On May 9th, 2006, the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government convened a half-day roundtable discussion on corporate governance, exploring the changing relationships between chief executive officers, boards of directors, audit committees, auditors, investor groups and regulators in the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals and the resulting policy reforms.

"The scandals of recent years have made corporate governance a major area of societal concern and policy change," said Cary Coglianese, faculty chair of the Center's Regulatory Policy Program. "After several years of post-Enron reform, we need to take stock of what's changed and what hasn't," he said.

Organized by the Regulatory Policy Program, and made possible with support from Ernst & Young LLP, the roundtable involved a select group of thirty leaders from the nation's regulatory, business, legal, investor, accounting and academic communities. By convening such a diverse group of participants for an intensive dialogue, the roundtable succeeded in highlighting important changes in corporate relationships and their implications for public policy.

"Opportunities to meet face-to-face in closed session are much too rare, so roundtables like this one productively leverage the Kennedy School's convening ability and help move beyond the typical policy debates," said Michael L. Michael, senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center.

The roundtable dialogue began with a luncheon keynote address by the Honorable Roel C. Campos, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Following lunch, Professor Jay W. Lorsch, Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at Harvard Business School, opened the first discussion session, which focused on the extent and causes of changes in relationships among corporate stakeholders over the past five years.

A second discussion session considered whether changing relationships in corporate governance are, on balance, good ones for business and society and what implications they hold for public policy. This second session was moderated by Thomas J. Healey, senior fellow and adjunct lecturer at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, and was introduced with comments by Richard C. Breeden, Chairman of Richard C. Breeden & Co., and former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

At the close of the both sessions' dialogue, Robert Pozen, the Chairman of MFS Management, summarized and synthesized the issues raised during the dialogue. A report based on the roundtable discussion will be published later this year. Click here to see a copy of the agenda and list of participants.

A report from the roundtable is available here.