Richard Blake: Key Takeaways from the 2025 Silicon Valley 150 Governance Report

(0:00) Intro. (1:27) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel. (2:14) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episodes/reports with Richard (E126 from Feb 2024 and E158 from Dec 2024) (3:11) AI dominance in public and private markets (4:14) About WSGR's 2025 SV150 Corporate Governance Report. Major Findings in DEI Disclosure (impact on board diversity) (12:25) Broader ESG Changes and Challenges to SEC Climate Disclosure Rule (16:03) California approach to climate risk disclosures (SB 253 and SB 261) and greenhouse gas emissions disclosure (19:04) State vs. Federal Regulatory Landscape (21:13) On SEC's change of policy relating to mandatory arbitration bylaws (23:41) SEC Changes Under Chair Atkins: changes in exec comp disclosures and removing quarterly reporting  (27:18) SEC Changes to Rule 14a-8 proposals (29:23) On Lack of Minority Party SEC Commissioners (32:30) Delaware vs. Other States on Corporate Incorporations (39:26) Other findings from the 2025 report. Including on dual-class shares and sunset provisions. (41:12) The State of Private Markets, IPOs and VC (49:55) Biggest winner in business in 2025 (50:55) Biggest loser in business in 2025 (53:00)  Biggest business surprise in 2025 (54:32) Best and worst corporate governance trend from 2025 (58:18)  What’s the biggest corporate governance trend to watch out for in 2026 Richard Blake is a partner at Wilson Sonsini and the leader of the firm's public companies’ practice. You can follow Evan on social media at: X: @evanepstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/  Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/ __ To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/ __ Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License