Biographies of the Participants
The Honorable Cynthia A. Glassman, Ph.D.
Cynthia A. Glassman is a member of the Board of Discover Financial Services and serves on the
audit committee. She is also on the Board of Navigant Consulting, Inc. and serves on the
nominating and governance and on the compensation committees. Prior to her current roles, she
was appointed by President Bush to serve as the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the
U.S. Department of Commerce from 2006 to January 2009. In that role, she served as the
principal economic advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and oversaw two major Federal
statistical agencies. She was also the Secretary's designated Board Representative to the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), where she was actively involved in PBGC investment
policy and corporate governance matters.
Appointed by President Bush, Dr. Glassman served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission from 2002 to 2006 and served as Acting Chairman during the summer of
2005. As the only Commissioner with a doctorate in economics, Dr. Glassman brought a unique
voice to the Commission, where she regularly sought greater rigor in the regulatory process.
During her tenure, she was closely involved in developing and voting on the regulations
implementing the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as a number of other
regulations regarding corporate governance and financial markets. Her role also included voting
on numerous enforcement actions.
Dr. Glassman has spent over 35 years in the public and private sectors focusing on financial
services regulatory and public policy issues. Earlier in her career, she spent 12 years at the
Federal Reserve and 15 years at consulting firms. She is a Trustee of the SEC Historical Society
and is on the Advisory Board of C-LEAF, the Center for Law, Economics, and Finance at the
George Washington University (GWU) Law School. She has served on the Boards of the Federal
Reserve Board Credit Union, the National Economists Club, Women in Housing and Finance,
the Commission on Savings and Investment in America, and Hopkins House, a preschool for low
income families.
Dr. Glassman is a Senior Research Scholar focusing on corporate governance in the Institute for
Corporate Responsibility at the GWU School of Business. She has written extensively on
corporate governance, financial reporting, risk management and competitiveness issues. She
speaks nationally and internationally before professional and business groups. Dr. Glassman
received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in
Economics from Wellesley College. She was a supervisor in economics at the University of
Cambridge, England, where she has been named an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish
College.
Catherine T. Dixon
Catherine Dixon, a member of the Weil's Public Company Advisory Group, is a recognized
authority in the federal securities laws. Within this area, her practice encompasses public
disclosure advice, capital markets transactions (including public and private offerings), mergers
& acquisitions, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (including corporate governance related
matters).
Prior to joining Weil Gotshal, Ms. Dixon was Chief Counsel of the Division of Corporation
Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She previously served as Chief of
the Division of Corporation Finance’s Offices of Mergers & Acquisitions and Disclosure Policy,
respectively, and as Counsel to SEC Commissioner Steven M.H. Wallman. She also served as
trial attorney in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice before joining the SEC in
the appellate litigation section of the Office of the General Counsel.
Ms. Dixon frequently speaks and writes on various federal securities laws issues. She is coauthor of a well-known treatise on the federal proxy rules, Aranow and Einhorn on Proxy
Contests for Corporate Control (3d ed., with Randall Thomas). Ms. Dixon also has taught a
course on mergers & acquisitions at Georgetown University Law School as an adjunct faculty
member. She is currently Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Federal
Regulation of Securities, having just completed a three-year term as the Chair of the Securities
Registration Subcommittee of this ABA Committee. She has also served as the co-chair of this
Committee’s Ad Hoc Task Force on Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions.
Ms. Dixon serves on Weil’s Financial Regulatory Reform Working Group and addresses the
impact of new reform legislation on securities regulation and corporate governance.
Ms. Dixon’s pro bono activities include work for Oxfam America on SEC disclosure issues
relating to climate change and other environmental, social and governance matters.
Ms. Dixon graduated from Creighton University and its law school, where she was magna cum
laude. After law school, Ms. Dixon clerked for the Honorable William C. Stuart, Chief Judge of
the US District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, and the Honorable Henry Politz, Judge of
the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
George Munoz
George Muñoz is a well known international business and finance person. He is a co-founder of
Muñoz Investment Banking Group, which is focused in the global emerging markets. He is an
investment banker, an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant.
He sits on a couple of prominent public companies including Marriott International and the
Altria Group. He is also on the Board of National Geographic Society, and a Member of the
Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council. He is often listed among the top Latino
leaders in the U.S. and has served in senior positions in the United States Government as an
Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury and as the President and CEO of the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, or OPIC, and he was named by President Obama to the President’s
Commission on White House Fellows. He is also the former President of the Chicago Board of
Education (1984-86).
Donald Nicolaisen
Mr. Nicolaisen currently serves on the Board of Directors of Morgan Stanley, MGIC Investment
Corporation, Verizon Communications Inc. and Zurich Financial Services. Mr. Nicolaisen also
serves in a variety of advisory capacities to other companies. At the request of Henry M.
Paulson, Jr., in 2008 Mr. Nicolaisen co-chaired the US Treasury Advisory Committee on the
Audit Profession. In 2009, Mr. Nicolaisen was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Financial
Executives Institute. In addition, Mr. Nicolaisen serves on the Board of Advisors for the
University of Southern California, Leventhal School of Accounting.
From September 2003 to November 2005, Mr. Nicolaisen was the Chief Accountant, US
Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Nicolaisen was a senior
partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Karen Hastie Williams
Karen Hastie Williams is a graduate of Bates College and the Catholic University School of
Law. She was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Judge Spottswood
W. Robinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She
also served as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Budget, and as
Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Office of Management and
Budget. She is currently a retired partner in the Washington law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP
where her law practices focuses on public contract law, legislation, and strategic diversity
counseling for corporate clients.
Karen is a frequent lecturer on many issues related to public contract law at the Federal, state and
local levels. From 1992-93 she served as Chair of the ABA Section of Public Contract Law.
Karen is also a member of the National Contract Management Association, the Black Women
Lawyers' Association, the National Bar Association, and the Women's Forum of Washington,
DC.
Karen's community activities include service on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She is also a member of the Boards of Trustees of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, of Amherst College, and formerly of the National
Cathedral School. She serves as Chair of the Black Student Fund, The BOLD ("Business
Opportunities for Leadership Diversity") Initiative, and is a former Chair of the Greater
Washington Research Center. From October, 2000 through September, 2003, Karen served with
distinction as a Public Life Member of the Internal Revenue Oversight Board appointed by the
President of the United States.
Karen serves currently as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Chubb Corporation,
Continental Airlines, Inc., Gannett Company, Inc., Washington Gas Holdings Company,
SunTrust Bank, and the Federal National Mortgage Association Foundation.