Yale Governance Forum to Address Restoring Trust in the Financial System

New Haven, Conn., May 18, 2009 – Global leaders in corporate governance will gather at Yale University for the fourth annual Yale Governance Forum on June 11-12, 2009. The two-day event, hosted by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management, convenes leading practitioners to discuss current issues in the field. This year’s event will focus on what is required to restore trust in the financial system and the changes that will be needed to avoid future crises.

The conference agenda includes four plenary sessions and eight focus panels that allow smaller groups of participants to delve more deeply into current key topics. The sessions will address issues such as the balance needed between regulation and private sector initiatives to restore trust in the market system; the government’s role as lender and shareholder; independent chairmen as the default model of board leadership; the ability of boards to oversee risk management; how the crisis has affected the strategies of value funds, hedge funds, and private equity; and the effect of the crisis on this year’s proxy season.

The Millstein Center will also launch two new policy briefings at the Forum. The first, "Pay, Risk, and Performance," specifies concrete, practical recommendations resulting from the Private Sector Architecture for Future Capital Markets Working Groups on February 13, 2009, co-hosted in partnership with the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity. These simultaneous high-level working groups addressed three critical areas widely identified as issues for reform: shareholder stewardship, risk management and oversight, and pay for performance. The second briefing is the Center’s omnibus “Agenda for Private Sector Reform,” which incorporates the findings and recommendations of all Center events and briefings over the last year into a consolidated menu of recommendations. Additionally, at the Forum lunch on Thursday, June 11, 2009, the Center will showcase and disseminate the "Shareholder Rights at 400" book, which commemorates Isaac Le Maire, an investor in the Dutch East India Company, and the first recorded expression of shareholder rights on January 24, 1609.

John Rogers, CEO of the CFA Institute, will present the dinner keynote on June 11. The conference dinner will also feature the presentation of the CFA Institute’s 2009 James R. Vertin Award to Robert J. Shiller, the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, Yale University.

Conference sessions will be led by a distinguished group of current and former CEOs, board chairmen, directors, corporate governance officers, regulators, members of the investment and legal communities, and academics; from organizations including: AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Barclays; CA; CalPERS, The Coca-Cola Company; Council of Institutional Investors; Deloitte & Touche LLP; Donaldson Enterprises; Glass Lewis; Morgan Stanley; National Association of Corporate Directors; Novartis; Nierenberg Investment Management Company; OECD; RiskMetrics; Sara Lee; Third Avenue Management; TIAA-CREF; USS Ltd.; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, among many others.

The Millstein Center will announce the recipients of its second annual Rising Stars of Corporate Governance Award at a pre-forum reception on June 10. The award recognizes outstanding young analysts, experts, activists, and managers who are making their mark in the field of corporate governance.

For a full conference program, list of presenters, and registration, please visit: http://millstein.som.yale.edu/Forum2009/index.html.

The conference is sponsored by Deloitte and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity.

The Yale Governance Forum is open to members of the media. To obtain a press pass, please contact Tabitha Wilde, director of media relations, at +1-203-432-6010 or tabitha.wilde@yale.edu. The conference will be run under the Chatham House Rule.