DMI Events

JAMES W. KEYES

James W. Keyes is chairman and chief executive officer of Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI, BBI.B), one of the world's leading providers of in-home movie and game entertainment with reported worldwide revenues of more than $5.5 billion in 2007 and more than 7,700 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

A 21-year veteran of 7-Eleven Inc., the world's largest chain of convenience stores, Keyes served as its president and CEO from 2000 until 2005. Under his leadership, the company experienced record sales and profits and implemented new retail systems technology that improved product assortment decisions in every store. He also ushered in a new era for 7-Eleven through the introduction of a host of new electronic services.

Prior to serving as president and CEO, Keyes held a variety of positions at 7-Eleven, including chief financial officer and executive vice president and chief operating officer. Keyes retired from 7-Eleven upon the sale of the company in 2005.

Keyes graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelors degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and earned an MBA from Columbia University.

Keyes serves on numerous civic boards, including the national board of governors of the American Red Cross, the Dallas Center for Performing Arts, The Dallas Symphony Association, the Cooper Institute, the SMU/Cox School of Business and the Dallas Education Foundation. A recipient of the Horatio Alger Award in 2005 and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2008, Keyes was also the founder of the Education is Freedom foundation, which provides college scholarships for hard-working young students.

HON. WILLIAM C. THOMPSON

William C. Thompson, Jr. became New York City’s 42nd Comptroller on January 1, 2002. He was re-elected in November 2005 and began his second term on January 1, 2006.

A lifelong resident of Brooklyn, Thompson is the son of a judge and a public school teacher. He is the proud product of the New York City public school system.

Thompson has used the powers of his office to aggressively safeguard the City’s finances, seeking out savings and rooting out waste. His audits of City agencies have uncovered more than $193.6 million in savings, including more than $22 million in Medicaid reimbursements unclaimed by the Department of Education and almost $4 million in fines uncollected by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Also, under Thompson’s watch, the amount of money collected for damage done to City property rose dramatically.

Thompson has earned a reputation as a tough advocate for New Yorkers. He has stood on the side of working people seeking a living wage and fairness on the job. He led the fight to protect the City’s Meals-On-Wheels program, an invaluable lifeline for many frail elderly. Thompson’s battle against the proposed bus and subway fare hikes forced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to open its books to the public. He alerted New Yorkers that the Federal government was failing to make good on its promise of aid in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Thompson challenged the City’s inequitable plan to reduce trash collection in some boroughs and was a leader in the successful campaign to fully reinstate the City’s recycling program. Through his Community Action Center, Thompson has helped more than 40,000 New Yorkers with problems regarding City services.

As custodian and investment advisor to all five of the City’s pension funds, Thompson manages a combined portfolio of more than $105 billion. In this role, Thompson has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing and commercial real estate in New York City, helping increase housing and job opportunities within the five boroughs. He has demonstrated a serious commitment to fostering opportunities for women- and minority-owned firms to conduct business with New York City, with a particular focus on capital market activities. Under his leadership, the amount of New York City Pension Fund assets managed by women- and minority-owned firms has more than tripled to approximately $3.7 billion.

The Comptroller has spearheaded the creation of the largest Emerging Managers program in the United States. With the approval of the New York City Pension Funds, the Comptroller authorized a $175 million allocation to a groundbreaking Emerging Managers program targeting first-time funds, particularly those managed and owned by women and members of minority groups.

Thompson has been a leader among institutional investors in advancing important corporate governance and corporate social responsibility reforms such as the repeal of the classified structure of corporate boards and the annual election of directors, the establishment of a board protocol for addressing shareholder proposals that win majority votes, a prohibition against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the adoption of stronger standards of director independence for members of key board committees, as well as the adoption of standards for the protection of the environment and human rights globally.

He gained a national reputation for his efforts to stop corporations - Halliburton, General Electric, ConocoPhillips, Cooper Cameron, and the Aon Corporation - from engaging in business with countries that are identified by the U.S. State Department as state sponsors of terrorism.

Thompson also worked with leaders of the financial services industry in bringing about reform at the New York Stock Exchange.

Thompson graduated from Tufts University, where he currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. He graduated from Brooklyn’s P.S. 161, Andries Hudde Intermediate School and Midwood High School. In 1998, Thompson was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Mercy College.

Following his work for a Brooklyn congressman and his service as the borough’s youngest-ever Deputy Borough President, Thompson was appointed to the New York City Board of Education in 1994. Two years later, he began the first of five consecutive terms as its President. During that period, Thompson led a reform agenda that resulted in improved student achievement and greater public accountability. Thompson also served as a Senior Vice President for Public Finance at an investment banking firm in the early 1990s.

Thompson lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

TIMOTHY SMITH

Timothy Smith serves as Senior Vice President of Walden Asset Management’s Environment, Social and Governance Group.

