Holly J. Gregory

Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

HOLLY J. GREGORY, co-chair of Sidley’s Global Corporate Governance and Executive Compensation practice, counsels publicly held, private and nonprofit corporations on the full range of governance issues, including governance structure and culture, fiduciary duties, risk oversight, conflicts of interest, board and committee structure, board leadership, special committee investigations, CEO transitions, board audits and self-evaluation processes, shareholder engagement, activism and proxy contests, legislative, regulatory and listing rule requirements and governance “best practices.” She is frequently called on to advise regarding sensitive and unusual matters. While most of the matters she works on are confidential, high-profile matters that are in the public record include advising on governance and accountability mechanisms of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to replace U.S. government oversight, advising the Board of The Pennsylvania State University on governance reforms ,and advising the Internal Market Directorate of the European Commission and the joint OECD/World Bank Global Corporate Governance Forum on governance policy and reform. Holly also played a key role in drafting the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Key Agreed Principles of Corporate Governance.

The author of numerous articles on governance topics, she writes the governance column for Practical Law: The Journal. Holly recently completed her term as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Corporate Governance Committee. She is a former co-chair of the ABA’s Delaware Law and Business Forum, a former appointed member of the Corporate Laws Committee where she served as co-editor of the Corporate Director’s Guidebook (Sixth Edition). She chaired the ABA task force that delivered the Report on the Delineation of Governance Roles & Responsibilities to Congress and the SEC in 2009. Ms. Gregory serves on the ABA Business Law Section Council (its governing body), and is a Founding Trustee, member of the Executive Committee and Fellow of The American College of Governance Counsel. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and as a member of multiple NACD Blue Ribbon Commissions.

Ms. Gregory is widely recognized for her work including as: among the “100 Most Influential Players in Corporate Governance” (NACD/Directorship 100), Directorship Magazine, 2019 and all prior years (13 years total); one of “the best and brightest minds in the legal profession” in Ethisphere’s 2017 and 2015 Attorneys Who Matter; and the “Best in Corporate Governance” at Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards 2016 and at the inaugural 2012 Awards; the leading practitioner in corporate governance law in the Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law (July 2010); a “Leading Practitioner in Corporate Governance” in the International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers, 2019 and prior years; and a “leading lawyer” in Corporate Governance in The Legal 500 US 2018 and prior years. In 2018, The National Law Journal named Holly to its list of “White Collar, Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazers.”


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