Contact: Bill Caldwell, Office of Public Information, Pace University, 212-346-1597, wcaldwell@pace.edu

NEWS SOURCE

Topic: Obama to pledge U.S. action on financial regulatory reform at G-20 summit Sept. 24-25 — locked-in obstacles to consensus

International consensus on regulating systemic economic risks will be tough to get because the interests of groups other than shareholders are locked into the legal structure of European companies.

That is the informed forecast of John Alan James, an adjunct management professor at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York City. James is the expert on corporate governance and regulatory issues who created the first texts in English on laws governing companies in key European countries. At Lubin three years ago he was the first to introduce into an MBA curriculum anywhere in the world a course covering corporate governance systems in the leading world economies.

James is available to comment on the discussion of financial regulatory reform at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, September 24-25. He recently appeared on Bloomberg Radio and Television to discuss the Madoff scandal and among other media appearances was quoted on CFO.com about the Satyam scandal.

Email jjames@pace.edu; phone: (203) 979-3611 (cell).

He says: “There does appear to be European consensus on tighter regulations of rating agencies, registering hedge funds and exchange trading of most derivatives. However, when it comes to overseeing systemic risks, there are major differences between the Anglo-Saxon (US/UK) governance model and what Europe, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India and China are suggesting.”

“None of the sincere efforts by finance chiefs in London, mini-summits between German and French leaders, earnest EU debates in Brussels and Strasbourg, and contentious discussions in Washington can overcome the major philosophical differences facing the contending viewpoints.”

“Essentially, the Europeans, including the EU Eurocrats, are tightly bound to their versions of corporate governance, which by constitutional and legislated law grant non-shareholder stakeholders a major voice both on boards of directors and at all levels of management. Elected employee representatives to works councils and union officials with equal voting rights at the board level have significant representation and influence. In parliaments, bundestags and assemblies, their advocates are frequently in the majority.”

“No European government leader, no matter how disgusted with irresponsible bankers, is going to suggest changes in national laws that threaten the stakeholders’ status quo.”

BACKGROUND: As a professional management consultant, James and his Brussels-based staff created, edited and published the first texts in English on company law, corporate governance and industrial relations law in the 12 key countries of Western Europe. He has served as an advisor to the top managements of multinational companies with headquarters in the US, Europe, Japan, Asia and Latin America.

He was an early contributor to the multinational business and economic seminars at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He co-chaired the first global conference on Multinational Companies and Multinational Unions at the U.N. International Labour Organization center in Geneva, Switzerland.

James received his bachelor's in political science from Northwestern University and graduate degrees in business economics at the Booth Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago. He has lectured at the World Economic Forum in Davos; INSEAD at Fontainbleau, France; CEI/IMEDE in Switzerland, the Northwestern and Harvard European Executive Programs; the IBM Management Development Centre in Brussels; the United Nations Management Training Centre in Torino, Italy; the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University; and the Cornell University School of Industrial Relations.

The Lubin School of Business recently has earned a preeminent position in thought leadership on the issues surrounding the world’s move to International Financial Reporting Standards, and has hosted three major conferences on the subject which have received extensive industry coverage, including two special sections of the CPA Journal. The school is accredited for both business and accounting by AACSB International, an elite distinction shared by fewer than three percent of business schools worldwide. It is one of the largest four-year, private undergraduate and graduate business programs in the nation. Its dean, Joseph Baczko, is a former COO of Blockbuster.

With a tradition of practice-oriented curricula, Lubin has achieved national recognition for both its graduate and undergraduate programs in U.S.News & World Report and other media. Approximately 4,000 students are enrolled in Lubin’s undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in Downtown and Midtown New York City, and Pleasantville and White Plains in Westchester County. Prominent alumni include Melvin Karmazin, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio; James Quinn, president of Tiffany & Co.; Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon; Marie Toulantis, former-CEO of Barnes&Noble.com; and Richard Zannino, former-CEO of Dow Jones & Company. www.pace.edu/lubin.

About Pace. For 103 years Pace has produced thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, it has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. www.pace.edu

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