Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

George Dallas and Mike Lubrano: Governance, Stewardship & Sustainability.

Episode Summary

Welcome to the Boardroom Governance Podcast. I’m your host, Evan Epstein. In this episode, I talk with George Dallas and Mike Lubrano. George is the Head of Content at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and former Policy Director at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). Mike is a Managing Director of Valoris Stewardship Catalysts and former Managing Director of Corporate Governance and Sustainability at Cartica Management, LLC. In this podcast, we talk about their book “Governance, Stewardship and Sustainability” and how they define and think about stewardship, sustainability and ESG. We discuss methodologies, evidence and other related matters including the Volkswagen Dieselgate case study. We also talk about international corporate governance distinctions from regions such as the UK, Europe and Latin America, including matters such as cross-listings, ADRs, activism and engagement between controlling shareholders and minority investors. We also address the anti-ESG trend, the politicization of governance in the US and large asset managers passing-through voting power to beneficial owners. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. You can find all the show notes on the website boardroom-governance.com and please feel free to subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com

Episode Notes

0:00 -- Intro.

1:38 -- Start of interview.

2:56 -- George's "origin story."  He's based in London since 1988. About his new role at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI).

7:24 -- Mike's "origin story." On his experience with ADRs and cross-listings with Latin American companies. His experience working at NYC and Mexican law firms, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), OECD-Latin America Roundtable on Corporate Governance and Cartica Management.

15:52 -- On the origin and focus of their book  "Governance, Stewardship and Sustainability." (2nd edition 2022). Based on (and used for) the ICGN course of the same name.

20:37 -- How they define stewardship, sustainability and ESG.

27:22 -- On ICGN Global Stewardship Principles and ICGN Global Governance Principles. The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance.

31:07 -- On their ESG methodology, proposed in their book.

34:52 -- The Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal and case study.

39:51 -- On two-tiered boards, employee representation on boards, and purpose of the corporation (stakeholder v shareholder visions).

43:00 -- On the politicization of governance and the "anti-ESG" trend in the U.S. 

48:20  -- On large asset managers passing-through voting power to beneficial owners (see BlackRock's Voting Choice). 

51:17  -- Thoughts and recommendations for directors regarding shareholder activism (from Mike Lubrano)

53:44  -- Activism in emerging markets, and/or in controlled companies.

56:58  -- Thoughts and recommendations for directors (from George Dallas).

59:20 - What are the 1-3 books that have greatly influenced your life: 

George:

  1. The Art of Loving, by Erich Fromm (1956)
  2. Author: Amor Towles.

Mike:

  1. Author: Terry Pratchett (valued for his irreverence)
  2. Author: Tony Judt (historian)
  3. Author: Enrique Krauze (Mexican historian)

01:00:51 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them?

  1. George: John Holcomb (academic), Bob Monks and Nell Minow, Prof Christian Strenger (Germany)
  2. Mike: Stephen Davis, George Dallas, Mats Isaksson (ex OECD)

01:03:46 - Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by? 

  1. George: From Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
  2. Mike: "Good is good, too good is no good." (from his Sicilian grandmother)

01:05:12 -  An unusual habit or an absurd thing that they love: 

  1. George: he plays in the banjo in local bluegrass band.
  2. Mike: backyard pizza maker.

01:06:14 -  The living person they most admire:

  1. George: John Lewis (recently passed) and Jimmy Carter.
  2. Mike: Barack Obama.

George Dallas is the Head of Content at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and former Policy Director at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN).

Mike Lubrano is a Managing Director of Valoris Stewardship Catalysts and former Managing Director of Corporate Governance and Sustainability at Cartica Management, LLC.

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 You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ 

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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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