Last week, I attended a conference organized by the illustrious Broc Romanek of TheCorporateCounsel.net, whose blog and website provide untold amounts of useful, practical and timely guidance to securities practitioners. The conference provided an opportunity for 100 women from the securities and corporate governance worlds to network with and learn from each other. One of the highlights for me was hearing from the indomitable Peggy Foran, Chief Governance Officer of Prudential Financial, Inc. and by any measure one of the foremost luminaries in the world of corporate governance.

Peggy received the Linda Quinn Lifetime Achievement Award, named for a woman whom I have always looked up to as a tremendous example of what women could achieve in their legal careers. One thing Peggy said has really stayed with me all week. In speaking about Meredith Cross, who served as the second female head of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance (Linda Quinn was the first), Peggy said that Meredith was an example to her that women operating at the very highest levels of their careers in the securities bar could (and should) still be kind, thoughtful, compassionate people who take the time to mentor and help others. Thanks, Broc, for making this event possible.

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