Kevin Coleman serves as Associate General Counsel – Corporate Governance and Assistant Secretary in the Legal Department of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY). In this role, he supports the Board of Directors and executive management across the company’s corporate governance framework, including board support, shareholder engagement, proxy statement preparation, and disclosure matters.

• Monitors and analyzes changes in institutional investor and proxy advisor voting policies, positions, and governance expectations.
• Engages with institutional investors and proxy advisors on key governance matters.
• Supports the preparation of Ally’s proxy statement, including drafting, reviewing, and refining key disclosures.
• Assists with other regulatory and non-regulatory disclosures.
• Provides corporate governance and disclosure support to internal partners, including Investor Relations, Human Resources, Treasury, and Sustainability.

Professional Experience and Recognition

Since 2014, Mr. Coleman has held a range of increasingly senior corporate governance roles in the financial services industry, with a focus on public company board support, shareholder engagement, and disclosure-related matters. He was a finalist for Governance Intelligence’s Rising Star award in both 2017 and 2019.

Publications and Thought Leadership

Mr. Coleman has authored or contributed to multiple governance and legal publications. His contributions include serving as a contributing author to the American Bar Association’s ESG: A Guidebook for Directors and Handbook for the Conduct of Shareholders’ Meetings, and as a working group member for the Council of Institutional Investors’ Report of the 2020 Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Practices for Virtual Shareholder Meetings. He has also contributed to the drafting and refinement of multiple comment letters submitted to regulatory agencies.

Education and Bar Admission

Mr. Coleman earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Juris Doctor from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cumberland Law Review. He is a member of the Alabama State Bar.

Paul Sharobeem serves as McDonald’s Senior Director, Managing Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary, and brings nearly two decades of experience spanning all aspects of securities regulation, capital markets & finance, executive compensation, M&A and corporate governance related matters.

Prior to joining McDonald’s, Paul spent significant time in roles of increasing responsibility with Caterpillar, Saudi Aramco (including its IPO) and most recently at Century Aluminum, where he served as Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

Paul holds a JD and Master’s degree from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and Warrington College of Business, respectively, and a Bachelor’s degree from New York University. Paul is based in Chicago.

Robert S. Jett III (“Bob”) leads the Global Privacy Office at Bunge as its first Global Chief Data Protection and Privacy Officer.  In this role he leads Bunge’s global data protection and privacy efforts working with local privacy and business leaders as well as supporting key business initiatives related to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and data management. Bob has more than 35 years of experience as a legal advisor and in-house counsel with multi-national organizations in the manufacturing, insurance and financial services industry and has worked closely with colleagues on issues related to Information Technology, Data Protection and Privacy, Cybersecurity Incident Response, Artificial Intelligence, Information Security and Corporate Compliance functions. This has included the creation, implementation and maintenance of global compliance, incident response and data protection and privacy programs and managing a global privacy office for several global companies. He currently co-leads the Corporate AI Working Group at Bunge supporting all Artificial Intelligence initiatives at Bunge.

He holds a B.A. in both international relations and political science from Hobart College.  He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law. He is an active member of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC); the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP); Executive Committee of the Privacy & Technology Law Section of the Georgia Bar Association; Past President of the Global Leadership and Development Department Advisory Board of the University of Missouri at St. Louis and a member of the Maryland State Bar Association.

Maureen Montgomery is Deputy General Counsel of Corporate, Commercial, and M&A, and Assistant Corporate Secretary at Robinhood Markets, Inc. where she advises the Board of Directors and its committees on governance, disclosure, and fiduciary matters for the publicly traded financial services company. In her Corporate Secretary role, she manages board and committee proceedings, meeting materials, resolutions, and proxy filings, ensuring Robinhood’s governance practices meet the standards expected of a NASDAQ-listed company. Before joining Robinhood, she practiced corporate and M&A law at Fenwick & West, advising technology and financial services clients on acquisitions, financings, and general corporate matters. Maureen earned her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law and a B.A. from Stanford University. She is based in Menlo Park, California.

Mary A. Francis is corporate secretary and chief governance officer for Chevron Corporation, a position she has held since 2015. She provides advice and counsel to the Board of Directors and senior management on corporate governance matters, manages the company’s corporate governance function and serves on the Law Function Executive Committee. She also serves as secretary to the Board, the Executive Committee, and the Board Nominating and Governance Committee.

