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Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Evan Epstein
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein features in-depth conversations with leading voices in corporate governance, including founders, board members, executives, investors, scholars, lawyers, and other trusted advisors. Through long-form interviews, the podcast explores the people, decisions, trends, risks, and ideas shaping today’s boardrooms. Each conversation combines practical governance insights with personal experiences, leadership lessons, and the career journeys of some of the most accomplished minds in business.
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- 1 weeks ago22 min
Adaptive Governance: AI, Private Equity, and Board Leadership
Introduction and about the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit Adaptive Governance and AI Disruption: Barney Harford on what he is seeing across public, private equity, and venture-backed boards, and why directors need to think beyond first-order effects of AI Public, Private Equity, and Venture Boards: why serving across different ownership models gives directors a broader view of risk, opportunity, and disruption The Chief AI Officer’s Role: Thomas Evans on AI transformation, workforce reskilling, strategic partnerships, product development, and why a CAIO must understand the entire enterprise before building an AI strategy Private Equity Governance and Value Creation: Victor Gustaf Gao on faster information-to-decision cycles, full-potential analysis, value creation plans, and how PE boards structure discussions around a defined investment thesis What Public and Private Boards Can Learn From Each Other: combining investor, operator, and independent-director perspectives while being explicit about trade-offs, scenarios, and priorities AI’s Promise for Consumers and Founders: how AI agents may transform marketplaces, travel, recommendations, and consumer experiences, and why companies need a clear AI strategy to remain fundable and competitive. Example of cvent. AI Strategy, Investment, and Cybersecurity: how AI priorities change depending on capital constraints, profitability, infrastructure needs, data protection, and cyber risk. CEO Succession in a Changing Private Equity Landscape: why longer holding periods may force succession decisionsBarney Harford, board director at United Airlines; Victor Gustaf Gao of The Carlyle Group; and Thomas Evans, former CAIO at Lucid Motors, bring perspectives across public company boards, private equity, venture-backed companies, and enterprise AI transformation.Recorded at the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit in Healdsburg, California, on August 27, 2026.Special thanks to Keith Giarman of DHR Global for helping bring this panel together and for DHR Global’s support of the inaugural Summit.Join us for the next Boardroom Governance Summit, August 25–27, 2027, in Healdsburg, California. Register here. ---Follow Boardroom Governance:Website: https://boardroom-governance.com/ Subscribe to the NewsletterYouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernanceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/board-gov/Follow Evan Epstein:Website: evanepstein.coX: https://x.com/evanepstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/---Music: “Seeing The Future” by Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
- 1 weeks ago29 min
Sue Siegel: Innovation, AI, and the Future of Life Sciences
Introduction and about the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit Sue Siegel’s Background: from molecular biology and operating roles to venture capital, GE Ventures, Chief Innovation Officer of GE, and board service Innovation as a System: why breakthrough technology alone is not enough, and why boards need to understand the systems required to move innovation from invention to value creation When Success Stifles Innovation: why successful core businesses can become one of the biggest obstacles to new ideas, and how boards can help companies challenge what already works AI’s Impact on Life Sciences: combining imaging, clinical data, genomics, and other information to generate new insights, predictions, and digital twins AI and the Future of Personal Health: how tools like ChatGPT and Claude are changing how patients prepare for medical visits and how AI may reshape disease management Precision Medicine: how AI and genomic data are helping identify more personalized cancer therapies and monitor disease progression Regulating AI Across the Product Life Cycle: how continuously improving models create new questions about approval, liability, and board oversight in healthcare Biotech Funding and the IPO Drought: why capital has become harder to raise in life sciences and how regulation and reimbursement add friction for investors Navigating Shareholder Activism: Sue’s experience at Illumina with Carl Icahn and her framework to “diagnose, disaggregate, and decide” Red-Teaming the Company: why boards should proactively examine the thesis an activist might bring around capital allocation, governance, strategy, margins, M&A, and board composition U.S.-China Tensions in Life Sciences: China’s evolution from a manufacturing base and market into a major source of pharmaceutical innovation, alongside growing tensions around data, talent, clinical trials, and supply chains Corporate Venture Capital’s Growing Role: how CVC has evolved into a strategic tool for identifying technologies, business models, and innovation outside the companySue Siegel is the former Chief Innovation Officer of GE and an experienced public company director. She serves on the boards of Illumina, Align Technology, Stanford Health Care, KFF, and chairs The Engine, built by MIT.Recorded at the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit in Healdsburg, California, on August 27, 2026.Join us for the next Boardroom Governance Summit, August 25–27, 2027, in Healdsburg, California. Register here. ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepsteinSubscribe to the Boardroom Governance newsletter for governance insights and exclusive subscriber content: evanepstein.substack.com---Music: “Seeing The Future” by Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
