As Head of ESG Practice at Corbin Advisors, Leahruth helps public companies establish ESG strategies, including increased organizational diversity and more inclusive cultures, environmental goals that support net-zero carbon emissions, and greater accountability around governance.
Leahruth has worked extensively in corporate governance and nonprofit consulting. At Georgeson, a premiere proxy solicitation and corporate governance consulting firm, she managed shareholder engagement campaigns, which first introduced her to the growing importance of ESG from the investor perspective. At Equilar, an executive compensation and board data firm, Leahruth managed content and thought leadership for corporate governance conferences, co-hosted with Nasdaq, that addressed issues such as shareholder engagement, diversity in the boardroom, human capital management, and ESG.

After graduating from Columbia Business School in 2016, Leahruth relocated to Chicago where she founded Girlspeak, a public speaking and empowerment program for middle and high school age girls. She was accepted into Google’s competitive Google for Entrepreneurs mentorship program and was a member at 1871, Chicago’s preeminent startup incubator. Having worked with public companies, institutional investors and nonprofit organizations, Leahruth has developed a wide breadth of experience and understanding of the CSR and ESG landscape.

Marion Lewis is a results-driven entrepreneur, investor, and business community leader with more than 25 years of successful digital experience. As the founder and CEO of Govenda, she is passionate about providing best-in-class solutions and modern tools to support organizations’ boards of directors. She is proud of the cutting-edge, award-winning board management and empowerment platform that enables effective corporate governance, robust regulatory compliance, centralized control, and interactive board engagement. Prior to Govenda, Marion was Co-Founder of Tachyon Solutions, a custom application development and interactive marketing firm, and served as its CEO for 21 years. She created the firm’s vision, executed the strategic plan, and led the renowned Tachyon Interactive Group.

Jonathan D. Yellin has been the General Counsel of CRA International, Inc., d/b/a Charles River Associates, a leading global consulting firm specializing in economic, financial and management consulting services, since joining CRA in 2004.  Immediately prior to joining CRA, he was a senior partner in the Insolvency and Restructuring practice at Riemer & Braunstein LLP, based in Boston, MA. Jonathan received his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1988 and his B.A. from The George Washington University, School of Public and International Affairs, in 1985. He is currently the Chair of the Subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence for the ACC’s IT, Privacy & eCommerce Network.

Brian Short is a corporate transactional attorney and Co-Leader of the firm’s Securities and Capital Markets practice. He focuses on securities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, corporate finance, and general corporate matters.Brian represents companies, private equity firms, and investment banks in a range of corporate transactions, including negotiating and executing public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and joint ventures. He counsels public and privately held companies on corporate governance and board issues, compliance matters, and periodic reporting.

Brian also represents investors and companies in capital financings, handling both structuring issues and the negotiation of deal documentation. He advises corporate clients across a range of industries, including life sciences, technology, aerospace and defense, business and financial services, and consumer products.Prior to joining the firm, Brian was a partner at an AmLaw 50 firm and General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of a publicly-traded international engineering, information technology, and staffing services company.

For more than 30 years, James (Jim) Polehna has led corporate governance and investor relations strategy for publicly traded companies in the banking and workforce solutions industries. A seasoned executive, trusted advisor, and committed mentor, Jim partners with organizations, teams, and individuals to achieve their potential and create value.

Most recently, Jim served as corporate secretary and chief investor relations officer at Kelly, a leading global specialty talent solutions provider based in Troy, Michigan. As corporate secretary, he was accountable for ensuring the integrity of the company’s governance framework, including compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements affecting the company and its board of directors. He was also responsible for implementing all decisions made by the board. He managed corporate disclosure and compliance with state corporation laws, the stock exchange listing standards, and SEC reporting and compliance.

As chief investor relations officer, Jim served as the key point of contact for the investment community and was responsible for the development and execution of Kelly’s investor relations strategy and policy implementation in addition to providing market feedback to management and the board. He oversaw the company’s annual report to shareholders, the proxy statement, quarterly financial communications, and other financial briefing materials. Prior to being named chief investor relations officer, Jim successfully launched Kelly’s first investor relations program, securing coverage from investment analysts and attracting new investors to the company.

Under Jim’s leadership, Kelly continuously evolved its corporate governance policies and practices to maintain the highest standard of transparency, accountability, and effectiveness. During his tenure, the company’s commitment to good governance was recognized by the foremost authorities on corporate governance matters, including corporatesecretary. Jim’s expansive knowledge of disclosure best practices and his innovative approach to design and user experience contributed to Kelly earning several nominations for Best Proxy Statement (Small Cap) at the Annual Corporate Governance Awards.
Prior to joining Kelly, Jim served as vice president and assistant secretary of Citizens Banking Corporation. Fueled by his passion for developing the next generation of business leaders, he also taught as an adjunct professor for Baker College’s MBA program on the topics of business management and strategic planning.

Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He serves on the board of directors of the Citizens Research Council and is a former member of the Global Investor Relations Executive Council of the Conference Board. He is also a member of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Economic Club, the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), and the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.

As Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Kimberly Simpson is responsible for ensuring that NACD’s operations meet its strategic objectives. She has specific oversight responsibility for the team that engages NACD’s 23,000+ members, NACD Directorship Certification^®, the NACD Chapter Network in 35 cities, marketing, and NACD Board Search. She also supports two boards of directors (NACD and the NACD Corporate Directors Institute). Kimberly frequently speaks and writes on governance matters.

Prior to joining NACD, Kimberly held a number of executive leadership roles. She served as executive vice president at Sanford Health, the largest rural, not-for-profit health care system in the nation with locations in 126 communities in nine states and in countries such as Ghana, Africa. She also was the inaugural president of the Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising funds to advance breast cancer research and treatment.

Formerly the chief operating officer for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Kimberly led the network of more than 120 Susan G. Komen for the Cure affiliates across the United States and had responsibility for the organization’s legal, human resources, information technology, and internal communications functions. Additionally, she was the secretary to the board of directors and was a board member of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance, Komen’s Washington, D.C.-based policy organization. Prior to joining Komen, Kimberly was vice president and general counsel at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, the top pediatric orthopedic hospital in the country.

Kimberly received her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley, and is admitted to practice law in California, Virginia (as in-house counsel), and Texas (inactive). She has a Master of Arts in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish summa cum laude from The University of Alabama. Kimberly was a U.S. Marshall Memorial Fellow to Europe in 2005.

Seth serves as Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel Work Dynamics at Jones Lang LaSalle, a Fortune 200 commercial real estate services firm with annual revenue of $20.9 billion, operations in over 80 countries, and a global workforce of approximately 103,000 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 (2016-2018) 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 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 and the University of Michigan Law School. Seth is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Adriana Mitchell is the Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Global Payments, where she heads up the corporate securities team and is responsible for day-to-day counseling and advice on corporate and securities law matters.  As an Assistant Corporate Secretary, she supports the board of directors on corporate governance and improving board processes and practices.  Additionally, she serves as Chair of the Disclosure Committee and handles compliance matters related to the Code of Conduct and the Company’s AML and FCPA programs. Adriana works closely with the worldwide finance and tax teams on capital markets transactions, financial reporting, equity administration, managing domestic and international subsidiaries, restructurings and dividend payments.

Ki Hoon Kim is an Associate General Counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, a global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Ki Hoon’s current practice spans corporate governance, securities financings, ongoing public company reporting obligations, shareholder engagement and board support. Previously, Ki Hoon practiced law as an associate in the life sciences practice group and an associate in the capital markets practice group of international law firms in New York City.

Ms. Bryan has more than 30 years of senior corporate executive experience, both in human resources and legal matters. Her experience includes the position of Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs and General Counsel for US Airways, a major airline with more than 40,000 employees worldwide. During her tenure at US Airways, she also served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources.  Prior to joining Intelsat in January 2007, she served as general counsel for Laidlaw International, a transportation company.

Ms. Bryan is a Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Rochester. She earned her law degree from Georgetown University.

Angela Grant is an inspiring servant leader with intuitive legal and business expertise and a technology-driven mindset. Over 25 years of proven success as a collaborative advocate helping organizations to create, build, and maintain innovative and compliant business models. Experienced people manager leading small and large teams and spearheading creative, scalable solutions in cross-functional groups.

Angela Grant joined Palomar Holdings, Inc. in 2020 and serves as the Chief Legal Officer. Ms. Grant most recently served as Chief Legal & Innovation Officer at CSE Insurance Group. Previously, Ms. Grant served as the Head of Compliance & Legal at Hippo Insurance. In addition to her legal and compliance background, past leadership roles at Esurance, Kemper, and GEICO burnished her credentials in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and strategy. Ms. Grant received her Juris Doctor from Texas A&M University School of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of North Texas. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas, State Bar of California (Registered In-House Counsel), American Bar Association and the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).

Brady Long is Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG), the world’s leading offshore drilling contractor. 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.

In 2009, Mr. Long was named one of the 100 most influential leaders in business ethics in the world by Ethisphere magazine.

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).

Alexis Freeman is an accomplished C-suite executive and boardroom advisor with 20+ years of demonstrated broad leadership experience with public and private companies in strategy, corporate governance, crisis management, restructurings, M&A, post-acquisition business integration, risk management, debt and equity financing, data privacy, environmental, social and governance (ESG) oversight, and human capital matters. Ms. Freeman currently serves as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Lindblad Expeditions, LLC (Nasdaq: LIND), a luxury, expedition ship-based travel company with a platform of land-based adventure travel companies, where she is the first and only female member of the senior executive team. In this role, Ms. Freeman is a business critical, strategic, commercial, and proactive advisor to the board, each of board’s audit, compensation and nominating committees, and the executive and management teams on all legal, strategic growth, operational and compliance matters.

