Join us for a complimentary live webinar, “Recent Trends in Activism Settlements,” on Tuesday,  September 30, 2025, from 2PM – 3PM ET / 11AM – 12PM PT, as our expert panel discuss recent trends in activism settlements, the pros and cons of activism settlements, the different types of activism settlements, and why most activism situations eventually settle rather than go to a shareholder vote.

Moderator:

Keith E. Gottfried
CEO, Gottfried Shareholder Advisory, LLC

Keith Gottfried is the CEO of Gottfried Shareholder Advisory LLC, a strategic advisory firm focused on advising public companies, the C-suite, and boards of directors on shareholder activism preparedness and defense.  Keith is a highly experienced shareholder activism advisor. Throughout a career that spans over 30 years, working at some of the country’s most prominent firms, Keith has advised numerous public companies in connection with high-profile shareholder activism campaigns. Before founding his firm in 2021, Keith led the shareholder activism defense practice at a large global law firm. 

Keith's work as a shareholder activism defense advisor has been recognized on numerous occasions. In both 2018 and 2019, Keith was named by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) to its list of Directorship 100 honorees, which recognizes the most influential people in the boardroom community, including directors, corporate governance experts, regulators, and advisors. Keith publishes and presents regularly and has been frequently quoted by the national business and news media, on shareholder activism trends and developments. Keith has also been a frequent contributor to the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance on shareholder activism developments. Keith holds an M.B.A., with high honors, from Boston University's Questrom School of Business, a J.D., cum laude, from Boston University's School of Law, where he was an Edward F. Hennessey Distinguished Scholar of Law, and a G. Joseph Tauro Scholar of Law, and a B.S from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Panelists:

Jim Golden
Founding Partner, Collected Strategies

Over his 20+ year career, Jim has counseled hundreds of public companies with high-stakes crises, contested annual elections, management turnover, and M&A, including: Cigna, Emerson Electric, Exact Sciences, Syneos Health, Red Hat and dozens of bank mergers.

Jim regularly advises companies on short attacks and shareholder activism threats; he spent two years defending the short attack against Herbalife.  

He is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), and was named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 list in 2019. 

Jim previously worked in Deutsche Bank’s Institutional Client Sales Group, and prior to that he was with Standish Mellon Asset Management of Boston on its fixed income trading desk.  He received a B.S. in organizational communications, cum laude, from Northeastern University.

Andrew Goodman
Partner, Mergers and Acquisitions and Shareholder Activism & Takeover Defense practices, Paul Hastings LLP

Andrew Goodman is a partner in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Shareholder Activism & Takeover Defense practices and is based in the firm’s Boston and New York offices. His practice focuses on friendly and hostile public company M&A, corporate governance, shareholder activism defense, and contested situations. He works with clients in a variety of industries, with substantial experience in life sciences and healthcare, technology, and REITs.

Andrew has significant experience in cross-border and domestic public company M&A, including mergers-of-equals and LBOs. He advises public companies and their boards of directors and committees on issues of fiduciary duties and corporate governance, particularly in the contexts of change in control transactions and shareholder activism. In addition, Andrew frequently counsels public company boards of directors and committees on shareholder activism campaigns and director election contests, opposition to M&A transactions, and other contests for corporate control.

Bob Marese
President, MacKenzie Partners, Inc

Over Bob’s thirty-year career - conducted exclusively at MacKenzie Partners, Inc. - his practice has primarily focused on advisory, consulting, proxy solicitation, and information agent services related to M&A, both negotiated and unsolicited; contests for board control and minority representation; defense preparedness and response; investor and financial relations; and corporate governance.  Apart from engaging in the above-referenced service activities for U.S. and Canadian clients, Bob is also responsible for firm-wide operations in the U.K. and Europe. He holds an MBA in Accountancy from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.  Bob is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance, the National Investor Relations Institute, and is a current member of the Council of Institutional Investors’ Markets Advisory Council.

Meagan M. Reda
Partner, Olshan​ ​Frome Wolosky LLP

Meagan provides comprehensive counsel to hedge funds and other investors on all matters concerning shareholder activism and their investments, including corporate governance, investor engagements, proxy contests, withhold and letter-writing campaigns, consent and exempt solicitations, settlement negotiations, hostile takeovers, and other activist-related M&A activities. She conducts pre- and post-investment governance research and analysis, prepares nomination and shareholder proposal notices, required SEC filings such as Schedule 13Ds, and related campaign materials, and handles behind-the-scenes engagement and negotiations with company boards, management and their advisers through campaign completion and post-campaign integration. She also advises directors in boardroom disputes at both private and public companies.

Skilled at identifying opportunities for, and vulnerabilities to, effectuating change at corporations (both domestic and worldwide), Meagan excels at developing a roadmap tailored to achieve her clients’ specific goals and optimize results in contested proxy solicitation and negotiated resolutions. She has achieved winning results for some of the most notable activist investors in high-profile contentious situations. She represented Starboard Value at Papa John’s, eHealth, and Yahoo! and in Starboard Value’s historic victory securing all 12 board seats at Darden Restaurants. Meagan has an impressive track record representing clients in precedent-setting proxy campaigns including H. Partners in its seminal withhold campaign at Tempur Sealy and Land & Buildings’ victory in the first proxy contest to go to a vote under the SEC’s universal proxy card regime.

Dedicated, responsive, knowledgeable, and practical, Meagan goes above and beyond expectations to position her clients for success. Having worked on hundreds of activist campaigns, she knows the legal landscape, strategic considerations, and how best to achieve success. Meagan’s professionalism and diplomacy have helped her navigate particularly difficult situations and achieve resolutions that reflect her clients’ goals.

Meagan has been recognized as an “Up and Coming” lawyer by Chambers USA, a “Recommended Lawyer” and a “Key Lawyer” in The Legal 500 United States guide for M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Shareholder Activism - Advice to Shareholders, and as a “Next Generation Lawyer.”

Contact fays@commpro.biz about participation opportunities.