On March 25th, MassINC hosted a lecture and question and answer session with John Gillespie, Wall Street veteran and author of “Money for Nothing: How the Failure of Corporate Boards is Ruining American Business and Costing us Trillions.”  The lunch time event was sponsored by Nutter, McClennan and Fish and included a live interview by Boston Business Journal editor George Donnelly.  The event launched a new MassINC author series that profiles writers and topics of particular interest to the MassINC audience. 

In exploring the subject, Gillespie learned that, far from being the eyes and ears of the shareholder, corporate board members are too often either company insiders – with conflicts of interest – or random, surprisingly uniformed, business neophytes incapable of asking the tough questions needed to safeguard the organization against what we now know to be egregious mismanagement in some cases.  What makes Gillespie’s investigation even more compelling is the fact that most shareholder victims of the dramatic events of last year’s economic crisis were middle class investors in the form of pension fund contributors and/or mutual fund holders.  As Donnelly pointed out in his interview with Gillespie, “Where was the outrage over this and what is now to be done?”  The discussion included a number of recommendations, including Board education programs, increased diversity, and additional regulation, all outlined in the book.

The event’s format and major themes will be revisited next month when MassINC Executive Vice President John Schneider interviews Steven Greenhouse, New York Times labor reporter and author of “The Big Squeeze:  Tough Times for the American Worker.”  Click here for details and registration information.

About MassINC – MassINC is an independent think tank using non-partisan research, civic journalism and public forums to stimulate debate and shape public policy.  Our mission is to promote a public agenda for the middle class and to help all citizens achieve the American dream.