Since joining Lindblad Expeditions, Ms. Freeman has successfully advised, negotiated and closed on (i) three company acquisitions, (ii) a $275 million capital raise to refinance ECA credit facilities and provide a $70 million cash cushion, (iii) the refinancing of the company’s $340 million debt portfolio, (iv) $85 million Main Street lending program funding, (v) $85 million capital raise of private investor preferred equity, (vi) modifications to debt financing documents in light of the pandemic, saving the company millions of dollars of interest expense, (vii) the purchase of four large assets in the aggregate amount of over $250 million, (viii) developing, implementing and amending, as appropriate, various protocols and policies to address health and safety, codes of conduct for board members and employees, and commercial terms and conditions, and (ix) managing and overseeing all litigation.

Prior to joining Lindblad Expeditions, Ms. Freeman was a financial restructuring lawyer with Akin, Gump,Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, widely-recognized as one of the world’s leading restructuring groups, where she advised companies, institutional investors and creditors’ committees in formal and out-of-court restructurings, in financing and strategic transactions, and on distressed and special situations, and was involved in some of the largest, most complex, ground-breaking domestic and cross-border restructurings in recent history, including Sears, SunEdison, Calpine and Payless.

Ms. Freeman has a strong commitment to serving her community through school and non-profit organizations, including currently serving as co-chair of the School Leadership Team and on the board and as governance chair of Repurpose Wardrobe, which utilizes the resale of luxury items to raise funds and develop programs to support the health and wellbeing of women and families and empower individuals through mentorship and workforce opportunities.

Tina M. Carewhas over 25 years’ experience advising boards and senior management on complex transactions, governance, compliance, strategic planning, and SEC reporting and disclosure.  Ms. Carew serves as Associate General Counsel of Invesco Ltd. and Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR). In that role, Ms. Carew has principal responsibility for advising the board and management of IVR on all governance, capital markets, SEC, and NYSE matters. Prior to joining Invesco, Ms. Carew served as senior vice president and corporate secretary of Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, after previously serving as deputy general counsel-capital markets, securities and governance. Before joining FHLBank Atlanta, Ms. Carew practiced securities and mergers and acquisitions law at Sullivan & Cromwell. Ms. Carew earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from the Catholic University, Columbus School of Law, and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Edward Rockwell is SVP, General Counsel & Secretary at EPAM Systems, where he oversees the legal activities of the organization and provides strategic counsel and legal guidance to senior leadership and EPAM’s Board of Directors.

Previously, Mr. Rockwell served as Vice President & Assistant General Counsel at Red Hat, a leading global provider of open-source enterprise IT solutions. In this role, he led a global team of legal professionals that supported sales and operations. Prior to Red Hat, Mr. Rockwell was General Counsel and Vice President, Legal and Human Resources for DDN Storage. He also served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and General Counsel for HP Software and HP Services. Additionally, he spent five years in Milan, Italy, where he served as Director and Managing Counsel for HP’s Outsourcing Services business in EMEA and later Senior Director and Managing Counsel for Outsourcing Services worldwide.

Mr. Rockwell received a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Richmond School of Law.

Lauren McDonald is a conference producer at IR Magazine and Governance Intelligence. She brings a wealth of experience from her past roles in campaign organising for The Labour Party in Leeds and Tower Hamlets.

Lauren holds a Masters degree in the History of Race & Resistance and a Bachelors degree in American History & Politics, both from prestigious universities. She uses her expertise and knowledge to inform her current work and ensure high quality outcomes.

In her free time, Lauren is actively involved in a number of charitable causes. She has volunteered with the Girl Guides, the Los Angeles LGBT Centre, and regularly donates her time to political campaigns in and around London.

In her role as conference producer at IR Magazine and Governance Intelligence, Lauren is passionate about providing the best experience to all stakeholders and ensuring all events she produces are of the highest quality.

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance issues affecting broker-dealers and asset management firms in the US and Europe. Before that, he was editor of Euromoney Institutional Investor’s International Financial Law Review and IFLR’s Americas editor, working in London and New York.

Laurence Taylor is a content researcher and conference producer at Governance Intelligence where he is responsible for crowd-sourcing intelligence on the big global issues facing governance teams. In this role, Laurence creates industry-wide conferences overseeing the event all the way from conception to completion.

Prior to this role, Laurence held similar roles with Westminster insight, A UK-based policy organisation for both the private and public sectors. Laurence also produced events for Metal Bulletin, American Metal Market, and Industrial Minerals market.

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.