The Honorable J. Travis Laster was sworn in as Vice Chancellor of the Court of Chancery on October 9, 2009. Prior to his appointment, he was one of the founding partners of Abrams & Laster LLP, a corporate law boutique specializing in high stakes litigation involving Delaware corporations and other business entities, and advising on transactional matters carrying a significant risk of litigation. Before forming Abrams & Laster, he was a director in the Corporate Department of Richards, Layton & Finger P.A. Before joining Richards Layton & Finger, he clerked for the Honorable Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Vice Chancellor Laster received his A.B summa cum laude from Princeton University and his J.D. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, where he served on the Virginia Law Review, was a member of the Order of the Coif, and received the Law School Alumni Association Award for Academic Excellence for having the best academic record in his graduating class. He is a member of the American Bar Association and Delaware State Bar Association and is active in the American Inns of Court.

Professor Abe Cable joined the UC Law SF faculty in 2011. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Law SF, he was a partner at Miller Nash LLP, in Portland, Oregon. In ten years of practice he worked on a broad range of matters, including private and public offerings of securities, angel and venture capital investments, sale of subprime mortgage-backed securities, and negotiation of software licenses. He has been a visiting professor at Berkeley Law and an adjunct professor at Willamette University College of Law and University of Oregon School of Law.

Professor Epstein is a corporate governance expert and has advised founders, executives, directors and investors for over 18 years in Silicon Valley and internationally. In 2023, Professor Epstein was named one of the most influential leaders in corporate governance by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as part of the 2023 NACD Directorship 100™, an annual list of leading corporate directors and governance advocates. Evan is also the founder and managing partner of Pacifica Global, a corporate governance advisory firm based in San Francisco. He is the host and author of the Boardroom Governance Podcast and Newsletter. Prior, Evan was the Executive Director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, a joint initiative between Stanford Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

New CEO of Markup AI. Multi-time CEO and founder of technology companies from $0-100mm in revenue. Author of Startup CEO, Startup CXO, and Startup Boards. Host of The Daily Bolster and Country Over Self podcasts.

Priya Cherian Huskins is a recognized expert in D&O liability risk and its mitigation. In addition to consulting on D&O insurance matters, she counsels clients on corporate governance, including ways to reduce their exposure to shareholder lawsuits and regulatory investigations.

Priya is a frequent speaker on D&O issues and a regular guest lecturer at Stanford’s Directors’ College. She has appeared on CNBC and been quoted in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Financial Times. She is also the editor of the D&O Notebook, a blog that analyzes and summarizes issues as they arise in the areas of D&O liability, insurance and corporate governance.

Priya serves on the board of directors of Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) and NMI Holdings, Inc.(Nasdaq: NMIH). She also serves on the advisory board of the Stanford University Rock Center for Corporate Governance and on the boards of Woodruff Sawyer and the Long Term Stock Exchange. In 2024, Priya became an NACD Directorship 100 honoree.

Jeff oversees Nasdaq's global listings business, the revenue teams for the Workflow & Insights segment, and the divisional Revenue Operations team.

He is relentlessly focused on increasing transparency between corporates and investors to help Nasdaq's clients access the capital markets, drive corporate governance, and advance their sustainability journey. During his 10-year career at Nasdaq, Jeff has led several strategic initiatives, including Nasdaq Private Market and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, which provide support and resources to early-stage startups.

Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2014, Jeff held senior positions at SecondMarket, Gerson Lehrman Group and Altera Corp.

Dan Siciliano is CEO of Linqto, past Chair of the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks, and the current Chair of the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He chairs the Silicon Valley Directors' Exchange, is a CodeX Fellow at Stanford, and the former faculty director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford. His has founded or led several technology companies including LawLogix Group, Inc. and Nikkl, Inc.

Joe is an Operating Partner with SOSV, leading commercialization, go-to-market, and corporate engagement efforts for a number of SOSV’s key portfolio companies. Joe is also a purpose-driven public company board director and strategic advisor who focuses on digital transformation, international expansion and stakeholder engagement.

Kaley is the Head of Board Advisory in the Americas at Nasdaq. She advises boards on corporate governance matters, including board effectiveness, composition and culture, CEO performance, strategy, ESG, and compliance and risk matters. Kaley works with public, private, and nonprofit corporations in a wide range of industries globally.

Danielle represents technology and high-growth companies throughout their life cycles on incorporation and formation matters, seed, strategic and venture capital financings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. She also regularly represents venture capital funds and strategic investors in financing and restructuring transactions.

Ryan counsels executives, companies and investors on employee benefits and compensation matters with a focus on private equity. He frequently advises corporate clients on compensation-related issues, equity plans and employment agreements, including those that arise in connection with mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and other corporate transactions. Ryan also has extensive experience advising executives and management teams on negotiating their employment agreements and equity incentive agreements.

Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist, political strategist, philanthropist and writer.

He is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Tusk Venture Partners, the world’s first venture capital fund that invests solely in early stage startups in highly regulated industries, and the founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies. He also recently launched Tusk Ventures, an equity-for-service firm offering world-class regulatory, communications, and strategic expertise to help startups and growing businesses to navigate regulation, expand into new markets, and reduce regulatory and political risk.

Bradley’s family foundation is funding and leading the national campaign to bring mobile voting to all U.S. elections. Tusk Philanthropies also runs and funds anti-hunger campaigns that have led to the creation of anti-hunger policies and programs, including universal school breakfast programs, in 21 different states, helping to feed nearly 13 million people.