Previously Francis served as Chevron’s deputy corporate secretary since 2014. Prior positions include: 2012, chief corporate counsel, Corporation Law Department; 2009, general counsel, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company; 2007, managing counsel, Chevron Pipe Line Company and Chevron Shipping Company; 2005, lead senior counsel, Chevron Shipping Company.

Francis is on the board of directors of the Chevron Employees Political Action Committee. She serves on the advisory board of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance and on the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association, and is a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel. She also serves on the governing board of the San Francisco Symphony.

Francis joined Chevron in 2002 as senior trademark counsel in the Corporation Law Department. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College in 1986, a Juris Doctor degree from the College of William and Mary in 1990, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006.

BRADY LONG is Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG). He served as Vice President – General Counsel & Secretary of Ensco plc (NYSE:ESV) from 2011 to 2015 and Pride International, Inc. (NYSE:PDE) from 2009 to 2011, when Pride was acquired by Ensco.  He served as Chief Compliance Officer of Pride from 2006 to 2009.

He served on the Board of Directors of Transocean Partners LLC (NYSE:RIGP) prior to its acquisition by Transocean Ltd. In 2016. He currently serves as a trustee for DRILLERSPAC, the political action committee sponsored by the drilling industry.

Mr. Long graduated with a BA, magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University (1996), a JD, with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law (1999), and an Executive LLM in Tax from New York University (2019).

Chris serves as AIG Senior Vice President & Corporate Secretary.  In this role, she is responsible for leading the legal teams responsible for investments, mergers & acquisitions, capital market transactions, securities disclosure and corporate governance.  Chris previously served as AIG Associate General Counsel, Separation Initiatives and as Corebridge Financial, Inc. Chief Corporate Counsel & Corporate Secretary.

Chris joined AIG in 2021 from Equitable Holdings where she served in various leadership roles on the legal team, including Head of the Corporate Practice Group from 2010 to 2021.  At Equitable, Chris led the legal team responsible for the company’s initial public offering. Chris began her legal career at Coopers & Lybrand.

Chris holds a BA in Economics from Duke University, a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a LLM in Taxation from New York University.

Ki Hoon Kim is the current Associate General Counsel of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Corporate, Securities, and Global Equity Administration team. In this role, he is responsible for US regulatory disclosure obligations (spanning financial reporting, annual reporting, proxy statements), governance and support for HPE’s Board of Directors, and supporting HPE’s treasury function in undertaking financing transactions. He also oversees equity plan administration and subsidiary entity management and governance. Prior to joining HPE, Ki Hoon served as an associate in the life sciences practice group at Goodwin Procter LLP, representing private and young public companies in venture financings, capital market transactions, and support for ongoing public company reporting obligations. Ki Hoon began his career as an associate in the capital markets practice group at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he represented both issuers and underwriters in a variety of capital markets transactions.

Matthew Geekie Graybar

Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel

Matt Geekie is senior vice president, secretary and general counsel for Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, industrial, automation and connectivity products and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Graybar celebrated in 2024 155 years as a company and 95 years of employee ownership. A member of Graybar’s board of directors, Geekie is responsible for corporate governance and the legal and risk management functions of the company. He sits on Graybar’s Executive, Audit, Compensation, Contributions, Disclosure, Finance, Employees’ Benefits, Branch House and Information Technologies committees. He also serves as Chairman of Graybar’s Canadian subsidiary. With Matt’s leadership, Graybar has acquired seventeen companies yielding a combined annual revenue of over $1.7 billion for Graybar.

Geekie’s broad-based legal experience includes corporate law, corporate governance, cybersecurity, mergers and acquisitions, commercial and securities law, ethics, risk management, intellectual property, product liability and export/import law. Under his leadership, Graybar achieved national recognition for excellence in corporate governance in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Geekie is a native of St. Louis and received his law and undergraduate degrees from Saint Louis University. Geekie currently serves as a board Member of the Saint Louis Zoo Association and on its Nominating, and Long-Range Plan Implementation Committees; as a Member of the Saint Louis Zoo’s Marlin Perkins Society; as a Member of the Board of The Oasis Institute and on its Executive, Finance and Advancement Committees; and as a Member of the Greater St. Louis Inc. Government Relations Council. He is also a Member of the Board of CK Power, a Member of the St. Louis/Chicago Regional FM Global Advisory Board and a Member of the Board of the Missouri Law Institute. He is past chairman of the Boards of Directors of the St. Louis Community Foundation, the Saint Louis Zoo Association and the Oasis Institute.