- 1 weeks ago1h 0m
Michael Camuñez: Geopolitics, Board Independence, and the Courage to Dissent
Intro About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel Start of interview Michael Camuñez’s Origin Story: growing up in New Mexico and California, Harvard and Stanford Law School, public service, private practice, and moving between government, business, and corporate governance About his firm Monarch Global Strategies The U.S.-Mexico Relationship: why the relationship is "indispensable but under strain." Geopolitics and the Modern Board: why geopolitical risk now affects nearly every company Should Boards Add Geopolitical Experts? Why Michael believes directors need broad capabilities and boards should resist becoming overly specialized Energy, Wildfires, and Grid Resilience: lessons from Michael’s service on the board of Edison International and balancing safety, affordability, electrification, climate risk, and grid modernization Governing an Investment Fund: how serving as a director at Capital Group differs from a conventional corporate board Independence as a Behavior: why independence requires asking hard questions, challenging assumptions, and exercising individual judgment The Packard Foundation: institution-building, philanthropy, climate change, oceans, children and families, and long-term systemic change Stanford and the Future of Higher Education: public trust, affordability, civic education, viewpoint diversity, AI, research security, and university governance Immigration and America’s Talent Advantage: why attracting global talent has historically been central to U.S. innovation and entrepreneurship Board Diversity and Groupthink: why demographic diversity and diversity of thought should reinforce one another A “Courage Recession” in Governance: why directors need to challenge consensus, ask uncomfortable questions, and distinguish collegiality from conformity Books That Have Influenced Michael:Bread and Wine by Ignazio Silone (1936)All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946) Michael’s Mentors: Eli Segal and Linda Griego, and the importance of allyship and opening doors for others Quotes Michael Thinks About: “Comparison is the thief of joy” and the lessons of Ozymandias about ambition and legacy An unusual passion: Johnny Cash karaoke The living person Michael most admires: Hugo Morales, founder of Radio BilingüeMichael Camuñez is CEO and co-founder of Monarch Global Strategies and serves on the boards of public, private and non-profit boards. ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepsteinSubscribe to the Boardroom Governance newsletter for governance insights and exclusive subscriber content: evanepstein.substack.com---Music: “Seeing The Future” by Dexter Britain, via <a href="https://freemusicarchive.
- 2 weeks ago40 min
James D. White: What Makes Boards Work
Intro About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel Start of interview James D. White’s Origin Story. James’s current work across public and private company boards. The Jamba Juice Turnaround: taking over as CEO during a crisis, reshaping the culture, and rebuilding the board Combining the Chair and CEO Roles: when it can work, why leadership structure depends on context, and the importance of a strong lead independent director The CEO–Board Chair Relationship: working with The Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón and why trust between the CEO and chair is central to board effectiveness Working With Founders: lessons from Jessica Alba, Ron Shaich and Max Levchin, and navigating the founder–CEO–chair relationship His experience with IPOs: lessons from The Honest Company, CAVA, and Affirm, and why an IPO is the beginning of the journey rather than the destination Private vs. Public Markets: why companies are staying private longer and why James believes the public markets will remain an important source of capital Pattern Recognition Across Boards: how his experience across consumer, retail, restaurant, and food companies informs his role as a director Director Tenure and Overboarding: why James generally thinks about board service in a 7-9 year window and when independence or relevance can begin to fade Board Culture: how meeting structure, communication, onboarding, offboarding, and the balance between strategy and compliance shape board effectiveness Board Evaluations and Refreshment: why boards struggle to remove underperforming directors and how continuous feedback can make renewal easier Are Some Board Skills Becoming Obsolete? How AI and rapid technological change are forcing boards to rethink whether they have the right capabilities around the table Board Diversity: why James believes boards should draw from the broadest possible pool of talent and reflect the customers and markets they serve Directors Academy and the Future of Governance: training the next generation of directors, the craft of governance, and preparing boards for AI and geopolitical change Keeping Pace With Change: why every board should ask whether it has the right people to help management navigate the current moment Books That Have Influenced James:The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy (2007)Doing What Matters by Jim Kilts (2007)Know What Matters by Ron Shaich (2023) His mentors The quotes he thinks of often, or lives his life by What Makes an Effective Director? Why the best directors understand context, stay in learning mode, ask how they can help, and contribute beyond formal board meetings An unusual passion: jazz and music festivals The living person he most admires: his 94-year-old father, and lessons about hard work and familyJames D. White is an experienced CEO, board chair, and director who has served on more than 20 public and private company boards. ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepstein
- 3 weeks ago44 min
Leo Strine: Before You Use Artificial Intelligence, Use Your Human Intelligence