Michael has focused on cyber/data/privacy issues in the areas of technology, innovation, retail and consumer solutions, life sciences, manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare since 2007. He advises clients on all legal aspects of global privacy and data protection, data security, data breach, information technology, and related restrictions on data collection and transfer. He has represented companies before numerous government agencies and bodies, including the US Federal Trade Commission, the US Department of Justice, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as data protection authorities around the world, regarding disclosure of data security compliance issues, internal investigation findings, remediation measures and settlement terms.

Tamim works with emerging companies throughout their lifecycles, with a focus on high-growth companies in the technology space. He also advises venture capital funds, corporate VCs and angel investors who invest in early-stage private companies. Tamim has a deep understanding of New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and has worked across multiple verticals while developing a particular interest in foodtech and impact investing. In addition to the US, Tamim also has a robust practice in France and in LatAm. He also actively mentors emerging companies at all stages.

Asmau currently serves as Chief AI & Data Officer at Varo Bank, leading the integration of advanced AI and data capabilities to drive financial innovation, inclusion, and trust in the digital banking space.

Earlier, as part of the executive leadership at GoogleX, Asmau co-led a team of 600 engineers, data scientists, and researchers in developing next-generation AI and ML-driven enterprise and consumer products. At Google, she led AI-powered personalization and trust advancements across Search, Ads, Gemini, Shopping, and Maps—architecting data-driven systems that optimized the full AI lifecycle from model training to deployment, balancing engagement, performance, and regulatory compliance.

Earlier, she worked with CEOs and CTOs of eight global banks, driving innovation in payments, data security, cloud, and fraud prevention—integrating technology development with strategic M&A while navigating complex regulatory landscapes.

Pete’s practice focuses on securities litigation, corporate governance and shareholder-related disputes, including the defense of securities class actions, derivative suits and M&A-related cases. He also represents clients in connection with SEC investigations and civil enforcement actions, as well as internal corporate investigations.

Alice leads legal execution and provides strategic guidance on RTW’s transactions, including new ventures, royalty and alternative investments, equity investments, M&A and licensing and collaborations. She also acts as general counsel to RTW’s newly formed ventures.

Since obtaining a Masters degree in Pharmacy, Spela has “put her degree to work” by working with startups. She founded her own startup, went through an accelerator and has joined and scaled 4 other software and hardware companies.

Prior to EquityPeople she was at a London-based people consultancy, where she created a program that allowed companies to scale equity plans efficiently. EquityPeople is built on the experience she acquired by working with equity plans for 100s of startups from seed to IPO stage, in jurisdictions all over the world.

Michael joined Lightspeed in 2013 and is the Chief Business Officer. He manages global capital formation, co-investments, marketing and capital market functions for the firm. He also cultivates new relationships, partnerships, and areas of growth with prospective groups across the VC spectrum.

It’s a spectrum he knows well from 17 years in the alternatives ecosystem leading business development and investor relations roles having raised $15B at Lightspeed and previously as a Vice President at Pomona Capital and then at Liberty Square Asset Management.

Cat spent the first chapter of her career as an early stage operator before joining the partnership at Primary Ventures for five years. During her tenure at the firm, she laid the foundation for a best-in-class post-investment approach that helped founders see around corners, but also meaningfully informed the firm's follow-on deployment strategy leading to a nearly 90% graduation rate from Seed to Series A.

Today, she is a General Partner and founding team member at TVC. In line with her passion for diversifying the face of wealth, Cat is involved with All Raise and Chief while also supporting Future of Work innovation by partnering with ADP Ventures and PeopleTech Partners.

Anthony is co-founder, President, and CEO of Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions, a next-generation non-viral gene therapy company. He is also a founding partner of Buffalo Biosciences, a life science strategic business management firm that supports the evaluation and commercialization of bioscience technologies from concept to market. He holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK, with an emphasis in international strategy, and a BA in biology from Fisk University, Nashville, TN.

Jason is an experienced corporate and securities lawyer who has spent close to 25 years working with public and private companies on a wide range of transactional and counseling related matters. For his public company clients, Jason handles public offerings and other complex securities transactions, Board and corporate governance advice, SEC reporting and disclosure issues and compliance matters. In addition, Jason is experienced in venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, employment and compensation arrangements and matters involving early-stage stakeholders and shareholders, and he regularly acts as the outside corporate counsel for his clients.

Dr. Jeff Wessler is a board-certified cardiologist and the founder and CEO of Heartbeat Health, the nation’s largest virtual-first cardiology company. Under his leadership, Heartbeat Health has expanded its reach across all 50 U.S. states, partnering with health plans, primary care groups, and employers to provide accessible cardiovascular care through telehealth and remote diagnostics. The company’s innovative approach has earned recognition, including a spot on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies.

Across all areas of his work, Dr. Wessler has accelerated the national adoption of virtual cardiology by designing, testing, and operationalizing care models that deliver measurable improvements in access and outcomes. Through a combination of academic research, large-scale clinical leadership, and public engagement, he has helped shape the conversation and direction of cardiovascular care delivery nationwide.

Adam Bly is the founder and CEO of System, a Public Benefit Corporation developing a systems-based approach to organize the world’s data and knowledge. He previously led data at Spotify. Prior to that, he founded and was CEO of Seed Scientific, the data analytics firm, which was acquired by Spotify.