crisis situations. He is a frequent speaker on ESG issues.

Recent representations include Grubhub in its acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway; JCrew Group in its financial restructuring; Nightstar in its acquisition by Biogen; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in its acquisition of Shire Pharmaceuticals; Express Scripts in its sale to Cigna and subsequent deal defense against Icahn Enterprises; Tribune Media Company in its proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcasting Group and subsequent acquisition by NextStar Media; Praxair, Inc. in its merger with Linde AG and; SABMiller in its merger with AB InBev.

Kal holds an MBA in finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Dr. Shane Goodwin is the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Executive Education and serves as a Professor of Practice in the Department of Finance at The Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Goodwin is a Board Leadership Fellow at the National Association of Corporate Directors. Additionally, Dr. Goodwin leads The Applied Corporate Governance Institute at The Center for Global Enterprise, an organization that advises companies to understand, engage, and succeed with their investors in complex and contested shareholder matters.

Most recently, Dr. Goodwin served as a Senior Fellow and Director at the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law and Public Policy at Columbia University, a research institute established by Columbia Business School and Columbia Law School, served as a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation and as a Postdoctoral Fellow of Business Economics at Harvard Business School. His research is focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and shareholder activism.

Laurie Hays is Managing Director, Special Situations at Edelman. Laurie advises on strategic communications for activism defense, M&A, crisis, CEO transitions and other board related matters. She spent more than 30 years in the finance media world as a reporter and leader of newsrooms at the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, where she built the global activism and deals team. She began her advisory practice five years ago as a partner at Brunswick.

Laurie has served as a key advisor on numerous high stakes situations in mergers and acquisitions, activism defense, #MeToo and CEO transitions. She has advised large private companies and public institutions on workplace misconduct allegations. She advised on activism defenses for Argo, E.W. Scripps’, AIG and Yahoo!.

Born in Boston, Laurie attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Harvard College where she received an honors degree in History. She serves on the boards of directors of The Craig Newmark School of Journalism and The Knight Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism and was a founding director of The Marshall Project. She is married with two daughters and lives in New York City.

Sheila Hooda is an experienced independent board director, committee chair, and a recognized transformation leader with a breadth of global business, finance, risk and technology expertise. She is the CEO of Alpha Advisory Partners and a former C-level operating executive with over 30 years of leadership expertise driving complex customer-centric transformations, scaling growth and providing strategic direction at Fortune 500 firms.

Ms. Hooda serves on the boards of ScION Tech Growth 1 (NASDAQ: SCOAU), Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company and ProSight Global, Inc (NYSE: PROS), and previously Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ: VRTS). Her Board Leadership includes serving as chair of the Audit, Risk and Nominating and Governance committees. Ms. Hooda has been named to the Directorship 100 by NACD. Previously Ms. Hooda held leadership positions at Credit Suisse Investment Bank, TIAA and Thomson Reuters across the US, Europe and Asia and started her career in the USA with McKinsey & Co.

Preston Hopson is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK), a leading provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services with 20,000 employees around the world. He is member of the Executive Leadership Team and provides oversight for all human resources and legal matters, including corporate governance, litigation, compliance and regulatory and governmental affairs.

Prior to joining Tetra Tech, Preston served as Vice President, Assistant General Counsel at the engineering and infrastructure firm AECOM. He previously was a Senior Associate with O’Melveny & Myers, LLP as well as a Judicial Clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Preston sits on the board of directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel – Southern California and the Leadership Council of the Posse Foundation, which provides college scholarships to students with leadership potential. He also is an adjunct professor at the USC Gould School of Law.

Preston holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Yale University.

Kai Liekefett is a partner in New York and co-chairs Sidley’s Shareholder Activism Practice. He has 20 years of experience in corporate law in New York, London, Germany, Hong Kong and Tokyo. He spends 100% of his time on activism campaigns and proxy fights, and in the last 5 years, Kai has been involved in over 50 proxy contests, more than any other defense attorney in the country. Under Kai’s leadership, Sidley rose to the top of the activism defense league tables, including the No. 1 ranking by Bloomberg and FactSet for H1 2020.

Kai has been named “2019 Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer for Sidley’s groundbreaking Wynn Resorts proxy contest. He has been recognized in the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions of Chambers USA as one of only seven leading attorneys for Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense.

Mindy Lubber is the CEO and President of the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres. She leads an all-women executive leadership team and 125 employees working to mobilize the most influential investors and companies to tackle the world’s biggest sustainability challenges: climate change, water scarcity and pollution, and inequitable workplaces. She has been at the helm since 2003, and under her leadership, the organization and its powerful networks have grown significantly in size and influence.

As a well-known global thought leader, Lubber has inspired coalitions of institutional investors, corporate boards, C-suite executives and other capital market leaders to factor environmental, social and governance issues into decision-making. She is frequently quoted in top business and financial news outlets and pens a regular column for Forbes.com on a variety of sustainability topics that have strengthened the business case for action and elevated concepts, such as climate and water risk. She also regularly speaks to high-level world and national political leaders on clean energy and water policies, and has helped to change the political conversation around tackling climate change to one focused on jobs and the economy. And in 2015, Lubber helped catalyze the necessary business support to get the historic Paris Agreement across the finish line, leading Vogue Magazine to name her a “Climate Warrior.”

Patrick McGurn is Special Counsel and the Head of Strategic Research and Analysis at ISS. Considered by industry constituents to be one of the leading experts on corporate governance issues, he plays an integral role in ISS’s policy development process and thought-leadership initiatives.

