Activist investors are intensifying their campaigns, and the second half of 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal period for public companies. With the 2026 proxy season just around the corner, now is the time for corporate leaders to get ahead of the curve.

Join us for a complimentary virtual roundtable as a panel of top shareholder activism advisors breaks down the latest trends, legal developments, and strategic moves defining today’s activist landscape.

Moderated by:
Keith E. Gottfried, CEO, Gottfried Shareholder Advisory LLC

Panelists:

• Brendan M. Foo, Partner and Global Head of Corporate Contests, Forward Global

• Paul R. Schulman, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of the M&A and Activism Advisory Group, Sodali & Co

• Dan Scorpio, Managing Director, Head of M&A and Activism, H/Advisors Abernathy

Whether you're a corporate executive, legal counsel, investor relations professional, or board member, this session will deliver practical insights to help you prepare and respond effectively.

Reserve your spot today — space is limited.

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:

Brendan M. Foo
Partner and Global Head of Corporate Contests, Forward Global

Brendan M. Foo is a Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Forward Risk, the investigations and intelligence practice of Forward Global. He leads the firm’s corporate contests practice, and his clients include some of the world’s top activist investors. He has also been engaged by issuers and their outside counsel on over 75 proxy contests and hostile takeover defenses. By bringing together his expertise as a practitioner and strategist, he has helped clients to prevail in multiple high-stakes proxy battles. Brendan has extensive experience in all the firm’s core practice areas, as well as significant international experience. He has lived, studied, and worked in several countries. He also speaks Chinese and has undertaken multifaceted investigations for clients doing business around the world.

Prior to co-founding Forward Risk, Brendan established and led the Asia Desk and headed internal research operations in aid of initial public offerings and private equity due diligence at a global risk and compliance firm. Early in his career, he worked as a journalist in Singapore. Brendan serves on the board of directors of the Capital Rowing Club and on the advisory board of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He holds two Bachelor’s degrees from Fordham University and an MSFS from Georgetown University.

Paul R. Schulman
Senior Managing Director and Co-head of the M&A and Activism Advisory Group, Sodali & Co

Paul R. Schulman joined Sodali in 2020 with thirty years of experience in providing strategic advice to boards and executives of companies facing complex and contentious proxy, governance, and activist shareholder challenges. Over his career he has led and worked on over 1,000 contested or activism-related situations, friendly and contested mergers and other complex transactions .

Dan Scorpio
Managing Director, Head of M&A and Activism, H/Advisors Abernathy

Dan Scorpio is Head of M&A and Activism at H/Advisors Abernathy. He provides strategic communications and stakeholder engagement counsel to leadership teams and Boards of Directors regarding transactions, activism defense and governance matters.

He is skilled in connecting communications strategies to business objectives and brings a highly effective cross-stakeholder approach to client engagements. Dan has significant media relations experience and is a leader in applying digital strategies to drive positive outcomes for clients in contested M&A, proxy contests and special situations.

Dan’s recent M&A advisory work includes T-Mobile’s acquisitions of Sprint and Mint Mobile, IFF’s RMT with DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences business, Symbotic’s public listing via a SPAC backed by SoftBank, Keurig Green Mountain’s acquisition of Dr Pepper Snapple and Tempus AI’s initial public offering. He has advised corporate clients in private and public engagements against activist investors including Carl Icahn, Elliott Management, Trian Partners, Engine Capital, JANA, Mantle Ridge, Pershing Square, Sachem Head and Starboard Value, among others.