Introduction and about the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit AI and the enduring role of the board: why new technology does not change directors’ fundamental responsibilities, and why human judgment remains essential Demystifying AI: understanding how the technology is actually used inside the business, asking clear questions, and testing AI through real-world applications AI, Investment, and Talent: evaluating AI spending, automation, hiring decisions, and whether technology is actually improving the business Delaware and the Competition for Corporate Domicile: why DE has historically balanced the interests of investors and management Long-Term Leadership: why directors should consider more than the immediate political or market environment when making governance decisions. Impact of climate change. AI, Energy, and Corporate Responsibility: data centers, energy and water consumption, environmental impact, and the broader costs of AI. "I think it's a very scary time." Public Benefit Corporations: how the Delaware PBC structure works and why companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are experimenting with new governance models Purpose vs. Branding: why benefit corporations can create useful governance flexibility, but only if companies are willing to stand behind measurable commitments What Good Corporate Citizenship Looks Like: responsibilities to customers, employees, communities, the environment, and the broader workforce Boards, Workers, and Economic Opportunity: why boards should understand the workforce beyond executive compensation and how business can help reduce economic anxiety The Growth of Private Markets: venture capital, private equity, accredited-investor exemptions, and the accountability gap between public and private companies Disclosure and Market Trust: why SEC reporting, fiduciary enforcement, and access to reliable information remain strengths of U.S. capital markets. About quarterly reporting. AI Inside the Boardroom: the risks of AI-generated minutes, recording board meetings, transcription, discovery, and two-party consent laws Before Artificial Intelligence, Use Human Intelligence: AI agents, privilege, confidential information, hallucinations, and the importance of verifying AI-generated information Leo E. Strine, Jr. is Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and previously served as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court and Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery.Recorded at the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit in Healdsburg, California, on August 27, 2026.Join us for the next Boardroom Governance Summit, August 25–27, 2027, in Healdsburg, California. Register here. ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepsteinSubscribe to the Boardroom Governance newsletter for governance insights and exclusive subscriber content: evanepstein.substack.com---Music: “Seeing The Future” by Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
- Oct 1, 202634 min
Leading Boards Through Rapid Change | Sabastian Niles and Jackie Liu
Introduction and about the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit Collaborative Board Leadership: strengthening collaboration among directors and with management Moving Beyond Pattern Recognition: shrinking decision windows, comfort with ambiguity, and approaching disruption with a beginner’s mind. Board Focus and the Governance Gap: why more information does not necessarily produce better decisions Navigating AI Regulation: conflicting rules across jurisdictions, practical judgment calls, and focusing on the regulations most relevant to the business. Trust as a Driver of Innovation: why companies cannot wait for regulatory clarity to build trust, and how trusted technology can accelerate adoption. The Board as a Strategic Asset: constructive engagement with management, access to leaders across the company, and adapting committee responsibilities to emerging risks. Scenario Planning and The Art of the Long View: challenging the assumptions behind business plans and deciding where to lead, where to follow, and where to wait. Fiduciary Duties in the AI Era: why these duties remain unchanged, even as directors confront new technologies and risks. AI Policies for Directors: why a board’s AI policy should be tailored to directors’ responsibilities. Mission-Critical Risks and Oversight: revisiting risk priorities, applying an all-of-board approach to AI governance, and allocating responsibilities across committees. Governing the Agentic Enterprise: distinguishing augmentation, automation, and autonomy, with clear boundaries, human override, and accountability. AI Agents and Liability: asking where agents operate, whether their decisions are material to the business, and how responsibility is allocated when something goes wrong.---Sabastian Niles is President and Chief Legal Officer at Salesforce. Jackie Liu is a partner at Morrison & Foerster and serves on the board of CEVA, a Nasdaq-listed company.Recorded at the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit in Healdsburg, California, on August 27, 2026.Join us for the next Boardroom Governance Summit, August 25–27, 2027, in Healdsburg, California. Register here. ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepsteinSubscribe to the Boardroom Governance newsletter for governance insights and exclusive subscriber content: evanepstein.substack.com---Music: “Seeing The Future” by Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
- Sep 29, 202656 min
Ryan Nowicki Stewart (CEO, Pennant AI): AI, Proxy Voting, and the Future of Governance
