Boardroom Balance: Law, Investors, and Corporate Reality

Lisa A. Fontenot has advised clients as to mergers and acquisitions, investments and other complex corporate transactions, and securities regulation and corporate governance matters for 30 years. Lisa is ranked as a leading attorney in the Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law categories of The Best Lawyers in America© 2019-2024 and is repeatedly shortlisted for the 'Media and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year' Euromoney Women in Business Law Award. She is a Thomson Reuters 'Stand Out Lawyer' and has been named an expert in Capital Markets and M&A by Euromoney Women in Business Law Expert Guides, a Woman Leader in Tech Law by The Recorder – San Francisco, and a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. She is a certified Corporate Governance Professional accredited by the Society for Corporate Governance. Lisa advises U.S. and international companies, with a focus on the technology and media sectors, to successfully execute their strategic transactions, including public and private M&A, cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, joint ventures and investments. Lisa also advises issuers as to securities transactions, securities regulation, and corporate governance or activism matters and represents investors in connection with their investments in, and equity dispositions of portfolio companies. Lisa is also a Steering Committee leader of the Interactive Entertainment Sector group.

Andrew Shapiro CEO & President Lawndale Capital Advisors, Inc.

 Andrew Shapiro is a seasoned strategic advisor and experienced board member with a wealth of experience in driving value creation, business transformation, and long-term growth for boards, investment funds, and family offices. With a unique combination of governance, finance, investment, legal, and restructuring expertise, he is a trusted counsel for high-stakes matters, including contested situations, M&A and reorganization transactions, and related litigation. As CEO of Lawndale Capital Management, where he managed its activist hedge funds for 32 years until 2024, Mr. Shapiro honed deep expertise in navigating complex proxy/activist campaigns and driving sustainable value creation by improving corporate governance, capital allocation, compensation design, and stakeholder engagement. In addition to leading Lawndale, Mr. Shapiro has served as a Board Member, Officer, Advisor, and Consultant to corporate boards, family offices, investment funds, bankruptcy committees, and non-profits. He brings boardroom-tested creativity, integrity, and passion to negotiating solutions and improving corporate governance processes. Andrew's extensive corporate board experience and recognition for governance thought leadership, include being named to the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship 100 and serving on the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) Corporate Governance Advisory Council. He holds Board Leadership Fellow credentials from the NACD for over 12 years, a Certification in Private Company Governance from the Private Directors Association, and is qualified as an Audit Committee Financial Expert. Mr. Shapiro is a frequent speaker on corporate governance, fiduciary duty, and activist investing topics for several corporate governance & director’s education programs and has received national recognition through feature articles in Forbes, Barron’s, Institutional Investor, and a Business Week article that labeled him “The Gary Cooper of Governance.” In addition to his public company engagements, Mr. Shapiro is serving or has served as a Board Member or Advisor to early-stage start-ups, most recently, VideoXRM, Shareholder Vote Exchange, and Miravel. Mr. Shapiro is also a Board and Executive Committee member of the Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and serves as Board Advisor, Past Chair/President, and on the Investment Committee of the Mill Valley Library Foundation, on whose board he served in various leadership positions over many years. Before Lawndale's 1992 founding, Mr. Shapiro was a trusted advisor, portfolio manager, and workout specialist in the family office of Sam Belzberg. Before joining First City, Mr. Shapiro was a Credit Officer involved in numerous corporate LBO and recapitalization transactions for Manufacturers Hanover Trust (now JP Morgan) and an Associate at The Spectrum Group, a private equity firm. Mr. Shapiro earned dual JD and MBA degrees from UCLA’s School of Law and Anderson School of Management and a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. 

Stephen E. Sellick Founder and Chairman Gnarus Advisors