Tim joined Walden in October 2000. His primary responsibilities include overseeing shareholder advocacy, public policy, assisting in client services and acting as the spokesperson for Walden on social issues. Walden Asset Management manages approximately $1.7 billion for individual and institutional clients. Walden has been a national leader in responsible investing for over 35 years working on dozens of issues like the environment, sweatshops and climate change, Apartheid in South Africa, executive compensation, corporate governance and equal employment opportunity in the U.S. among others. Walden also provides professional social screening and a community investing service for clients who have invested $8 million in empowering poorer communities.

Previously Tim served as Executive Director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) for 24 years. ICCR co-ordinates action for some 275 religious institution investors bringing social concerns to corporations’ attention and assisting religious investors with their responsible investing decisions. ICCR has been a primary player in the corporate responsibility movement and social investment community.

In December 2007 Tim was named by Ethisphere Institute as one of top 100 most influential people in Business Ethics.

Tim is immediate past Chair of the Board of Social Investment Forum, the industry association for socially concerned investors where he served for 5 years. He serves on the boards of Shared Interest, a South Africa Development Fund, World Neighbors, an international development organization, and is a member of the newly created Kimberly-Clark Sustainability Advisory Board. In 2008 Tim was elected as a Board member of the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, one of the largest pension funds in the U.S., with approximately $16 billion of assets under management.

Previously, Tim served on the Boards of Domini Social Equity Fund for 10 years and the Calvert New Africa Fund and chaired the Advisory Council for the Calvert Group’s social investment funds.

Tim has a Masters in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a BA from the University of Toronto.

Walden Asset Management is the socially responsible investment division of Boston Trust & Investment Management, an employee owned firm based in Boston.

VONDA BRUNSTING

Vonda Brunsting is the Eastern Region Director for the Capital Stewardship Program of the Service Employees International Union. SEIU’s Capital Stewardship Program seeks to ensure that their members’ $1 trillion in pension funds assets are managed in a manner consistent with their long-term economic interests and financially sound investment policies. Her work includes training and support for the trustees that represent SEIU beneficiaries on the boards of public and Taft-Hartley pension funds, and coordinating the union’s work on corporate governance. Prior to SEIU, Vonda Brunsting co-founded two community organizations devoted to leadership development and community change and worked on community finance initiatives at the University of New Hampshire and Harvard Business School. She received her undergraduate degree from Calvin College and a Masters degree from the University of Chicago.

HON. DAVID YASSKY

Serving in his second term, Council Member David Yassky is among the Council's leading advocates for education reform, affordable housing, crime prevention, waterfront revitalization and the environment.

The Democratic Leadership Council named Yassky one of the "Top 100 New Democrats to Watch" in the nation and "Democrat of the Week". He was endorsed by The New York Times and has been called "the textbook definition of the sort of person who can change the council for the better" by Michael Tomasky of New York Magazine and "one of the Council's ablest members" by Tom Robbins of The Village Voice. The New York Post called his education platform "courageous," adding he?s "doing what?s right for kids."

Yassky has compiled an impressive record of legislative achievement in the City Council:

Jobs and economic growth: David authored the Film Industry Job Creation Act, credited with bringing thousands of jobs to New York's film and television studios. David also pushed through the Council a plan to make Downtown Brooklyn the City?s third major business district, he created an Industrial Jobs Retention program to fund dedicated, low-cost space for manufacturing firms, and he helped expand the cruise ship industry in New York.
Public Safety: He took on irresponsible gun companies with the Gun Industry Responsibility Act. This law will hold gun manufactures and dealers liable when their reckless sales practices result in the injury of a New Yorker.
Environmental Protection: In the last election cycle, David was the only City Council Member to receive an "early endorsement" from the League of Conservation Voters, which called David?s Waterfront Planning Act "the most important piece of waterfront legislation adopted by the City in recent years." David created an innovative pilot program for clean-fuel taxicabs that got hybrid cabs on the road in NYC, sued Exxon-Mobil to force a cleanup of the Greenpoint oil spill, and his report on illegal dumping in New York waterways led to prosecution of one of the City's worst polluters.
Affordable Housing: David?s Affordable Housing Zoning Initiative will create thousands of new moderately priced apartments. The plan creates zoning incentives for developers building luxury apartments in newly rezoned areas to finance companion affordable projects.

Before his election to the Council, Yassky had a distinguished career as a public servant, lawyer and educator. Working under Rep. Chuck Schumer, he helped enact the Brady Law, the Assault Weapons Ban, the Violence Against Women Act, and more than a dozen other significant anti-crime statutes. At the time, he was the youngest Committee or Subcommittee Chief Counsel in the House of Representatives. Yassky also taught at Brooklyn Law School. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Diana, and their daughters Susan and Margaret.