From the Editor...

Independent mutual fund directors—and some individuals deemed ready to join a fund board—will gather in New York later this week for a first-ever collaborative meeting hosted jointly by Mutual Fund Directors Forum and Independent Directors Council. In exclusive interviews with FBV, MFDF's Carolyn McPhillips and IDC's Tom Kim spoke about the event, which will focus on diversity and inclusion, and how it came together. Given the popularity of the workshop (it's sold out), we're hoping to be able to provide some kind of debrief afterward, so watch this space. 

We've also run a couple of other regular features lately. On Friday, we tackled oversight of exchange-traded funds in the form of a 10 Things... list. The growth of that market has been tremendous, and advisers are finding new ways all the time to get into the game; this, of course, means fund boards need to be on the ball. And our latest Viewpoints article examines boards' responsibilities regarding AI oversight of third-party vendors. Artificial intelligence isn't going away, and there are many facets to how it is—and can be—used in the mutual fund industry. Joyce Li's article is informative and thought-provoking, so don't miss it. 

We are always looking for new contributors to the Viewpoints section, so please reach out if you've got an idea or spread the word to peers who may be interested in authoring a piece for FBV. Remember: FBV does not charge authors (or anyone) to view published pieces; the section is not behind our paywall, which makes the articles accessible to all and easy to share with colleagues, peers, and whomever may benefit from the subject matter. Get in touch today!

In other recent news, we've written an article that highlights findings of PWC's most recent fund director survey, reported on a long-serving independent director stepping down as chair of an ALPS series trust, and looked at ways closed-end fund boards and advisers can head off—or handle, if necessary—approaches from activist investors. 

If you need to catch up, be sure to download our latest issue of FBV Monthly. 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor