Stephen L. Brown
United States
Senior Advisor, KPMG Board Leadership Center

Work Has Changed: Has Your Board?

Stephen L. Brown is a globally recognized governance expert, thought leader and trusted advisor to corporate boards and C-suites. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor at KPMG Board Leadership Center where advises business leaders on key governance challenges, including shareholder activism and engagement, board composition, ESG risks and strategy.

Mr. Brown founded The Edgerton Group, a boutique consulting firm that advises boards and management on critical corporate governance issues including anti-activist defense, executive compensation and other proxy disclosures, board evaluations and shareholder engagement. Formerly, he led TIAA’s (Nuveen) Corporate Governance Group which managed the corporate governance and social responsibility initiatives related to the firm’s over $900 billion investment portfolio. Prior to TIAA, Mr. Brown practiced securities law at WilmerHale and Skadden. At both firms, Mr. Brown represented industrial companies, investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity funds, and mutual fund complexes. Additionally, he represented Fortune 500 corporations, boards of directors and senior executives in a variety of securities enforcement matters and corporate internal investigations. Mr. Brown was also the CEO & President of the Society of Corporate Governance and, prior to practicing law, was an associate with Goldman Sachs.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has named Mr. Brown as one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance and the boardroom. He is also an NACD Board Leadership Fellow. In 2009, Mr. Brown was named one of 10 Global Rising Stars of Corporate Governance by the Yale School of Management’s Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance. He has served as a distinguished judge for the NYSE Governance, Risk & Compliance Leadership Awards and Corporate Secretary Magazine Corporate Governance Awards.

Mr. Brown is an adjunct professor at McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, Yale, and in the Skadden, Arps Honors Program in Legal Studies, Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College of New York.

Mr. Brown’s pro bono practice has included advising several education related public entities and economic development organizations. His board service includes serving on the boards of the Englewood, N.J. public schools (elected official), Queens Economic Development Corporation, Harlem Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, Minority In-House Counsel Association, the Public Interest Law Foundation at Columbia University Law School and the advisory boards of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware and Rutgers Law School Center for Corporate Law & Corporate Governance.

Mr. Brown received his B.A. with honors from Yale University and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an Olin Law & Economics Junior Fellow.