Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein Podcast By Evan Epstein cover art

Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

By: Evan Epstein
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In-depth interview podcast with leading corporate governance experts, including world-class founders, scholars, board members, executives, investors and more. The content is structured as a long-form conversation to explore not only the latest corporate governance trends, but also to get some personal insights from some of the best and brightest minds behind America's boardrooms.2020-2026 Boardroom Governance Economics Education Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Benjamin Edwards: The Rise of Nevada in the Reincorporation Debate

    Benjamin Edwards: The Rise of Nevada in the Reincorporation Debate
    Mar 23 2026
    (0:00) Intro (1:31) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:18) Start of interview (3:10) Ben's origin story (7:14) Embracing Nevada as Home. Joining University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2017. (10:14) Joining Wilson Sonsini as Senior of Counsel (2026) (13:00) The Reincorporation Movement. Competition between Delaware, Texas, Nevada and others. *Reference to E201 with Leo Strine (14:28) Tracking Company Reincorporation Movements (at Business Law Prof Blog) (16:02) The Texas vs. Nevada Landscape (17:50) Reasons Companies Move Jurisdictions *Reference to E194 with Richard Blake on SV150 companies (23:15) Delaware advantages (25:32) How Nevada is competing: "[W]e need to be able to do is reduce the friction and the barriers to picking Nevada as a jurisdiction." (26:09) Delaware's SB21 and Its Implications. *Reference to Cornerstone Research report on the increase of M&A settlements and paper Is Delaware Different? Stockholder Lawyering in the Court of Chancery by Jessica Erickson, Adam Pritchard, and Stephen Choi (31:54) The Race to the Bottom theory *Reference to E200 with Betsy Atkins (34:50) Nevada's Business Courts and Future Changes (constitutional amendment) (41:44) The IPO Landscape: Trends and Insights (Delaware fell from over 80% of IPO incorporations in 2022-2024 to just under 62% in 2025; Nevada reached ~17%, and Texas just under 4%). Bill Ackman picking Nevada for the IPO of Pershing Square. (44:45) Addressing Nevada's Reputation (the example of LQR House reincorporating from Nevada to Delaware) *Reference to the Startup Litigation Digest (49:06) Founder-Led Companies and Jurisdiction Choices. Example of Mark Pincus: Founders, Leave Delaware (While You Still Can) (53:46) Nevada’s Commission to Study the Adjudication of Business Law Cases (55:50) Books that have greatly influenced his life: Give and Take, by Adam Grant (2013)Drive, by Daniel Pink (2009)Chimpanzee Politics, by Frans de Waal (1982) (57:16) His mentors. (58:16) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by "To have a friend, you got to be a friend." (58:39) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves (58:57) The living person he most admires Benjamin Edwards is a Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Ben also recently joined Wilson Sonsini as Senior Of Counsel to provide guidance to Nevada-incorporated companies. 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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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Joelle Emerson: Why Company Culture Is a Core Governance Issue

    Joelle Emerson: Why Company Culture Is a Core Governance Issue
    Mar 9 2026
    (0:00) Intro (1:35) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel (2:22) Start of interview (3:01) Joelle's origin story (7:00) The Journey of Paradigm, the culture company she co-founded in 2014. "Our goal is to help organizations build healthy and high performing cultures where people from all backgrounds can come together, do their best work and thrive." (11:15) On the current backlash against DEI. (16:49) On Coinbase's "mission focused company" statement in 2020. (21:53) The Politics of Company Culture, and Silicon Valley's approach. (26:15) The Shift from Public to Private Companies (29:33) AI's Impact on the Workforce (35:18) The Role of the Board on Workplace Culture (37:23) Talent executives and CHROs on Boards (39:54) Rethinking Compliance in Organizations (42:43) Evaluating an organization's culture (45:22) Books that have greatly influenced her life: Growth Mindset, by Carol Dweck (2007)Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (2025)Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel (2022) (47:04) Her mentors. (48:24) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by "Do the best you can until you know better. And then when you know better, do better." (Maya Angelou) "Forward is a pace" (heard from a Peloton instructor, Robin Arzon) (49:08) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves (49:44) The living person she most admires (inspiring now): Lindsey Vonn. (50:30) The Unique Perspective of a Lawyer-CEO Joelle Emerson is the CEO and co-founder of Paradigm, a company that empowers organizations to create innovative, high-performance workplaces where everyone can do their best work. 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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    52 mins
  • Leo Strine: Delaware’s Moment, AI Guardrails, and a Call of Conscience

    Leo Strine: Delaware’s Moment, AI Guardrails, and a Call of Conscience
    Feb 23 2026

    (0:00) Intro

    (1:29) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

    (2:15) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Leo Strine (E100)

    (3:09) The Call of Conscience and The Current Moment (reference to his speech at the Weinberg Center in Oct of 2025)

    (5:18) Skepticism about Credibility of the Elite Among the Youth

    (7:02) The Ethical Muscle

    (8:20) Acknowledging Discrimination

    (8:56) The Climate Crisis

    (12:37) Shifts in Delaware Law

    (13:45) Return to Traditions. "What Delaware has done is return to its traditions that existed the entire time I was a judge."

    (14:28) The Controlled Company Debate and the MFW standard.

    (25:00) On the recent pushback against incorporating in Delaware: "I don't minimize the moment"

    (32:00) Section 220 Books and Records under SB21

    (34:20) The statute was amended to provide more predictability. It actually looks like the Model Business Corporation Act. "I think both elements of this statute balance fairness and efficiency in a really good way."

    (39:54) Activist Judges and Delaware. "This was a nonpartisan initiative to restore confidence in Delaware's corporate law. I have the utmost respect for our judiciary, I'm proud to have been part of it, and I believe they will follow the law."

    (42:26) Delaware's Competitive Edge

    (48:25) The Rise of AI Companies

    (52:16) Energy Demand from AI. From guardrails to "trust us"

    (58:39) The Urgency of Leadership

    (1:01:59) Davos looks like a portrait of leadership failure "either eliminate it or make it real."

    Leo E. Strine, Jr., is Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Prior to joining WLRK, he was the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from early 2014 through late 2019.

    You can follow Evan on social media at:

    X: @evanepstein

    LinkedIn: 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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    1 hr and 7 mins
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