Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance

Failures of high-profile companies such as Enron and WorldCom led to Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002. The law encouraged directors to do a better job in fulfilling their fiduciary duties especially in the area of financial reporting. Abuses by Wall Street and mortgage bankers and poorly designed incentives for credit rating agencies, among other reasons, led to the credit crisis of 2008 to which the government responded with the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Dodd-Frank encouraged shareholders to be more active and hold directors more accountable.

The federal government over the past 50 years has also failed to exercise its fiduciary responsibilities to its shareholders (today’s and tomorrow’s citizens). In particular the last two CEOs have increased the direct federal debt from 5 trillion to over 16 trillion. Some of the country’s directors (congressmen) have been replaced and given a mandate by some shareholders (Tea Party and other activists) to exercise better governance.

The IECG believes that corporate and government fiscal and governance failures have resulted largely from poor governance practices which include:

• Conflicts of interest
• Failure to adhere to the duties of care and loyalty
• Occasionally failing to act in good faith
• Failures to act in accordance with corporate by-laws and the Constitution

As a result of these many failures, the United States of America finds itself with a fiscal mess, monetary policy which operates in uncharted waters and debts and deficits which are, to say the least, unsustainable. Corporate America is ever more resilient but too many corporations seem to believe that the primary source of capital is political. In a nation where the revolving door of corporate executives and political appointees is ever turning, there is a growing sense that trust in our basic institutions is perhaps irreparably eroded. It is within this context that IECG finds itself in the roles of assisting board members to understand and perform their fiduciary duties and provide direction to their companies, but also in encouraging business leaders to assure that government leaders do the same.

Research Papers

• Pending Approval Patents, Proprietary Information, and Bank Loan Spread
• The Influence of Corporate Board Social Connections on Management Voluntary Financial Disclosures
• Investor Conferences and the Changing Nature of Analyst Research
• Analyst Forecast Dispersion and Aggregate Stock Returns
• To Tell the Truth: Management Forecasts in Periods of Accounting Fraud
• The Value of Good Governance for Private Companies
  Private Company Survey Report

Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance is supported by its members, sponsors, and institutional advisors. Sponsors are composed primarily of corporate and institutional advisors are drawn from organizations closely related to corporate America.

Sponsors

Sponsors for IECG’s outreach to professional service providers who assist corporate directors, senior management and institutional investors with timely advice in their specific areas of expertise. This relationship helps ensure that IECG is at the forefront of important developments throughout the entire spectrum of services affecting corporate governance.

David J. Kohl, Senior Vice President
Roach Howard Smith & Barton

Robert Fitzgerald, Partner
Deloitte

Felix Lozano, Partner in Charge
Whitley Penn

Current Speakers

Rodger Baker
Vice President Strategic Analysis
Stratfor

Mike Fucci
Chairman of the Board
Deloitte

Donna Hamlin
CEO and Board Director
Boardwise

Mamie Jones
Senior Vice President of Product Development
Intuit

Tiffany Jones Miller
Associate Professor of Politics
University of Dallas

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law
Capital University Law School

Darla Stuckey
President & CEO
Society for Corporate Governance

Don Townsend
President
Donley Townsend Associates, LLC

Ralph Ward
Publisher
Boardroom INSIDER.com

• Past Speakers

  

  Tony Alessandra
  Founder at Assessments24X7.com & Keynote Speaker/Author at Alessandra & Associates, Inc.

  

  Philip L. Asmundson
  Telecommunications Sector & Managing Partner, TMT, (Retired) Deloitte

  

  Steve Bartlett
  Senior Advisor, Treliant, Former CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable

  

  Baruch Lev
  PhD, Professor of Accounting and Finance at New York University Stern School of Business

  

  Rhys Best
  Director at Trinity Industries, Cabot Oil & Gas, MRC Global Inc., and Commercial Metals Company & Chairman at Austin Industrial, Inc.

  

  Todd Bluedorn
  Chairman & CEO, Lennox International

  

  Danielle DiMartino Booth
  Former Dallas Federal Reserve Board, Author, “Fed Up, Why the Fed must be Fixed”

  

  Richard Bowen
  Former Business Chief Underwriter for the Consumer Lending Group of Citigroup

  

  Terry Brock
  Founder and CEO, Achievement Systems Inc.

