Teresa Johnson: On ESG, Boardroom Diversity, and Truth to Power.

(0:00) Intro.(1:04) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(1:51) Start of interview.(2:54) Terry's "origin story." (5:18) The start of her legal career with O'Melveny & Myers.(8:35) Her time at Howard Rice and her current role at Arnold & Portner (the firms merged in 2012).(11:34) Her book ESG, the Professional's Guide to the Law and Practice of ESG, published by the American Bar Association.(14:55) On the evolution of the purpose of the corporation and emergence of ESG.(17:28) Environmental risks and opportunities (the "E" in ESG)(21:00) Her take on the new SEC Climate Disclosure Rules. "It's arguably, to me, the Sarbanes-Oxley of its generation in terms of a regulatory shift."(24:21) On the legal challenges to the SEC Climate Disclosure Rules.(28:11) Social risks and opportunities (the "S" in ESG).(33:31) On the ESG backlash. Reference to FT article ($13.3bn pulled out of BlackRock). Larry Fink's 2024 Chairman's Letter to Investors.(37:50) Challenges to CA's board diversity laws (SB-826 and AB-979)(42:14) Challenges to Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule.(44:14) The Theranos Governance Story with Tyler Schulz (event hosted by BASF).(46:22) BASF's Truth and Power Distinguished Speaker Series.(48:47) Future corporate governance trends: ESG is increasingly intersectional (i.e. sustainability and AI)(52:29)  Books that have greatly influenced her life: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (2015)Lady Justice by Dahlia Lithwick (2022)(54:04) Her mentors: Larry Rabkin (former partner at Howard Rice)  and her Dad.(54:57) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that" (St Teresa of Avila) and "You have to see it to be it" (Billie Jean King)(55:55) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.(56:14) The living person she most admires: Gloria Steinem.Terry Johnson is a partner at Arnold & Porter and the 2024 President of the Bar Association of San Francisco and its Justice and Diversity Center. You can follow Evan on social media at:X: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

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