From the Editor...

Amy Lancellotta, who works closely with much of the independent fund director community in her role as head of the Independent Directors Council, will retire at the end of this year, we learned last week. Lancellotta has been at IDC for 13 years and with the Investment Company Institute for three decades. Lawyers and directors alike told Fund Board Views she would be missed and that she has had a lasting impact on mutual fund governance. For more details on how Lancellotta's retirement news was greeted by the industry, be sure to read our updated story.

Another long-timer in the fund industry, Robert Plaze—who worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management for almost 30 years and now is a partner at Proskauer Rose—weighed in recently on what his former employer should do to further ease boards' responsibilities. The issue of what is expected of fund boards has been top of mind since Dalia Blass assumed the top job at DIM a year and a half ago, but Plaze's suggestion of eliminating board's Section 15(c) responsibilities over unaffiliated sub-adviser relationships is not one that's often talked about (publicly). We'll let you know if there's any reaction from the folks over at DIM.

Be sure to review our stories from March in the latest issue of FBV Monthly, which subscribers received last week. Our goal with the publication is to provide easy access to all our stories in a variety of ways—whatever works for you. 

Also, please remember that we're always looking for industry professionals to write Viewpoints articles, our section that features contributed by-lined pieces about once a month. This section is not behind our paywall and therefore open to anyone who wants to read it, making it easy for authors to get the word out that they've published. Email me if you're interested and have a subject you'd like to tackle, and we'll work together to set a deadline. (By contrast, our Added Perspective section features previously published work with a link back to the original website. If you've published something in which you think our readers might be interested, let me know.) 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor