The words corporate governance rarely conjure up images of excitement, disruption, or adrenaline as, by its very nature, it is there to be reassuringly predictable. However, over the twenty-four months since Pomerantz hosted its last roundtable, governance has become anything but predictable. Investors, boards, regulators and executives are now operating in markets that move at extraordinary speed—where value can be created, destroyed, regulated and disrupted almost overnight—and the same applies to corporate governance itself.
In June, Pomerantz brought together general counsel and pension fund leaders from major global pension funds for its biennial Corporate Governance Roundtable, entitled “Reimagining Governance in a Fast-Paced World.”
Twenty-four months ago, many boards were still debating hybrid working policies and whether ChatGPT was a passing fad or an existential threat. Today, AI is very much part of strategy meetings, cyber risk has become a board-level focus area, ESG is embroiled in political and regulatory complexity, and geopolitical risk has gone from “background noise” to a standing agenda item.
Pomerantz’s 2026 Roundtable addressed topics impacting corporate governance, including geopolitical, regulatory and legal developments, with a focus on the key challenges facing investors and pension funds today. Attendees were privileged to hear speakers from around the world with a variety of institutional backgrounds.
Roundtable participants also enjoyed a discussion between Pomerantz’s Managing Partner, Jeremy A. Lieberman, and former British Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson, who outlined the key geopolitical risks that we face today. Mr. Johnson also spoke about managing the fallout from COVID, the impact of Brexit and regional conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Mr. Johnson’s frank assessments of recent global developments laid bare the divergence in political views around the world in addressing today’s seemingly intractable challenges.
The day was divided into four panel sessions, titled: (1) Navigating the New Normal in Corporate Governance 2026; (2) Unleash the Lawyers; (3) When America Sneezes, the World Catches a Cold!; and (4) Balancing Planet and Profit.
The first session, chaired by Thomas Williams, the CEO of the Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System, explored the tension between funds upholding their corporate governance and ESG commitments whilst managing the challenges of an increasingly polarized global environment. Among other themes, the panelists discussed whether governance is still fit for purpose, how investors can best manage and turn geopolitical uncertainty into competitive advantage and what to do when your managers’ voting or engagement approaches diverge from pension fund clients’ expectations.
The second session, chaired by Jeff Mahoney, General Counsel of the Council of Institutional Investors, heard from heads of legal teams representing the most influential pension funds from around the world as they discussed recent legal developments and how this impacts engagement and stewardship. The panel focused on fiduciary duty in different markets and the impact of the alteration of a longstanding SEC policy on shareholder mandatory arbitration. Professor Bobby Reddy of the University of Cambridge chaired the penultimate session with panelists discussing key trends and innovations in investment strategy and examining the delicate balance between maximizing financial returns and advancing environmental sustainability in investment decision-making. During the session, the panel focused on what distinguishes genuine ESG initiatives from “greenwashing,” how pension funds should evaluate the credibility and effectiveness of ESG-related investment strategies, and whether sustainable investment and maximizing returns are mutually exclusive outcomes.
The final panel was chaired by Elizabeth Fernando, CIO of NEST Investment. This panel discussed the effect of the current U.S. administration’s approach to ESG and investor rights and how that approach shapes the stewardship and engagement practices of pension funds around the globe. Among the themes explored were how investors can navigate the growing backlash against ESG and the expanding sustainability regulatory landscape, and how policy engagement and protecting the market’s “beta” complement more traditional, company-focused “alpha” stewardship.
A discussion point throughout the Roundtable included SpaceX’s upcoming IPO. What made the conversation fascinating is not simply the scale of the company, but what it represents for investors. Modern investors face a fascinating challenge: how to preserve entrepreneurial dynamism while maintaining robust governance discipline, particularly when market regulators and administrations push away from strong governance checks and balances.
The focus on governance being key was deemed to have never mattered more, particularly now that we are experiencing a weakening of investor protections around the world and a move against corporate governance as part of an attack on ESG. Never have we witnessed such significant pushback on something which has become so integral to investment and capital markets’ integrity. The consensus reached was that there should be no conflict between governance and success because ultimately, governance should not restrain growth—it is there to enable sustainable growth.
And perhaps that is the opportunity that presents itself. Not simply to modernize governance—but to reimagine it entirely for a world that is faster, more transparent, more volatile than any governance expert anticipated—and to push back against the critics and cynics before we indeed experience another governance Groundhog Day.
A key takeaway from the Roundtable is that we should not defend old models for nostalgic reasons. Rather, we should ask what good governance looks like when the dust settles—if and when Corporate Governance 2.0 emerges. This should be an evolutionary, not revolutionary, approach with a focus on back-to-basics principles where we have a clearer sense of how organizations can remain accountable and investors can be more effective as stewards of capital—even while the world accelerates around us. It was fitting that the final session of the day was a fireside chat between Pomerantz Partner Jennifer Pafiti and Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge CBE, the former West Ham Chair, who discussed, among other things, leadership and resilience–key ingredients which are critical attributes for anyone attempting to navigate corporate governance in a fast-paced world.
Pomerantz’s next Corporate Governance Roundtable will take place in June 2028. We also host a series of smaller thought leadership and networking events for senior leaders of pension funds during the year.
Please contact Jennifer Pafiti (jpafiti@pomlaw.com) or Daniel Summerfield (dsummerfield@pomlaw.com) to be added to the invitation list.
Explore the conferences page on our website to see photos from Pomerantz’s 2026 Roundtable and our past events.