Speaker

Steve Grace

H. Stephen Grace, Jr., Ph.D. is President of H.S. Grace & Company, Inc., a firm which provides specialized financial and operational advisory services to healthy and troubled companies, assists in complex commercial litigation, and advises on issues of corporate governance, oversight and control. Dr. Grace and H.S. Grace & Company served as Consultant to the primary Directors and Officers Insurance Carrier on the Walt Disney Shareholder Derivative Litigation which concerned the hiring and termination of Michael Ovitz by Disney. He was the named Corporate Governance Expert for the Officers and Directors in the First Energy litigation. First Energy was alleged to have been responsible for the August 13, 2003 “blackout” affecting over 50 million people in the Northeast. H.S. Grace & Company served as the Independent Compliance Consultant under an SEC settlement, with a mutual fund alleged to have permitted “market timing,” and has been retained as a consulting and testifying expert in over 150 civil and criminal business litigations.

Dr. Grace’s more than 40 years of Senior Management, Consultant and Academic experience includes: chief financial officer of a major holding company; national director-at-large of a Big Five firm; and university faculty member. He has authored and co-authored a substantial number of economic and financial publications, many of which focus on corporate governance and issues of business conduct.

Dr. Grace was National Chairman of Financial Executives International (“FEI”) 2003-2004, a recipient of FEI’s Distinguished Service Award, and served as a member of FORBES CFO Forum Advisory Board. He served as an advisor to The CPA Journal Editorial Board and the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) – Quality Enhancement Policy Committee. At Lamar University, he is a Distinguished Alumnus and serves on the Board of Advisors of both the Engineering and the Business Schools. He also serves on the Advisory Council at Jesse H. Jones School of Business, Texas Southern University.

Dr. Grace holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lamar University, an MBA from University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Houston.