More than 140 people gathered in UT Dallas’ Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center for the 20th Annual Corporate Governance Conference. The Naveen Jindal School of Management’s Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance presented the event, held Sept. 21.

Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean, welcomed attendees, which included institute members, faculty and guests by saying how satisfying it is to hold the conference on campus. This is the second inperson gathering for the conference after a nearly two-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is time to get our lives back,” he said. “Our students have returned. We currently have 10,500 students. That is record enrollment and it speaks to the quality of our students. They missed being in the classroom.”

Community members associated with the Jindal School and the institute were also eager for face-to-face interaction, as evidenced by the turnout. Keynote speaker for the conference was Robert Hall, author of “This Land of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis That Imperils Home, Work, Politics and Faith.” His presentation, “Facing Today’s New Strategic Risk: Stakeholder Warfare,” examined the changing role of company executives and boards in today’s political and social climate.

Today, corporations and nonprofits are expected to take a position on a range of social and political issues, including the environment, guns, race, gender identity, and abortion, Hall said. Differing opinions held by stakeholders have resulted in conflict within companies. He illustrated the evolution that created stakeholder warfare in phases.

Robert Skinner, deputy director and chief of Partnerships and Global Engagement, Outreach Division, United Nations Department of Global Communications, was the keynote speaker for the event, held virtually Jan. 31. His presentation — The Intersection of Sustainability and Entrepreneurship: Why the SDGs are Critical to Entrepreneurs and Innovators — explained what the United Nations does, where the SDGs come from, the challenges the organization sees ahead and how entrepreneurs and businesspeople can contribute to achieving and sustaining those goals.

In phase one, corporations focused on creating value for their stakeholders; in phase two, the stakeholder revolt gave rise to “cancel culture,” and ESG (organizations committed to environmental, social, and governance issues) investing skyrocketed; phase three — stakeholder warfare.

“We now have armies versus leadership inside companies,” Hall said. “We’ve gone from ‘how do I not get canceled?’ to ‘how can I stop the warfare?’”

The battlefield is changing, he said, going into phase four.

“It has been that it is not OK to be against ESG or to push back,” he said. “That is changing.”

Dennis Cagan, principal of Canganco Inc., said Hall’s presentation rang true for him. “I serve on several boards and I have seen the shift against ESG. It’s been dramatic.”

“I loved his discussion on stakeholder warfare,” said Shaunna Black, founder and president of Shaunna Black and Associates. “It perfectly describes this dark phase we’re in and I liked the optimistic phase four he described.”

The conference’s slate of speakers covered arange of topics important to companies in today’s environment.

Bonnie Clinton, vice president and CPO, Indirect Procurement Shared Services for Toyota North America, discussed her experiences working with supply chain issues.

Jason Galui, founder and CEO of 4 Liberty Consulting, and David Kohl, president of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, examined the intersection of national security and business interests.

AT&T director of Compliance-Ethics & Policy Matthew Solomon, discussed the importance for organizations to have a clear ethics policy that employees understand.

Max Hopper Leadership Series speaker Nancy Shemwell, COO, Trilogy Networks, discussed ways technology can benefit farmers in rural areas to grow more crops to address food shortages.

Gregg Ballew, executive director of the institute, said that members and guests are always scanning the horizon to identify corporate governance issues that may be relevant to their organizations.

“Each of our presenters offered their unique view of the world, and our hope is that everyone walked away from the conference with one actionable idea,” he said. “In addition, this group enjoys interacting with each other, and it’s rewarding to see people develop new relationships that will evolve from the event.”

Event sponsors were ExxonMobil, Grant Thornton, Investors for Director Accountability, NACD, and Texas Instruments. Corporate sponsors were Holland & Knight, Texas Capital Bank, and Whitley Penn.