Put These on Your Calendar?

In addition to publishing Bank Director magazine, Board Member Inc. publishes Corporate Board Member, which is read by the directors and CEOs of the nation’s public corporations–all companies listed on the New York and American Stock exchanges, as well as those listed on the NASDAQ.

This year, Corporate Board Member is sponsoring two conferences that may be of interest to bank directors, as well, and I wanted to provide our readers with some advance notice.

On November 13 and 14, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, we will be hosting a two-day conference dedicated to shareholder suits–avoiding them if possible, and fighting them if not, with many sessions devoted to the art of negotiating and settling these suits that have become the scourge of business. In the days ahead, given the disasters in corporate governance at Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom, and others, we will no doubt see more of these suits. Banks, largely unscathed by shareholder suits when compared, say, to technology companies, can expect to have their fill of plaintiffs’ attorneys who are hot on the trail of lucrative settlements.

This conference on shareholder suits is being cosponsored by three of the nation’s largest and most prestigious law firms: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York; Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles; and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in San Francisco.

We expect this conference to fill very quickly, so if you are a CEO, a CFO, or the general counsel of a public company, I would urge you to call our office at (615) 309-3200 to secure an information packet. If you have public companies that bank with you, there may be officers of those companies who can benefit from this powerful conference as well.

Another conference may also be of interest to you: In March, Corporate Board Member is planning a conference and trip to Cuba, to provide a close-up view of a country we may well be doing business with in the years to come. This study trip will be in full compliance with U.S. travel restrictions and will involve meetings and presentations with U.S. and Cuban officials on both sides of this country’s economic embargo of Cuba–a burning issue among businesspeople and politicians alike.

Plans for the Cuba conference are still being finalized, but it is our intention to hold out a small number of places for bankers representing both private and publicly held banks. In the event you would like to put your name on the reservation list for this trip, or to get more information about it, please call our office or send your request by e-mail to [email protected], and we will get the information to you as soon as plans are finalized.

It’s an increasingly interesting world out there for board members, and it is our intention, via conferences, the boardmember.com and bankdirector.com websites, and this magazine, to keep you informed on the subjects that will be occupying your time in the years ahead.