Deb Boyda: Board member| Past Board Chair| Former CEO// Trustmark Companies, Home Run Inn Pizza; ConceiveAbilities, Motivus, The Chicago Network

Deb Boyda is an accomplished corporate board director and former CEO recognized for driving transformation, accelerating growth and creating shareholder value across public and private companies. She brings extensive experience in strategy, digital transformation, customer experience, brand building and M&A, with a proven ability to help organizations navigate periods of significant change.

Deb served as CEO of Dentsu’s North American Customer Experience business (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4324), and as President at Sapient Razorfish, a Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris:PUB) company, where she led large-scale business transformations and growth initiatives. Earlier in her career she spent more than two decades in senior leadership roles building iconic brands and leading marketing, innovation and commercial strategy at Beam Suntory, SABMiller and Leo Burnett.

Deb is a graduate of Harvard University AB and holds an MSA from Northwestern University.

She currently serves on the boards of Trustmark Companies, Motivus, Conceiveabilities and Home Run Inn Pizza and previously served on the boards of Paya (NASDAQ: PAYA) and Wells Enterprises through successful transactions. Deb the former board chair for The Chicago Network and also currently serves on the board of Family Focus. She is valued in the board room for her operator’s perspective, strategic judgment, and ability to help management teams drive sustainable growth, navigate transformation, and create long term enterprise value.

Seth Gastwirth serves as Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel Capital Markets and Leasing Advisory at Jones Lang LaSalle, a Fortune 200 commercial real estate services firm with annual revenue of $23.4 billion, operations in over 80 countries, and a global workforce of approximately 112,000 employees.

Seth is a trusted legal advisor to the Board of Directors and Global Executive Board on legal, corporate governance, and compliance topics. He has a broad range of legal experience in the areas of commercial contracting, corporate governance, M&A, litigation and dispute resolution, compliance and risk management, and employment law.

Seth has substantial international experience which includes a 3-year assignment at AkzoNobel’s global headquarters in Amsterdam where he served as Global Director of Investigations and Chief Compliance Officer of its Specialty Chemicals business. He previously served as a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago (2006-2014) and as an Associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York (2003-2006).

Seth is a regularly invited guest lecturer on a variety of legal topics including lectures given at the University of St. Gallen Executive School of Management, Technology and the Law (Switzerland), the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Michigan Law School and Northwestern University School of Law. Seth is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Sean is chair of Cooley’s activism defense group and a nationally recognized activism practitioner. He is a trusted advisor to boards of directors and management teams, with a principal focus on shareholder activism preparedness and defense, investor engagement, crisis management, complex corporate governance matters and contested M&A. Sean has advised on some of the most high-profile and significant matters in the activism space, including the largest director election proxy contest in history and the biggest M&A transaction ever subject to a proxy fight.

Sean brings deep experience navigating high-stakes settlements, proxy contests, withhold campaigns, short attacks and corporate crises. During his career, he has worked on activism engagements involving Avis Budget Group, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Centene, Colgate-Palmolive, Del Frisco’s, FedEx, Kellanova, Kenvue, Salesforce, Six Flags, Squarespace, Vitamin Shoppe, The Walt Disney Company, Wynn Resorts and Zoom, among others.

As a complement to his representations of public companies, Sean has extensive experience counseling engaged shareholders across the activism spectrum on the assessment of investment opportunities, capital deployment and investment execution, private engagement, settlement negotiations and cooperation agreements, alternative activism strategies, proxy contests, hostile takeovers and contested M&A transactions. His work with Carl Icahn, Corvex Management, D. E. Shaw & Co., Elliott Management, JANA Partners, Land & Buildings, Politan Capital Management, Sachem Head Capital Management, Starboard Value, TOMS Capital Investment Management and Trian Partners – in addition to first-time and occasional activists – informs his guidance to directors and executives.

