AES inspectors are experienced in domestic and international voting standards and procedures, supplemented by trusted industry colleagues and partners that can be called upon for special situations. If additional support is needed, on-site inspectors can call upon facilities in Rockville and New York City.
Jim has more than 25 years of experience working in the securities industry. During his career, he has acted as an inspector (judge, scrutineer and certifying agent) at more than 1,000 annual and special meetings and more than 100 contested meetings worldwide. He also has extensive experience relating to corporate governance, reorganization, corporate actions, planning, development, problem solving, negotiations, technical, assistance, information systems and the training of staff and clients in multiple processes. Prior to founding AES, Jim worked at American Stock Transfer & Trust, The Bank of New York, ADP and IVS Associates.
Chris has acted as an Inspector of Election on routine and contested elections throughout the U.S. and worldwide and has been instrumental in developing the processes and procedures allowing US shareholders of foreign corporations to have their shares represented at foreign annual general meetings. Chris began as a licensed stockbroker at Citicorp Investment Services,and then became involved in proxy voting at Innisfree M&A and later served as an account manager at Georgeson Shareholder Communications. Most recently, as a vice president at The Bank of New York Mellon’s Depositary Receipt Division, Chris handled all contested and sensitive proxy matters.
Jim has more than 50 years' experience in the securities industry. He has inspected numerous corporate annual meetings, and is comfortable with all phases of the inspector’s duties and responsibilities. Jim is the president of JRA Consulting Services LLC., which provides annual meeting and securities transfer consulting to corporate issuers. Before founding JRA, he was the Assistant Secretary and Manager for Edison International’s in-house transfer agent and registrar activities; manager of The Bank of America’s Corporate Trust/Mutual Funds operation in Los Angeles; and director of shareholder services for The Walt Disney Company, where he managed a retail base of over 1 million shareholders. Jim is also a past director and president of the Shareholder Services Association. He graduated from Woodbury College with a B.S. in business administration.
Dane has 30 years of experience assisting publicly traded and private companies in a wide spectrum of industries with legal and corporate secretary matters. Over the last 15 years he has become a nationally recognized expert focused on corporate governance matters including responsibility for the annual proxy statement, the transfer agent relationship and execution of annual shareholder meetings at Integrys Energy Group, QEP Resources and Hertz Global Holdings. Dane is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance and served as a member of its Board of Directors from 2019 to 2023, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lee Health System. Dane holds a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a B.B.A. with Accounting and Finance majors from the University of Wisconsin Business School.
Chris has over 35 years’ in-house and law firm legal experience assisting publicly traded and private companies in multiple industries to achieve their business and legal objectives. Before joining AES, she served as General Counsel and Secretary of Advanced Emissions Solutions, Inc., now known as Arq Inc., (NASDAQ:ARQ), where she was responsible for corporate governance and shareholder matters. Since joining AES, she has served as inspector of election for more than 300 annual or special stockholder meetings. Chris holds a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.A. from the University of Exeter in England and a B.A. from Allegheny College; and completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business.
Mike has served as an election judge at more than 800 annual and special meetings and more than 250 contested meetings. He is the president and founder of First Coast Results, Inc., which provides electronic voting and tabulation services in connection with contested and routine shareholder meetings. He has also served as assistant secretary in the Meeting Services Division of CT Corporation System. Mike holds a degree in criminal justice from the University of Delaware.
Simon spent more than 20 years in the proxy solicitation business at MacKenzie Partners, Inc., where he was a senior vice president. He was responsible for running voting campaigns in contested and non-contested shareholder meetings, merger meetings and special meetings. He has also acted as information agent on both debt and equity tender offers. Simon trained as an attorney and is a member of both the New York State Bar Association and the Bar of England and Wales
Debbie has over 35 years of experience as a legal professional, nearly 20 of which have been in the world of corporate governance. She served in key roles in the Offices of the Corporate Secretary at two Fortune 500 companies, both of which went through major corporate changes during her tenures. Debbie is well-versed in all aspects of annual meeting and proxy statement preparation and has served as a liaison to the financial services companies and Inspectors of Election for many years. Through various corporate transformations, Debbie was involved in numerous special stockholder meetings in addition to the standard annual meetings required. Debbie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Albright College in Reading, PA.
Anita has more than 35 years of business experience, the last 25 years specifically focused on stockholder services. She has managed approximately 30+ annual and special stockholder meetings for Citigroup Inc. and its predecessors. Prior to Citi, she worked in public accounting. Anita holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Central Missouri and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut.
Jason has served as an Inspector of Election services for all types of stockholder meetings throughout his career, both routine and contested, as well as in-person and virtual. He has a vast knowledge of the complexities of annual and special meeting tabulations. Prior to his career as an inspector, Jason was an investigating law enforcement officer within a highly respected agency in the state of Delaware. During his 20-year law enforcement career, he specialized in financial crime investigations, including internal audits and fraud and abuse. Jason is a 2001 graduate of Rowan University, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Law/Justice.
