From the Editor...

We think it's important to note when mutual fund independent directors resign or retire from boards and when new individuals join the ranks of directors. What makes a people move most interesting, informative, and useful to our readers is the behind-the-scenes whys and hows: Why has an individual departed? Why was a specific individual selected to fill the empty seat? How does the board deal with succession planning, recruiting, and hiring? How is a new director brought up to speed in the boardroom? Providing FBV subscribers with access to their peers' thinking and methodology falls right in line with our mission to be the educational resource for mutual fund boards. Our A Seat at the Table feature, where we interview board chairs and other senior fund governance professionals, offers that peak inside boardrooms that isn't available otherwise. 

So what to do when a one-on-one interview isn't possible? We believe that personnel shifts are still interesting even if we can't get all the details, so we've launched a new regular feature called Who's at the Table? that provides a roundup of recent people moves. Our first one ran recently and includes news about the boardrooms of Calvert Funds, Azzad Funds, Empower Funds, and Harbor Funds. We'll keep on the lookout for more and update accordingly.

There are a couple of new topics that are drawing directors' attention, and we're staying on top of those as well. One such topic is artificial intelligence, which seems to be part of so many discussions lately. We spoke to some experts about how fund boards can explore, learn about, and become comfortable with AI, and, separately, we are lucky to have exclusively run a Viewpoints written by AI expert Joyce Li on oversight of sub-advisers' use of AI. Another topic is the ETF share class, which is the subject of our latest 10 Things... list and was the focus of a story we wrote in mid-April. We also recently devoted 10 Things... to the new co-investments framework. At this point, we can't write enough about issues like this; there's so much to learn and so much changing—watch this space.

Other content to check out: April edition of FBV Monthly, new Conflicts of Interest e-book featuring a series of articles written by Buddy Donohue, op-ed in Barron's on the opportunities deregulation presents to fund independent directors by MFDF's Carolyn McPhillips, ICI Mutual's latest Claims Trends report. 

We'll be looking for recommendations for our summer book list soon, so please start thinking about what you'd like to share. We typically feature recent books (published in 2024/'25 for this year's list), but the subject is open—non-fiction, novels, historical fiction, finance and markets, self-help, etc. And we love to feature books written by fund directors and other fund governance pros, so if you've published a book, or know someone who has, make sure you send the details our way! Thanks, as always, for your help.

For now,

Hillary Jackson, co-founder and editor