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

Apr 1, 2024

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(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.

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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