Founder and Chair of the Board, Board Risk Committee; Former Board Member, Synovus Financial, El Paso Electric Co. and Stewart Information Services
For more than 30 years, Catherine A. Allen has been an outstanding leader in technology strategy and financial services and a key thought leader in business innovation. She is the Founder and Chair of the Board of Shared Assessments, a global membership organization dedicated to developing the best practices, education, and products to drive third-party risk assurance. In 2020 she founded the Board Risk Committee, a nonprofit aiming to foster more effective enterprise risk management and board oversight.
US Head of Disputes, Litigation and Arbitration, and Global Investigations practice, Freshfields
Eric is the US Head of the firm’s disputes, litigation and arbitration, and global investigations practice. He specializes in complex white collar criminal defense matters, global investigations, crisis management, congressional investigations and bet-the-company civil litigation.
Eric regularly defends multinational companies and their officers and directors against allegations of bribery/Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, money laundering, securities and accounting fraud, insider trading, antitrust violations, tax evasion, and violations of the World Bank’s Integrity Compliance Guidelines. He also frequently advises boards of directors and audit committees regarding complex cross-border litigation and investigations and develops strategies to favorably resolve those matters short of litigation.
Partner & Head, Strategic Risk and Crisis Management practice, Freshfields
Beth is a partner and leads the strategic risk and crisis management practice at Freshfields. Based out of Silicon Valley, Beth’s practice focuses on the representation of companies preparing for and navigating the toughest situations, from cybersecurity breaches and internal investigations to bet-the-company regulatory inquiries and congressional investigations. Beth regularly advises boards of both private and public companies on risk management and governance, including through hosting table-top exercises to prepare for high-risk events, like cyberattacks. She has deep and wide-ranging expertise from her background working at senior levels across the U.S. federal government, Beth served as Acting General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense during the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, where she advised the Secretary of Defense on high stakes matters, including issues related to Iran, China, and the drawdown in Afghanistan. Beth also served in various roles for the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Counsel to the Office of Law & Policy, and as an Honors Attorney and Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Intelligence.
Board Member, ACI Worldwide, Mitek and Bank of Marin
Jim Hale is a recognized thought leader, investor, and pioneer in the financial services industry with extensive training and experience within the risk management and cyber security sectors. He has launched and grown multiple businesses that have leveraged his vision of both the evolving financial services marketplace as well as the disruption of emerging financial technologies. As an investor, Jim has advised scores of public and private companies on growth and innovation. Jim leverages his global network of leaders within the financial service industry that he has built over several decades investing in the space.
Board Member, RiskLens and FAIR Institute; Former Risk Committee Chair, E*TRADE Bank
James C. Lam is a risk management consultant and board director. He is president of James Lam & Associates, a risk management consulting firm he founded in 2002. His clients include corporate directors and executives across key sectors, including financial services, energy, technology, healthcare, government entities, and non-profits. In a Euromoney survey, James was nominated by clients and peers as one of the world’s leading risk consultants. He previously served as Founder and President of ERisk, a technology start-up that provided cloud-based analytical solutions to banks, insurance companies, and energy firms. James also served as Partner of Oliver Wyman, where he was the global leader of enterprise risk solutions.
Partner & Head of U.S. Transactions practice, Freshfields
Pamela is a partner and Head of US Transactions in New York. Her practice focuses on capital markets transactions and corporate governance matters. She has deep experience providing issuers and underwriters with advice on the full range of debt and equity offerings, including initial public offerings, direct listings and SPAC transactions; shelf registrations and takedowns; convertible offerings; block trades; private placements; stock repurchase programs; exchange offers; MTN programs; derivatives; tender offers; open market purchases; consent solicitations and liability management matters. She regularly advises boards of directors and management on a variety of corporate governance topics, including crisis preparedness, mitigation and response; succession planning; dual class and multi-class share structures; board composition, refreshment, succession and director independence; stakeholder governance and public benefit corporation (PBC) matters; fiduciary duties and conflicts; stakeholder engagement and activism defense; shareholder proposals and proxy season trends; environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues; and cybersecurity matters. In addition to her practice, she regularly lectures and writes on corporate governance, cybersecurity and blockchain topics.
Managing Director – Accenture Security, Cybersecurity R&D, Accenture Labs
Lisa is the Global Leader of Security Research and Development at Accenture, leading two Labs in Washington DC and Herzliya, Israel. Her role is to ideate, develop and co-innovate with the Global 2000 to create the future of security and cyber defense. Key to her success, she looks over the horizon at the global start-up ecosystem and emerging technologies to identify white space opportunities and develop next generation cybersecurity proof of concepts. Current research areas include Metaverse Security, Quantum Security, Cyber Digital Twins, Intelligent Data Operations and Mesh, Trustworthy Artificial and Security of Operational Technology.
Chair of Risk Committee, Synovus; President Emeritus, University of South Carolina
Harris Pastides, PhD, MPH, is president emeritus of the University of South Carolina, having previously served as its 28th president (2008–2019) and interim president (2021–2022). Since first arriving at the university in 1998, he has also held the positions of vice president for research and health sciences and dean of the Arnold School of Public Health. He was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees as its public member in November 2019 and began officially serving his four-year term in June 2020.
Partner, National Professional Standards Group, RSM US LLP
Scott is the national SEC services leader for RSM US. In this role he works with clients and teams on a variety of SEC-related matters including providing technical support and SEC compliance reviews throughout the registration process. He joined RSM in 2014 after over 28 years with a Big Four firm where he served numerous large, complex family owned and private equity backed companies as well as publicly held companies in a variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution and renewable energy.