For his work in shareholder activism, Sean was named a “Next Generation Partner” by The Legal 500 and recognized as a “Rising Star” by The Deal.

Sean’s writings on activism and corporate governance have been featured in Bloomberg Law, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law and the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, among other publications. He has also been quoted in leading publications, including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Deal, and spoken at Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania Law School on related topics.

Prior to joining Cooley, Sean served as the law clerk to Justice Karen L. Valihura of the Delaware Supreme Court and was a member of the shareholder activism practices at two prominent international law firms.

Bill Dooley is Managing Director, M&A and Activism at Sodali & Co, where he advises management teams and boards on shareholder activism defense, corporate governance, and M&A. With more than 15 years of experience, Bill works closely with Sodali’s clients to develop investor engagement strategies, monitor shifts in their shareholder base, and strengthen their activism preparedness protocols and strategy.

Bill advises domestic and multinational corporations across all market capitalizations. He helps clients understand their shareholder profile from a voting-control perspective, identify potential vulnerabilities, and assess the implications of contested situations and strategic transactions.

Bill has recently advised on transformative M&A transactions, including Union Pacific/Norfolk Southern, Magellan Midstream/ONEOK, and Capital One/Discover, as well as a number of high-profile contested situations, including Southwest Airlines/Elliott, Kenvue/Starboard, Hasbro/Alta Fox, Lululemon/Chip Wilson, and Freshpet/JANA Partners.

Etelvina is a Managing Director at Alliance Advisors, where she supports issuers on a wide range of investor‑related matters. She began her career at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), advising institutional investors on proxy voting decisions, including contested director elections and M&A. She later spent seven years working with public and union pension funds to engage companies on ESG issues. In recent years, she has focused on advising corporate issuers, first at ISS Corporate Solutions and now at Alliance Advisors. With more than two decades in corporate governance, she counsels clients on governance, executive compensation, and shareholder engagement.

John J. DePinto Jr. is Senior Vice President of Solicitation in the Proxy Solicitation/Governance Advisory department at Laurel Hill Advisory Group.

John has over twenty years of expertise in strategic guidance and addressing shareholder concerns, where he plays a crucial role in helping clients navigate complex agendas and achieve favorable outcomes.

At Laurel Hill, DePinto specializes in developing and executing strategic plans for Annual and Special Meetings, Mergers and Acquisitions, Activist situations, SPACs, and other Corporate Actions. He leverages his deep understanding of shareholder engagement to identify and effectively communicate with key institutional and retail investors, securing critical voting support.

With a proven track record in high-profile campaigns, DePinto has demonstrated his ability to guide clients through intricate challenges successfully. His strategic counsel and hands-on approach have been instrumental in achieving victories for clients facing dissident investor groups and activist challenges.

DePinto’s extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of Proxy Solicitation best practices, coupled with Laurel Hill’s cross-border reach and independent positioning, make him a trusted advisor for public companies seeking to navigate complex shareholder matters effectively.

Ron Schneider is Director, Corporate Governance Services for Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN). He is responsible for providing thought leadership on emerging corporate governance, proxy, sustainability and other disclosure issues.  Over the past four decades, Ron has advised and assisted senior management, the C-suite and boards of public companies of all sizes, industries and stages of growth to establish effective investor engagement programs, facing investor activism, and with challenging proxy solicitations involving corporate governance, compensation and control issues.

During his career, he has managed more than 1,600 proxy solicitations, 200 tender or exchange offers and 30 proxy contests, with his proxy fight clients succeeding in over 70% of such situations.

Ron’s prior experience includes three years at investor relations agency The Financial Relations Board (FRB), three years at AST Phoenix Advisors and nine years at BNY Mellon, providing thought leadership on regulatory changes and emerging best practices. Earlier in his career, Ron held increasingly senior positions at major proxy solicitation firms Morrow & Company, D.F. King and Georgeson & Company, where he served on its first Board of Directors.  Ron earned a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University.

