HOUSTON– LAWFUEL – The Law News Wire – Executives and board members from international energy companies such as Anadarko, Halliburton and Shell are among those expected to lead a two-day education program for directors of global energy and chemical companies.
The inaugural Energy Industry Board Conference of the Rice University/Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Corporate Directors’ Institute will allow board members from companies spanning the energy sector to gather this October at Rice University. Board members will participate in discussions led by industry leaders, experts and distinguished scholars about challenges and issues facing board members of energy and chemical companies.
“We have tailored our first director education program to provide in-depth, practical tools for energy directors to use in carrying out their board responsibilities,” said William B. Lee, associate dean for Executive Education at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. “In designing the program, we listened to our constituents who desire real-world, industry-specific advice. With Houston being the ‘Energy Capital of the World,’ there is no better focus for our first director education conference.”
Houston is home to more than 3,600 energy-related businesses, 13 of the nation’s 20 largest natural gas transmission companies, nearly 600 exploration and production firms and 170 pipeline operators, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. Rice University is an ideal place for industry leaders to gather in close proximity to where the action happens.
“Everyone has a vested interest in making sure the leaders of energy companies have current information to provide effective oversight,” Lee said. “At Rice, we take pride in our stature as one of the world’s pre-eminent business schools. We are uniquely positioned to work alongside Fulbright’s leading international lawyers to move corporate governance education to the next level for the leaders of the world’s top companies.”
Fulbright Partner Peggy A. Heeg, who is a member of the international firm’s Executive Committee, says the exclusive program is set up to foster an open, inquisitive and free-flowing environment in which board members can discuss the issues that impact them most directly.
“Energy and chemical company boards are faced with unique regulatory, political and public relation challenges that are not often addressed in traditional director education programs,” Heeg said. “With the rules, regulations and expectations for energy and chemical companies changing at a rapid pace, there is a need to address industry specific governance. We will move beyond theoretical discussions of corporate governance and provide board members with the tools to carry out their fiduciary and strategic oversight responsibilities.”
Among the topics that will be covered in the two-day Energy Industry Board Conference this fall are:
Strategic planning in the energy industry: The proper relationship between the board and management
Accounting hot topics in the energy industry
The board’s evolving role in environmental, health and safety oversight
The program will be accredited through Institutional Shareholder Services. The accreditation is considered when it comes to rating public companies on governance structure and practices.
Beyond the Energy Industry Board Conference, the Rice University/Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Corporate Directors’ Institute will offer a series of director education lectures and customized director education programs.
Jones Graduate School of Management
The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management is one of seven academic units of Rice University, and one of the world’s best teaching and research universities. The Financial Times 2007 survey ranked the Rice MBA program the best in Texas and among the top ten business schools in the world for finance.
Rice offers the MBA, MBA for Executives, and MBA for Professionals degrees as well as joint MBA degrees in mechanical engineering and medicine. The Jones School also provides a full schedule of non-credit executive education and customized courses for business and industry. The wooded campus is located in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, second only to New York in Fortune 500 headquarters. For more information, please visit http://www.jonesgsm.rice.edu.
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Founded in 1919, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. is a leading full-service international law firm, with nearly 1,000 lawyers in 16 locations in Houston, New York, Washington, D.C., Austin, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Antonio, St. Louis, Dubai, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Munich and Riyadh. Fulbright provides a full range of legal services to clients worldwide.
The 2006 BTI survey of FORTUNE 1000 general counsel chose Fulbright as a “Power Elite Law Firm,” Corporate Board Member magazine named Fulbright among the top 20 corporate law firms in the U.S. in their survey of board members of public companies, and International Law Office, based on survey responses received from international corporate counsel, awarded Fulbright the “2005 Client Choice Award” as the top law firm for client service in the United States. For more information, please visit www.fulbright.com.
