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SENIOR ADVISORY TEAM
SARAH TESLIK
Sarah Ball Teslik founded and leads VMI, which works with companies and investors on evolving capital, investing, governance, management, communications, activism, disclosure, and regulatory issues. She is also a partner at the law firm Greenspoon Marder.
Ms. Teslik has prior experience as a partner at the financial communications and investor-relations firm, Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, as SVP of public affairs, communications & governance at Apache (APA) Corporation, as CEO of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., and as the founding Executive Director of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). Before helping to create CII, she was an attorney at two large New York law firms and was, for a registered lobbyist for many years.
Ms. Teslik created and organizes the annual invitation-only Governance Week for board members and investors, a quarterly lunch for investors, and various events for companies. Over the last 40 years she has been featured in dozens of publications. Ms. Teslik earned her Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center, her Master of Arts in modern history from Oxford University and Bachelor of Arts in history from Whitman College.
JEF McALLISTER
Jef McAllister is a London-based attorney, adviser and communications professional with extensive UK/European and US experience handling a range of the “S” or social issues in ESG: employment discrimination and harassment, social justice issues, bullying, defamation and other employment law issues. He is Managing Partner of McAllister Olivarius, and a partner of AO Advocates, a firm that works for survivors of child sexual abuse. He has been named a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.
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Jef started his legal career as a law clerk for US District Court Judge Robert F. Peckham, Chief Judge of the Northern District of California. He then worked for Sidley Austin LLP in New York, representing banks providing financing for leveraged buyouts, Fortune 500 companies and foreign firms doing business in New York.
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Jef’s extensive communications and writing experience includes writing over 500 articles and cover stories while serving as Diplomatic Correspondent, White House Correspondent and London Bureau Chief for TIME Magazine. He co-authored The Right Hand of Power, the memoirs of U. Alexis Johnson, a senior U.S. diplomat. Jef appears regularly on BBC radio and TV, and Sky News.
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Jef graduated summa cum laude from Yale College, and with honors from Yale Law School. He obtained a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and was a Luce Scholar in the Philippines. He is licensed to practice law in New York and Connecticut, and is registered as a foreign lawyer with the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales.
THOMAS BUTCHER
Thomas Butcher has spent his career working with public and private companies, their investors, and the core communications, reporting, regulatory, compliance and marketing issues they face. His experience includes:​
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Director of ESG for VanEck
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Senior Editor for Policy and Markets Magazine
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Six years as a finance professional at Lazard Brothers & Co., Limited in London
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A founding director of financial public relations firm Hudson Sandler in London
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Director of International Development for both Lipper, Inc, a leading provider of investment fund information and analysis in New York, and FERI Corp. an economic research firm in Germany
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A published author and author of dozens of articles on natural assets issues in several British, European and American publications
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Producer of an award-winning film and regular blog posts and corporate videos for a major investor
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Financial reporting expert for BBC Television
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University lecturer on mutual fund performance measurement, strategic metals and Lao temple architecture
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President of, and senior advisor to, an international NGO and an Austrian foundation, respectively, supporting individuals with disabilities
Tom has a BA and MA from Cambridge University in England. He has US, British and Irish citizenship and lives in Ohio.
MICHELLE FLEMING
Our executive assistant Michelle Fleming has spent her career working in the legal, investment and governance spaces. She has worked at major Wall Street law firms and firms in Washington, DC and Savannah, GA. She was an early employee of the Council of Institutional Investors, working with two Executive Directors over a period of 12 years handling a wide array of operational and member issues. Michelle is based in Georgia.
KURUMI SASAKI-GARDNER
Our executive administrator Kurumi Sasaki-Gardner spent the first 2 years of her career in business development, providing Japanese companies in the U.S. with workforce solutions to complex business problems mainly related to human capital. Kurumi helped clients recognize and understand the risks inherent in the U.S. business environment and supported them in developing their strategy through applying the right data, methodologies, and frameworks. Kurumi is based in New York City.