Frankel Fiduciary Prize Selection Committee
The Frankel Fiduciary Prize Selection Committee considers nominations of individuals whose work in the public or private sectors has made significant contributions to preserving or advancing fiduciary principles in public life, or to educating the public about issues related to the fiduciary standard. The Selection Committee considers a broad range of candidates, including regulators, political leaders, academics, journalists, advocates and practitioners.
Partner
Eversheds Sutherland
Michael Koffler is a partner at Eversheds Sutherland (US), where he guides investment advisers, broker-dealers and investment funds in their compliance with federal and state securities laws and regulations, and SRO rules. Koffler advises clients on the full spectrum of business operations, including advertising, portfolio management, trading, internal controls, compliance programs, mergers and acquisitions and other management issues. He also counsels other financial institutions—banks and insurance companies—on securities issues associated with the management and distribution of investment products.
Founder, President, and CEO
Alpha Wealth Strategies
Clark M. Blackman II has been recognized by Worth magazine as one of the “Best Financial Advisors in America” from 1996 to 2004. He has contributed to four books on financial and investment planning and fiduciary issues, one of them entitled: The New Fiduciary Standard. Blackman has served as chairman of the Executive Committee of the AICPA® Personal Financial Planning Division and participates on that organization’s Fiduciary and Professional Standards Task Forces. He is also a founding member and charter steering committee member of The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard, and served on the Best Practices Board of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
Director of the Public Policy Clinic
William S. Boyd School of Law
Benjamin Edwards joined the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2017. He researches and writes about business and securities law, corporate governance, arbitration, and consumer protection. Prior to teaching, Professor Edwards practiced as a securities litigator in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. At Skadden, he represented clients in complex civil litigation, including securities class actions arising out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and litigation arising out of the 2008 financial crisis. Professor Edwards earned his law degree from Columbia Law School and clerked for Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
Founder, Institute for the Fiduciary Standard
Knut A. Rostad, MBA co-founded and chaired the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard and co-founded and is president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance the fiduciary standard through research, education and advocacy. He served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia, for ten years until early in 2015.
Frankel Fiduciary Prize Honorees
“Arthur Laby may well be the most active and readable scholar writing on why fiduciary advice matters in the 21st century.”
Knut A Rostad, President, Institute for the Fiduciary Standard
“[Luis A. Aguilar] demonstrates that the most powerful people and institutions including those holding office need reliance on unwavering trustworthiness.”
Tamar Frankel, Professor of Law Emerita, Boston University
“Ron Rhoades is an outstanding choice […] His work reaches across the spectrum as a teacher, practitioner, and public advocate.“
Deborah A. DeMott, Duke Law and Chair of the Selection Committee
“John Langbein’s innovative scholarship led the way to the prudent investor rule, which modernized fiduciary investing to the benefit of millions”
Robert H. Sitkoff, John L. Gray Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Member of the Selection Committee
“Harold Evensky, regarded as the Dean of Financial Planning, has emphasized the central importance of the fiduciary standard through his guiding role with numerous advisor organizations, his board service and teaching, books and journal articles.”
Michael B. Koffler, Partner, Eversheds Sutherland (US), Member of the Selection Committee
“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Barbara Roper, individual investors’ most diligent, passionate and fearsome advocate.”
Mercer Bullard, Professor of Law, University of Mississippi School of Law, Member of the Selection Committee
“Phyllis Borzi has been fighting for this fiduciary standard for retirement plans (against) more opposition. She never gave up. And that’s why we have it today.”
John C. Bogle, Vanguard Founder
“Simply put, David Swensen is the best financial steward of our times. He has always fought hard and well for his client’s interest.”
Andrew Golden, President of the Princeton University Investment Company, Member of the Selection Committee
“Gary Gensler is a modern profile in courage. The cause of curbing systemic risk has few natural allies. [….] Gensler has been the strongest advocate of meaningful reform.”
John C. Coffee Jr., Committee Chairman, Adolf A. Berle Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
“Bob Monks has been an outspoken advocate and prolific author on corporate governance, transparency and democracy. At the heart of much of his work has been restoring management accountability to shareholders, the ultimate owners,”
Knut A Rostad, President, Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
About the Frankel Fiduciary Prize
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard established the Frankel Fiduciary Prize in April 2013 to honor individuals who advance fiduciary principles. The Frankel Fiduciary Prize will be awarded annually to a person who has made significant contributions to the preservation and advancement of fiduciary principles in public life.
The prize is named after Professor Tamar Frankel of the Boston University School of Law. You can learn more about Professor Frankel’s research on fiduciary law here.
