Rich Fields

Rich Fields leads the firm’s Board Effectiveness Practice and is a member of the firm’s Board and CEO Advisory Partners. Rich is a trusted advisor to boards and corporate leaders who regularly ask him to customize and deliver annual board and director assessments, benchmark boards against both peers and evolving investor and ESG standards, avoid or mitigate activist vulnerabilities, and develop more productive relationships with their largest and most influential shareholders. 

Rich joined the firm from King & Spalding, where he was a Partner who advised companies on complex, high-stakes corporate governance issues.  Before that, Rich was a Partner at governance boutique Tapestry Networks who led the firm’s programs with lead directors and the chairs of boards and board committees.

Rich is seen as a leader in the field and regularly writes and speaks on corporate governance matters.  He has been quoted in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Financial Times Agenda.  Rich has authored chapters in each edition of The Handbook of Board Governance.   Rich was one of the principal architects of the SDX Protocol, a guide for shareholder engagement supported by investors who now manage more than $2 trillion in assets.  He has been recognized for his leadership on corporate governance issues as the National Chair for the Society for Corporate Governance’s Annual Conference in 221, and as one of four global winners of the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership’s Rising Star of Corporate Governance Award in 215.

Rich earned his JD with honors from the University of Chicago Law School and a BA in government from Clark University, magna cum laude.  Rich is an officer of the Society for Corporate Governance and holds the SASB FSA Credential Level I Candidate certification.  Rich is active in his community and is the Past President of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Middlesex County.