Adam Sterling: The Independent Director Initiative.
Welcome to the Boardroom Governance Podcast. I’m your host, Evan Epstein. In this episode, I talk with Adam Sterling, Assistant Dean for Executive Education and Revenue Generation at UC Berkeley’s School of Law and Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business. In this podcast, we talk about the Independent Director Initiative, a two-day program designed to train, and help place, individuals from backgrounds underrepresented in venture capital, to serve as independent directors on the boards of venture backed private companies. The inaugural program was hosted last week (Aug 16-17) in Berkeley, California, and we recorded this podcast a couple of days later on Aug 19th, 2022. Among other topics, we address what makes the composition of venture-backed company boards so different and the fiduciary duties of directors in these companies, where the role of the independent director can be critical particularly in a down cycle economy where down-rounds, recaps or fire sales may be more prevalent. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. You can find all the show notes on the website boardroom-governance.com and please feel free to subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com