About

As Trian’s Chief Legal Officer, I oversee our firm’s legal, regulatory and compliance matters. Trian is an investment firm that manages capital for a global base of investors that includes institutional investors, public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and individuals. As a highly engaged shareholder, we look to work closely with the management teams and boards of our portfolio companies to help create sustainable long-term shareholder value. As a firm, we seek to identify operating and strategic initiatives to drive that value creation. Given that the legal team fits within a multi-disciplinary investment team, I urge our legal team to look at issues from various perspectives, so that our input can be as valuable as possible.

Trian’s partners have served on the boards of nearly 20 public companies since our inception in 2005, with the vast majority of our engagements taking the form of private, behind-the-scenes interactions with boards and management teams. Trian has, however, been involved in four seminal proxy contests—Heinz, DuPont and Procter & Gamble—along with the Disney contest in 2024. As a guiding principle, we believe that shareholders’ ability to participate in director elections is fundamental to principles of shareholder democracy and is the primary mechanism for director accountability. Our system of public share ownership is premised on shareholders’ ability to vote for their preferred director candidates in annual elections. In the corporate governance/shareholder franchise ecosystem, two areas of focus that I am keeping an eye on are the ability of issuers and activist shareholders to directly solicit non-objecting beneficial owners (NOBOs) and the expansion of pass-through voting by mutual funds.

The Disney contest was emblematic of this principle of shareholder democracy and director accountability. As one of the largest and most well-known companies in the world, we felt it was important for all Disney shareholders to have a voice in the company’s future direction and to understand their role in the process. As a senior member of the team, I had the opportunity interact with management, shareholders, advisors and other stakeholders to help educate shareholders about how Trian and its board nominees could be a catalyst for change and “Restore the Magic” at Disney and, critically, why shareholders should seize the opportunity to play a part in the democratic process.

Continuing with my focus on shareholder priorities, I also serve as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC provides the Commission with diverse perspectives, advice, and recommendations on regulatory priorities, the regulation of securities products, trading strategies, fee structures, the effectiveness of disclosure, and on initiatives to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace. As Chair, I have the opportunity to work with a broad group of other committee members in planning educational roundtables and panels (such as on artificial intelligence and operations and retail investor fraud) as well as to work on recommendations to the Commission regarding the protection of investors in their interactions with finfluencers and on investors’ ability to bring claims under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933.