Directors on the boards of non-profits constantly need to balance the organization’s mission with the ongoing realities of today's economy and regulatory environment.  Our panel will discuss the use of good corporate governance to advance the mission of the organization.  Topics of discussion will include:

• The broader role of a non-profit board in contrast to most for-profit boards
• The politics behind mergers and acquisitions, and the strategic value and challenges of M&A transactions
• Evaluating necessary expertise and commitment on the board -- avoiding “treasure but no talent” while keeping in mind the need to attract donors and the advantages of diversity
• Engaging volunteers to help the organization, particularly in a struggling economy
• Steps to take when operating budgets far exceed finances from stakeholders
• Considering adoption of new policies in light of changes to IRS Form 990
• Dealing with PR issues regarding compensation, finances, and mission

OUR PANELISTS:
DAVID G. SPACKMAN  is the chief of the Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division of the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General.  Prior to joining the office in May of 2007, Mr. Spackman had over thirty years of experience representing public, for-profit, and non-profit clients in the health care field.  He began his legal career in 1976 as the general counsel to the Department of Health and Hospitals of the City of Boston and entered private practice in 1984.  During the course of his private sector career, most recently with the Boston Office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, he represented both for-profit and non-profit health care providers with respect to governance and regulatory matters and gained extensive regional and national experience in representing health care clients involved in organization change including mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, joint ventures, physician/hospital integration vehicles, conversions of public institutions to private status and sales of non-profit assets to for-profit systems.   The Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division of the Attorney General’s Office is statutorily charged with protecting the public’s interest in the Commonwealth’s public charities.

JOAN WALLACE BENJAMIN -  In May 2007, Joan returned to The Home for Little Wanderers as the President & Chief Executive Officer to continue the work she began when she originally assumed leadership of the agency in 2003. Under her guidance, the agency has gained prominence in the field of child and family service providers.  Joan is also a Trustee of Wellesley College and a past member of the Board of Overseers for The Heller School for Social Policy & Management. Additionally she has been a Corporation Member of Northeastern University and a Trustee of Pine Manor College.  November 2006 brought an exciting new professional opportunity for Dr. Wallace-Benjamin when Governor-Elect Deval Patrick named her his Chief of Staff. Joan has received awards too numerous to list in full, but a sampling includes the 2008 Hall of Fame, Women’s Business Boston, the 2005 Pinnacle Award, Achievement in Management Non-Profit from the Boston Chamber of Commerce, the 2004 Exceptional Women Award for Community Service from Magic 106.7, a 2003 Lady Baden-Powel Good Scout Award from Boston Minuteman Council, Boy Scouts of America, a 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from Rosie’s Place, Boston, and named by Boston Magazine, May 2003 edition, as one of Boston’s 100 Women of Power. In 2002, Joan was honored with Academy of Women Achiever’s Award from Boston YWCA, and a Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice. Joan holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Newbury College, Chestnut Hill, MA and Curry College, Milton, MA.   She graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Psychology and received her Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

DANIEL S. EVANS  has been a partner in the Corporate Department of Boston law firm Ropes & Gray LLP since 1994.  Dan was an Overseer of the New England Aquarium from 2005 through 2008, and he was elected  a Trustee of the Aquarium in 2008, serving as Chair of its Audit Committee and a member of its Development Committee.  Dan is also a Director of and counsel to Cohasset Lightkeepers Corporation, also a non-profit corporation.  Dan's broad M&A and corporate practice includes acquisitions and dispositions for financial and strategic buyers and sellers, public offering and other financing transactions for issuers, underwriters and investors, private fund and general partner organization, and general representation of private and public companies.  Dan also has significant experience with public company disclosure and reporting, organization and early-stage financing of start-ups, joint ventures, independent committees of directors, proxy contests, poison pills and other takeover defenses, and executive employment agreements.  Dan has been listed among The Best Lawyers in America for the last six years.  He graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

MODERATOR:
BARBARA FREEDMAN WAND Barbara is a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where she concentrates her practice in the areas of sophisticated estate planning, estate and trust administration, and advising individuals, families and businesses on the development and implementation of philanthropic goals. Barbara serves as managing director of Bingham Charitable Advisers and also counsels private foundations and public charities on governance, compliance and planned giving programs.  She also has significant experience in trusteeship and administration of trusts, including charitable trusts and private foundations. A fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Barbara has been named “a leading lawyer in trusts and estates law” in the Best Lawyers in America yearly since 2003 and named as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer each year since 2004. She was also chosen as one of the top 50 women attorneys in Massachusetts in the November 2006 issue of Boston magazine.  Barbara graduated from Brandeis University and Indiana University School of Law.