TN: Biz Male bias?

More than 91% of board members of publicly traded Tennessee companies are men, according to a CABLE/Lipscomb report. The KNS has it.

Lipscomb U., Bone McAllester create Corporate Governance institute

The Lipscomb University College of Business and Nashville-based Bone McAllister Norton PLLC today announced the creation of the Dean Institute for Corporate Governance and Integrity. The founders explained in a release today that the institution's identity reflects the fact that the development of the new organization was funded by drawing on an endowment previously established for Lipscomb by Hilton and Sallie Dean, he being the chairman of the Lipscomb board of trustees and the retired vice chairman of Ernst & Young LLP. Lipscomb Business Dean Turney Stevens (pictured at left), explaining the new institute's mission, said in the release, "Integrity cannot be regulated and honor cannot be enforced – they are qualities of a deeper nature, guided by principles and informed by faith.” Stevens is co-founder of the Dean Institute. Prior to joining Lipscomb, Stevens was founder and CEO of Harpth Capital. According to today's announcement, the program was designed by Stevens and by Bone McAllister's Charles Bone and Trace Blankenship. In today's statement, Lipscomb President Randolph Lowry explained the new institute will approach corporate governance "from a faith-based perspective," in an effort to encourage development of successfully performing businesses led by persons with demonstratable integrity. Lipscomb was founded as Nashville Bible School in 1891 and its mission includes a commitment to integrating Christian faith and practice with academics.

VU Profs argue Private Equity more vigilant in new financial world

Over the weekend, two Vanderbilt University professors updated their report, "Does Private Equity Create Wealth?" The study from Owen GSM Prof. Ron Masulis and VU Law School Prof. Randall Thomas reveals that boards of directors and management teams in companies owned by private-equity funds have advantages over public companies when it comes to monitoring financial risk and performance. Say the authors, PE execs "can do a better job of monitoring of derivative transactions and derivative contract positions than their public company counterparts..." They explained at another point in the 56-page report, "Unlike public companies, boardroom activity in [leveraged buyout] firms is less concerned about regulatory compliance, committee work, and process... There is better information available to top management and board level because of initial extensive due diligence and because of the more intense operational focus... Moreover, there is a different social dynamic on the board, so that anything can be discussed and all assumptions are subject to reconsideration...." The paper offers an interesting discussion of management incentives to create shareowner value. Masulis' research is focused on M&A activity and corporate governance. The 56-page Masulis-Thomas report is here (pdf).