Governance and Transactions assists listed company Boards with periodic assessments of Board performance, and with the upgrade of Board structure and practices to conform to changing requirements or circumstances.

The firm assists private equity firms and other private owners, as well as pre-IPO companies with the design of appropriate governance frameworks.

Jim Gunderson serves in Board and management positions where appropriate to drive the changes desired by Governance and Transactions clients.

Board Assessments

Jim Gunderson has been facilitating listed company Board assessments since pioneering the practice at Schlumberger Limited in the late 1990s.

Since 2003, Governance and Transactions’ Board assessment assignments have focused on US and European listed multinational clients, including leading telecom, high tech manufacturing and oilfield drilling clients.

Jim has taught courses in Board performance and assessment for the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Structure and Board Practices

After Jim's extensive work on Schlumberger's governance structure and Board practices in the late 1990s in response to the changing SEC and stock exchange requirements, Governance and Transactions has been engaged to assess and revamp several multinational company governance structures, and is continuously advising listed companies on how they can improve their Board practices.

The firm’s focus on joint venture governance “best practice” developed from Jim’s extensive experience structuring the governance and defining the Board practices at numerous joint ventures in Asia, Europe and the United States, across a variety of industries.

Governance Frameworks

Companies preparing for their initial public offering, emerging from Chapter 11, or being created out of the merger of previously independent organizations often have the opportunity to develop tailored governance frameworks to fit their precise needs. Companies owned by families, governments and private equity firms may also have opportunities to make significant improvements in their governance, and often need to address a more complex set of goals than simply increasing value for long term shareholders.

The firm has had a number of opportunities to design unique governance frameworks where traditional listed company “best practices” simply did not fit the needs of the owners or the organization. Jim’s unusual breadth of experience with different industries in different legal systems and cultural contexts has been especially valuable for those clients.