12th Annual Governance Outlook Speaker Bios

Michelle Edkins

Michelle Edkins is a Managing Director in BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team of over 45 specialists covering the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia- Pacific. In that role, she is responsible globally for institutional relations, policy on investment stewardship issues, and communications related to BlackRock’s investment stewardship perspectives and activities. She also serves on the firm’s Global Operating and Government Relations Steering Committees.

An active participant in the public corporate governance debate, she was named in the NACD Directorship 100 Governance Professionals list the past seven years. She is also a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s First Movers program and a former Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Corporate Governance Network.

She currently serves on a number of industry initiatives to enhance governance and sustainable business practices including the US chapter of the 30% Club, a market initiative to increase the number of women on boards and in senior management, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Investor Advisory Group and the CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative. An economist by training, Michelle has also worked in the UK in a number of investment stewardship-related roles and in government roles in her native New Zealand.

Gary A. LaBranche

Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, is the President & CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). As CEO, LaBranche provides strategic executive leadership to advance the NIRI’s mission and goals. NIRI’s members represent 1,600 publicly traded companies with a combined market cap of $9 trillion. He represents NIRI to regulators, lawmakers, the media and other audiences. Since coming to NIRI in 2017, NIRI launched the “Investor and Issuer Invitational Forum,” the 40 Under 40 program, the IR Competency Suite of online courses, a legislative fly-in to Washington and a Think Tank on Artificial Intelligence and a podcast. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the NIRI staff to remote work and a pivot to virtual conferences. Under his leadership NIRI achieved a long-sought regulatory victory with the SEC’s ruling on proxy advisor reform. LaBranche is the only person to open/close all three NY stock exchanges in one week.
 
Previously, he was CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). ACG serves 90,000 investors, lenders, executives and advisors to middle market companies, including 1,000 private equity firms.
 
An association professional for 39+ years, LaBranche has served as CEO for three other organizations and as a senior executive at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining ACG, LaBranche was CEO for the Association Forum of Chicagoland. At the Forum and ASAE he was responsible for identifying, developing and sharing best practices, models and innovation in association management, professional development and meeting planning. At ASAE he was responsible for the 6,000 attendee “Super Bowl of Conventions,” launch of e-learning and modernization of the Certified Association Executive (CAE) program.
 
He was named an ASAE Fellow (FASAE) in 1995. He was the ASAE Key Award winner for 2007, the highest award in the profession.  ASSOCIATION TRENDS named him the 2012 Association Executive of the Year. The Association Forum honored him as the 2019 recipient of the Samuel B. Shapiro Award for Chief Executive Achievement. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Association Committee of 100 and is past chairman of the Chamber’s Institute of Organization Management. LaBranche has served on ASAE’s 4 governing boards and chaired the board of ASAE’s for-profit subsidiary, ASAE Business Services, Inc.
 
He is the author of 300+ articles, podcasts and columns and the book, “The Association CEO Succession Toolkit” published by ASAE in 2018. He authored the chapter, “Managing the Complex Association Enterprise” in ASAE’s Handbook on Professional Practices in Association Management, 3rd edition with an update coming in the 4th edition in 2021. He has consulted/presented to 300+ associations.
 
LaBranche was profiled as an innovative leader in the book, Hope: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future, by Andrew Razeghi. He has also been featured in Strategic Transformation: How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change, by Beth Gazley and Katha Kissman, and Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers, CAE.

Hannah Orowitz

Hannah Orowitz is a senior managing director on Georgeson’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) advisory team. Hannah works closely with clients across all market capitalizations and industries to develop proactive ESG strategies and shareholder engagement programs. Hannah leverages her legal background and disclosure expertise to help Georgeson clients enhance and effectively communicate key ESG matters to their investors. As a former in-house counsel, Hannah understands the complexities presented by investors’ ever-increasing focus on ESG matters and helps clients reach consensus within their organizations as to how to best integrate communicate with stakeholders on these topics. Hannah frequently represents Georgeson at industry events and presentations and is regularly featured in media coverage regarding ESG and shareholder engagement.

Prior to joining Georgeson, Hannah was Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary for XL Group Ltd, responsible for securities and corporate governance matters, including the development and execution of XL’s shareholder engagement and sustainability strategies, all aspects of XL’s shareholder meetings and governance matters related to XL’s acquisition of Catlin Group Limited and later its merger with and into AXA SA. Hannah began her career as an Associate with Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan (now Eversheds Sutherland), where she counseled clients on public and private securities offerings and corporate governance matters.

Hannah received her J.D., Cum Laude, from American University Washington College of Law and her B.A. from Hamilton College. She is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance and of its Sustainability Practices Committee.

Darla Stuckey

Darla Stuckey is President & CEO of the Society for Corporate Governance (formerly the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals), effective January 1, 2015. Darla joined the Society in September 2009 and has been responsible for legal, policy, advocacy, research and communication efforts on the Society's behalf. In her position, she has testified before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee on governance and proxy issues and is a frequent speaker at both Society and other events.

Prior to joining the Society, Darla was the Senior Assistant Secretary at American Express Company. She also served its Nominating and Governance and Public Responsibility Committees, and the boards of its two wholly owned subsidiary banks. Before joining American Express, Ms. Stuckey was the Corporate Secretary at the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. from 2002-2004 (and the Assistant Secretary from 2000-2002). Ms. Stuckey began her career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where she practiced in the Securities Litigation Department for 10 years.

Ms. Stuckey has a BS from Oklahoma Christian College, an MA from the University of Oklahoma and a JD from Brooklyn Law School.