From the Editor...

After months of waiting, the Securities and Exchange Commission finally has signaled its approval for Dimensional Fund Advisors to offer an exchange-traded fund share class of its existing open-end funds. The regulator issued a notice of intent to grant relief to the firm at the end of September and started the 15-day clock ticking on issuing the order. The actual issuance is being held up by the government shutdown, but we were able to speak exclusively Stradley Ronon's Bruce Leto, who is independent counsel to the Dimensional Funds board and fund counsel, about what's next and when the ETF shares may hit the market. Leto provided some great insight on the board's preparation and the expected timeline going forward.

In celebration of FBV's 10-year anniversary, we've published a new e-book of our popular 10 Things... lists, a retrospective on our exclusive one-on-one interviews with board chairs and other senior fund governance folks (A Seat at the Table) over the years, and published an update from Simpson Thacher lawyers on how boards may want to think about approaching diversity in the boardroom (exactly 10 years after the original piece was published in 2015). 

FBV continues to stay abreast of movement in and out of boardrooms with our Who's at the Table? feature, which you can find in the "Succession" section of the "Top of the Agenda" tab on the website.

In other news, a new vice chair has been elected to the IDC's Governing Council, which also welcomed a few new members; MFDF's Dianne Descoteaux has authored an article about the Pinnacle Advisors case; Stradley Ronon dropped a new podcast targeting fund independent directors and discussing SEC exams and enforcement; and the newest issue of FBV Monthly has been posted on the FBV website.

Thank you to everyone who has sent us good wishes and congratulations on our 10-year milestone. We appreciate you!

For now,

Hillary Jackson, co-founder and editor