Beth Sasfai is a partner in Cooley’s public companies group and leads the firm’s ESG & sustainability advisory practice. She regularly advises boards of directors and management on a wide range of corporate governance, disclosure and regulatory compliance matters – including corporate governance policy and trends, shareholder engagement and activism, shareholder proposals and proxy season matters, and environmental, social and governance (ESG). She is a seasoned professional with a distinguished career spanning 20+ years in a fortune 20 company, which positions her as a trusted advisor to boards and executive teams.
Beth closely monitors and advises clients on evolving best practices and on corporate governance and ESG proposals put forth by Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, stock exchanges, and other stakeholders. Beth brings a wealth of experience in guiding US and international clients through the complex ESG regulatory landscape, including reporting and disclosure controls, engaging with stakeholders, and operationalizing governance and risk management processes.
In addition to her public companies practice, Beth counsels companies of al market caps across a broad spectrum of industries, helping to integrate sustainability strategies, oversight, and risk management principles into the life cycle of early-stage growth companies and pre-initial public offering companies to facilitate their evolution into large, publicly traded entities. In advising companies on ways to integrate sustainability principles into business strategy and operations early on, Beth helps companies build resilience, enhance stakeholder relationships and future-proof their operations.
Before joining Cooley, Beth was Verizon’s chief ESG officer and senior vice president of corporate governance. She also served as a management liaison to Verizon’s board of directors’ corporate governance and policy committee, which was charged with overseeing sustainability, governance, public policy and reputational risk. Prior to joining Verizon, Beth practiced in the corporate and litigation groups of prominent New York City law firms.

Education
University of Pennsylvania
JD, 1997

Liz is a trusted industry leader for executives, boards of directors and those who advise them. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in corporate and securities law, executive compensation and investor developments. As a senior strategic advisor at Cooley, Liz helps identify the latest issues affecting public and late-stage private companies, so that Cooley clients receive practical guidance that is both forward-looking and grounded in business realities.

Over the course of her career, Liz has counseled boards, executives, chief legal officers, corporate secretaries and compliance personnel on the full range of securities law and corporate matters, including sensitive board matters, Securities and Exchange Commission and stock exchange-based disclosure issues, stock exchange listing compliance, investor communication and voting trends, insider trading and Rule 10b5-1 plans, executive compensation issues and executive succession matters. Additionally, she has helped companies prepare to go public, navigate public and private offerings of equity and debt, implement activism defense measures, respond to shareholder proposals, and manage board and committee roles and procedures.

In addition, Liz serves as a senior editor for TheCorporateCounsel.net, CompensationStandards.com and other CCRcorp resources. Through CCRcorp, Liz provides practical guidance to 88% of the publicly held Fortune 100, 90% of the Am Law 100, and countless smaller and mid-sized companies and firms. In her prior role as managing editor at CCRcorp, Liz played a key role in improving a variety of corporate metrics, and she incorporates this business perspective in providing strategic legal and compliance insights. Liz is a frequent author and speaker on securities and corporate law topics, with articles appearing in publications such as Bloomberg Law, Business Law Today, Law360, The Corporate Board and The Corporate Governance Advisor.

Education

University of Iowa College of Law
JD, Order of the Coif, 2006

University of Northern Iowa
BA, summa cum laude, Purple & Old Gold Award, 2003

Natalie is a former telecoms and infrastructure journalist, a role she held for nearly seven years. Before this, she worked in the B2C startup space, covering lifestyle, arts and culture reporting. As senior reporter for Governance Intelligence she leads on the editorial content on governance, risk and compliance.

Steve Wade is the head of event content at IR Media Group. As a content researcher, conference producer, and event host for IR Magazine and Governance Intelligence, Steve is responsible for gathering intelligence on public companies’ most significant global issues. Steve’s team develops events that promote excellence in investor relations, governance, and sustainability for issuers and investors.

Prior to Corporate Secretary, Steve’s background was in corporate social responsibility and responsible investment. During his time at Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events), Steve launched the ESG symposium; an event focused on connecting the socially responsible investment community with corporate sustainability leaders at listed companies. Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards, celebrating the best corporate reporting in Eastern Europe. Steve also presented research at the Global Sustainable Event Summit in London and has spoken about extra-financial reporting with the United Nations Global Compact, the World Bank, and the Polish Ministry of Finance.

Steve has a BSC in Event Management, is a member of working groups toward improved practices in international event management, and enjoys swimming, rugby and outdoor pursuits in his spare time.