| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: | CONTACT: Jesse Jacobs |
| Wednesday, February 20, 2002 | 202-224-4524 |
COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ISSUES IN WAKE OF ENRON CORP. FAILURE
Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, has announced that the full Committee will continue its oversight responsibilities in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corp. by holding a hearing to receive recommendations on how to improve corporate governance.
Corporate governance issues have become central to the accounting and investor protection issues, and many observers are calling for major changes to ensure board independence. Boards of directors oversee corporate management in order to protect shareholders' interests. Stock exchange rules require that a certain percentage of board members be "outside" or independent directors who are unaffiliated with the firm and its management. Strengthening the independence of these individual directors has been one recent focus of reform.
The hearing is scheduled for:
10:00 A.M.
538 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
Scheduled to present their recommendations to the Committee are:
- Mr. John H. Briggs - Chairman, President and CEO of Teachers' Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF); Co-Chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees (sponsored by the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1998-99); Former member of the Public Oversight Board;
- Mr. Ira M. Millstein - Senior Partner of the firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges; Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the International Institute for Corporate Governance at the Yale School of Management; Former Chairman of the OECD Business Sector Advisory Group on Corporate Governance in 1997-98; Former Co-Chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees; and
- Mr. John C. Whitehead - Chairman of AEA Investors, Inc.; Former Deputy Secretary of State; Former Co-Chairman and Senior Partner of Goldman Sachs; Former Director and Chairman of the Securities Industry Association; Former Director of the New York Stock Exchange; Former member of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees.
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