  

  Daniel Burrus
  Founder and CEO of Burrus Research

  

  Francis H. Byrd
  CEO Byrd Governance Advisory

  

  William Chittenden
  Associate Dean for Graduate Programs
  Associate Professor of Finance at Texas State University

  

  Sam Coats
  Vice Chair, Board of Directors at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

  

  Charles Cooper
  Texas Bank Commissioner

  

  Lisa Croley
  Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance Consultant, Aon Hewitt

  

  Dr. David Daniel
  Deputy Chancellor and CEO, University of Texas System

  

  Deb DeHaas
  Vice Chairman, Chief Inclusion Officer, & National Managing Partner, Center for Board Effectiveness, Deloitte

  

  Julie England
  Independent Director

  

  William F. Ezzell CPA
  National Managing Partner, Legislative Relations,
  Deloitte LLP (Retired)

  

  John Fleming
  Law office of John Fleming, Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law

  

  Jim Fontaine
  President and CEO at Tella Firma

  

  Bruce Freed
  Executive Director at Center for Political Accountability

  

  Marc Hodak
  Founder and Managing Partner, Hodak Value Advisors

  

  Renee Hornbaker
  CFO, Stream Energy, Director, Eastman Chemical

  

  Richard J. W. Howard
  Managing Director at Hayman Capital Management, LP

  

  Marianne Jennings
  Professor Emeritus of Legal and Ethical Studies, Arizona State University

  

  Terry Jones
  Chairman of Wayblazer and managing principal of ON Inc.

  

  Reatha King
  Chairman, NACD

  

  Angelina Kwan
  CEO at Stratford Finance Limited

  

  Richard Leblanc
  Research Fellow and Advisory Board Member at Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance, University of Texas at Dallas

  

  Tony LeVecchio
  President, The James Group, Inc. and Chairman of the Board, Legacy Texas Bank

  

  Sandra Beach Lin
  Director at American Electric Power, WESCO Distribution, PolyOne Corporation, and Interface Biologics

  

  Melendy Lovett
  SVP and CAO Trinity Industries, Inc.

  

  Stephen Moore
  Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

  

  Michael G. Oxley
  Member of Government Policy Group at BakerHostetler, Former Member of Congress

  

  Cynthia Pharr
  Marketing Communications Executive, Corporate Board Member, Co-Founder Tx Women Ventures

  

  Bill Quinn
  Executive Chairman,
  American Beacon Advisors

  

  Retired General Harry D. Raduege Jr.
  Senior Advisor & Director, Deloitte Center for Cyber Innovation

  

  Ann Rhoades
  PRES at People Ink, Director at HireVue

  

  James R Rickards
  Author of New York Times best seller,
  The Death of Money & Currency Wars

  

  Tom Ridge
  President /CEO, Ridge Global, Former Head of Homeland Security, Former Governor of Pennsylvania

  

  Edward W. “Rusty” Rose III
  President & Owner, Cardinal Investment Company

  

  Frederick E. “Shad”
  Rowe Jr.
  President, Rowe and Company, Executive committee member of Texans for Lawsuit Reform

  

  Terry Schpok
  Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field LLP

  

  Stephen F. Schuckenbrock
  CEO at Crossmark

  

  Raj Sisodia
  FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business, Babson College

  

  D. Wayne Watts
  Past: Senior Vice President and General Counsel, AT&T(Retired)

  

  David Westberry
  Managing Director, BridgeStreet Partners

  

  Jim Wetherbe
  Richard Schulze Distinguished Professor, Texas Tech University

  

  Billie Ida Williamson
  EFH Director & Audit Committee Chair, Retired Partner & Americas Inclusiveness Officer-EY

  

  Paul Atkins
  Former SEC Commissioner

  

  Andy Fastow
  Former CFO, Enron

  

  Tracy Houston
  Board Resource Services

  

  Rashad Khalik 
  Professor in International Accounting, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

  

  Ed Knight
  Executive Vice President, General Counsel, NASDAQ

  

  Ernie Von Simson
  Max Hopper Speaker
  Senior Partner, Ostriker von Simson Author, The Limits of Strategy

  

  Robert Hall
  Former CEO, speaker and author, THIS LAND OF STRANGERS

  

  Stephen T. Winn
  Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, RealPage