Intro About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel Start of interview Ryan Nowicki Stewart’s Origin Story The origin of Pennant AI and Ryan’s goal of building a “world model for corporate governance” Why institutional investors struggle to scale governance oversight across thousands of portfolio companies How Proxy Voting Works: annual meetings, shareholder votes, engagement, and why governance decisions can have major financial consequences Proxy Season: why voting is concentrated in the spring in the U.S., but governance engagement is increasingly a year-round and global process Ryan’s decision to join Y Combinator and why a corporate governance startup fit into the YC ecosystem His experience with technology founders and executives perception on current proxy voting system Building a “living, breathing operating system” for governance rather than relying on static reports and PDFs The continuing role of proxy advisors and why institutional investors are looking for alternatives to legacy providers Who Pennant Serves: institutional investors, public companies, and corporate advisors Why Pennant does not publish a house voting policy and instead helps investors implement their own governance frameworks Founder Control, Dual-Class Shares, and Investor Power: the shifting balance among founders, boards, management, and institutional investors. Reference to Stripe's Investor Letter from August 2026 “the Singularity started on 1/1/26” Public and Private Markets Converging: SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Stripe, and new approaches to ownership and governance. *Reference to E210 with Eric Ries. Global Governance: Japan, the U.K., the U.S., and how shareholder engagement differs across markets. *Reference to E221 with Stavros Gadinis. Y Combinator, OpenAI credits, and why Pennant remains model-agnostic Choosing AI Models for Governance: why different models perform better at different governance tasks Pennant’s Governance Arena: testing how frontier AI models respond to governance questions Pennant after YC Demo Day: new investors, enterprise clients, and plans to grow the company What Ryan wants directors to understand about AI, shareholder engagement, and why technology can create more time for meaningful investor conversations Books that have influenced Ryan:Horrible Histories by Terry Deary (1993-2013)The Thinking Machine by Stephen Witt (2025)Mobilize by Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar and Madeline Hart (2026) His mentors: Stephanie Creary and Abe Friedman (reference to E43 with Abe from 2021) A quote Ryan thinks of often: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” An unusual habit: Settlers of Catan. An unusual passion: the Australian Baseball League The living person he most admires: Angela Merkel, and lessons from her patient, evidence-driven approach to leadership Where to find Pennant AI and follow Ryan’s work
- Sep 22, 202650 min
Stavros Gadinis: Corporate Ordering | How Corporations Navigate Social Conflict
Intro About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel Start of interview Stavros Gadinis' Origin Story The origin of his new book Corporate Ordering: How Corporations Navigate Social Conflict Shareholders vs. Stakeholders: why the century-old debate over corporate purpose remains unresolved Corporations as Rulemakers: how companies increasingly create rules that affect millions or even billions of people Who Really Has Decision-Making Power? Boards, founders, dual-class shares, institutional investors, and corporate hierarchies AI Governance Models: Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and different approaches to governing AI Microsoft’s approach to Responsible AI and building internal systems for accountability, transparency, and oversight Creating internal checks on product decisions and giving employees a process to challenge governance decisions The OpenAI Governance Crisis: Altman’s 2023 firing, the power of employees and investors, and the limits of formal board authority Why governance structures designed for startups may not survive when companies grow into massive global businesses OpenAI vs. Anthropic: detailed rulebooks versus Constitutional AI and the tradeoffs between specific rules and broad principles Meta’s Oversight Board: what worked, what did not, and why independent monitoring requires real authority Stavros’s Three-Part Corporate Ordering Framework: 1) rule making, 2) implementation, and 3) monitoring. Is corporate ordering just Compliance 2.0? Why Stavros sees an important difference between compliance and product design Uber’s Safety Reckoning: how outside consultation changed the company’s approach to reporting sexual assault AI Regulation: the emerging patchwork across the United States, Europe, China, and other jurisdictions How corporate AI governance practices can eventually become the foundation for government regulation The increasingly important role of the General Counsel in governance, regulation, and helping shape emerging rules A book that influenced Stavros: a biography of Louis XIV, and lessons about concentrated power and decision-making His mentor, Howell Jackson of Harvard Law School, and the importance of embracing complexity A lesson from his painting instructor: don’t be afraid to start with the wrong line An unusual passion: French patisserie The living person he most admires: Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson Where to find Corporate Ordering: How Corporations Navigate Social ConflictStavros Gadinis is the George R. Johnson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business at UC Berkeley School of Law ---Stay connected with Boardroom Governance:Website: boardroom-governance.comNewsletter: Boardroom Governance on SubstackYouTube: Boardroom GovernanceLinkedIn: Evan EpsteinX: @evanepsteinSubscribe to the Boardroom Governance newsletter for governance insights and exclusive subscriber content: evanepstein.substack.com---Music: “Seeing The Future” by <a href="https://freemusicarchive.or
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About Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein features in-depth conversations with leading voices in corporate governance, including founders, board members, executives, investors, scholars, lawyers, and other trusted advisors. Through long-form interviews, the podcast explores the people, decisions, trends, risks, and ideas shaping today’s boardrooms. Each conversation combines practical governance insights with personal experiences, leadership lessons, and the career journeys of some of the most accomplished minds in business.
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