As a respected authority on corporate governance issues, Pat is active on the nationwide speaking circuit with appearances before a variety of groups, including the Council of Institutional Investors, Corporate Board Member, American Bar Association, New York Stock Exchange, National Directors’ Institute, the International Corporate Governance Network, and others. Pat is also a frequent commentator who is regularly featured in business and industry publications, including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, New York Times, and Pensions & Investments, among others.

Pat is a graduate of Duke University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Yaron Nili is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he teaches courses in Corporate and Securities Law. His scholarly interests include corporate law, securities law and corporate governance, with a particular focus on the role and function of the board of directors, shareholder activism, hedge funds and private equity.

Professor Nili graduated summa cum laude from the Hebrew University Faculty of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Hebrew University Law Review. He also earned an M.B.A. in finance, magna cum laude, from the Hebrew University. Subsequently, Professor Nili earned his LL.M. and his S.J.D. from Harvard Law School. Professor Nili also worked in private practice as a corporate associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. His recent publications appear or are forthcoming in the California Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Chicago Law Review, Southern California Law Review and Boston University Law Review.

Robert C. Pozen is currently a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2012, he won acclaim for a popular book entitled Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours. In the Spring of 2021, he will be publishing a new book on productivity when working remotely, entitled, Remote Inc.: How to Thrive at Work…Wherever You Are.

In 2004, Bob became the executive chairman of MFS Investment Management, which now manages over $400 billion for mutual funds and pension plans. Between 2004 and 2011, MFS’s assets under management nearly tripled from a base of $130 billion.

During his distinguished career, Bob has been active in business, government and academia. Prior to joining MFS, he was vice chairman of Fidelity Investments and president of Fidelity Management & Research Company. During Bob’s five years as president, Fidelity’s assets increased from $500 billion to $900 billion.

Prior to launching Coast, James was the Principal and CIO at White Eagle (2007-2016), the predecessor fund to Coast Capital. At White Eagle, James ran an event-driven, activist, and hedged equities portfolio. That fund out-performed peers and relevant indices by >37% over the life of the fund. James also led 5 co-investments from 2011 to 2016 at White Eagle.

From 2004-2007, James was an MD and Head of International investing at JANA Partners. International investments at JANA made a large contribution to overall returns during his tenure. Prior to Jana, James was a Portfolio Manager at Claiborne Capital (2001-2004) where he managed a European Value and Event Portfolio. James began his career at Sierra Global Management in 1997 where he was an MD and the first analyst at the firm. While at Sierra, James learned the disciplines of investing in leading companies in growing and profitable industries.

For over a decade, Andi has worked with companies across industries to provide strategic communications counsel on a wide range of high-profile, complex issues. Her areas of expertise include: Mergers & Acquisitions, Shareholder Activism, Crisis Communications, Investor Relations and Public and Relations and Spin-offs.

In 2012 Andi was named one of PR News’ “People to Watch.” Prior to joining Joele Frank in 2006, she worked at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in the Corporate and Investor Relations practice. She received a BA in English from Dartmouth College.

Melissa Sawyer is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group and is co-head of the Firm’s Corporate Governance & Activism Practice. In addition to advising clients on public and private M&A transactions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, she also regularly advises clients on corporate governance, activism and takeover defense matters. Ms. Sawyer’s experience spans multiple industries, including consumer and retail, industrials, medtech and insurance.

Named 2020 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, Ms. Sawyer has been repeatedly recognized as a leading M&A adviser. She is ranked by Chambers USA in Corporate/M&A, where clients describe her as “an absolute superstar,” and was named a Client Service All-Star by BTI. She was also named to The Deal’s “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” for shaping the industry with her novel approach to transactions and has been recognized as a Law360 MVP in Food & Beverage, one of Crain’s “Leading Women Lawyers in New York City” and was named “Dealmaker of the Week” by The American Lawyer.

Associate Professor J.W. Verret joined the law faculty in 2008 and teaches Banking, Securities and Corporation Law as well as Accounting for Lawyers.

He frequently serves as an expert witness in securities, corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration proceedings. A few representative engagements include New Jersey v. Sprint, 758 F.Supp.2d 1186 (2010) and Landsdowne v. OpenBand, 713 F.3d 187 (2013).

He serves on the Investor Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he advises the Chairman of the SEC on legal and policy reform. He is faculty liaison to the American College of Business Court Judges. He also serves as Independent Chairman of the Board of Directors of Egan-Jones Ratings, one of the eight domestic credit rating firms licensed by the SEC to provide credit ratings on the debt of public companies and provides recommendations on shareholder proxy votes.

Mark Viviano is a Managing Partner and lead Portfolio Manager on the public investment team. Prior to joining Kimmeridge, Mr. Viviano spent 17 years at Wellington Management Company, with over 15 years focused on portfolio management and research analysis on companies in the energy sector, including E&Ps and global natural resources. Mr. Viviano has an undergraduate degree in Economics from Hamilton College and a Master of Science degree from Boston University with High Honors. He is a CFA Charterholder.

Tensie Whelan (NYU ‘80), Clinical Professor for Business and Society, is the Director of NYU Stern School of Business’s Center for Sustainable Business, where she is bringing her 25 years of experience working on local, national and international environmental and sustainability issues to engage businesses in proactive and innovative mainstreaming of sustainability.

As President of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organization from a $4.5 million to $50 million budget, transforming the engagement of business with sustainability, recruiting 5,000 companies in more than 60 countries to work with Rainforest Alliance. She transformed the Rainforest Alliance frog into an internationally recognized and credible brand. Her previous work included serving as Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, Managing Editor of Ambio, a journal of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a journalist in Latin America.