Natalie is the Senior Vice President of Dennard Lascar Investor Relations, which provides investor relations and corporate governance consulting to corporate issuers. Over the course of her career, Ms. Hairston has actively managed or served as the inspector of election for more than 120 annual or special stockholder meetings. She was the chief governance officer, vice president–investor relations, and corporate secretary for ENGlobal Corp. (ENG) and was a member of its executive leadership team. Natalie led ENGlobal’s investor relations, corporate governance, SOX/SEC compliance, and corporate communications programs. She has excelled in diverse environments within public companies, law firms, and consultancy. Natalie received undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the American University of Paris, France and holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the New York Institute of Technology.
Lisa has over 25 years of expertise advising multi-billion-dollar corporations as well as start-ups. Lisa is well-versed in the strategic challenges associated with transitions from private to public and domestic to global, including in highly regulated industries. She has a successful track record as a chief legal officer, general counsel, chief compliance and chief ethics officer, chief privacy officer, and as head of global risk management, global procurement, global insurance programs, and global internal audit. Lisa holds a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles, and a J.D. from University of Southern California, Gould School of Law.
John is in his ninth year of inspecting elections. He has 15 years' experience in the asset management industry working with industry clients, including AXA Equitable, Prudential and Lazard Asset Management. He most recently worked for American Express Bank in New York where he served as a director, marketing mutual funds to European institutional investors. He is past president of the CFA Society of Minnesota and he has consulted with senior management of over 50 Fortune 500 firms in the U.S. In addition to holding the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, John holds an MBA, a BA in economics and a BSB in accounting from the University of Minnesota and he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Angela has spent more than 30 years providing corporate secretary, investor relations and communications services to publicly traded and private companies in southern California. She recently retired from Cubic Corporation, where she served as director of corporate governance; and was responsible for meetings of the Board of Directors and shareholders, the annual proxy statement, the transfer agent relationship (Broadridge), and all subsidiary governance. Angela is a member of Society for Corporate Governance and past board member in the local chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute. Angela holds a B.S. in English from Ball State University.
John has more than 25 years of experience as an in-house attorney specializing in corporate governance, compliance and board support for public companies. He is knowledgeable in SEC filings, proxy statements, annual meetings, executive compensation, ESG, M&A, mortgage lending and banking activities. John is a member of both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Bar Associations.
Christel was senior counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Occidental Petroleum Corporation, where she was responsible for managing the corporate secretary’s office; ensuring compliance with federal regulations; coordinating the annual stockholders meeting process; and providing data for the proxy statement and annual report. Prior to joining Occidental, Christel practiced law at Zevnik Horton Guibord McGovern Palmer & Fognani in Los Angeles and at Gilbert Segall & Young in Helsinki, Finland. She also served as an extern on the United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit. Christel earned a B.A. in Political Science, with a concentration in International Relations, from UCLA; and a J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Jonathan is the founder of Value Creation / Value Protection LLC, an investor relations & enterprise risk management consulting practice focused on helping companies create and protect value. Throughout his nearly 30-year investor relations career, he has led or participated in more than 25 annual or special shareholder meetings. Jonathan has served as the head of investor relations for companies in the automotive remarketing, automotive supply and retail industries. In addition to his extensive investor relations experience, he has served as Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management, Vice President of Risk Management, Vice President of Financial Planning, Treasurer and interim CFO. Jonathan obtained his undergraduate degree in accounting from Michigan State University and MBA in Finance from Wayne State University.
Linda has spent her entire career with Johnson & Johnson in roles that spanned the areas of product management, mergers & acquisitions, and most recently in their Office of the Corporate Secretary. She recently retired after almost 40 years with the company, the last 17 years of which she was an established professional in the areas of shareholder relations and corporate governance. She was an acknowledged liaison for the Company with Broadridge Financial Solutions, Georgeson Shareholder Communications, Morrow Sodali Global and their transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services, where she was a key member of their Advisory Board. She also managed the logistical details and proxy voting of the Johnson & Johnson Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which, in some years, had almost 2,000 shareholders in attendance.
Paul has 33 years of experience in the securities industry and has acted as the inspector of election on numerous routine elections throughout the U.S. He served as director of Texaco’s in-house shareholder services department prior to its merger with Chevron and as a director of the Corporate Transfer Agents Association (now the Shareholder Services Association). Paul is a former member of the Securities Transfer Association and served on the NYSE ad hoc committee to review proxy fees paid by corporations. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Purchase.
Damian began his career in proxy operations, tabulation and solicitation more than 25 years ago at Broadridge Financial Solutions (formerly ADP/ICS). During his 10+ years at Broadridge, Damian processed the mailing and tabulations for numerous contested meetings for clients including Motorola, Inc., H.J. Heinz and HP-Compaq. His knowledge and expertise in the proxy process led to the role of Supervisor of Proxy Agent Services, where he managed a department of seven client service representatives. Following Broadridge, he joined Georgeson LLC as a Director of Client Services, where he was responsible for the operational aspect on various campaigns, including proxy solicitations, tender offers, corporate actions and contested meetings.
Cynthia is the principal of the Skoglund Consulting Group working with public and private companies as well as foundations and non-profit organizations. Previously, she was the IRO of Beckman Coulter and later a senior manager and member of the business development and strategy team of Beckman, a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation. With over 25 years of experience in communications and investor relations, Skoglund is an active member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and is currently an NIRI Orange County board director.
Karl has spent 34 years in the shareholder services industry, most recently as an assistant secretary and director of stockholder services for Merck & Co., Inc. His previous experience includes managing Merck's in-house stock transfer operation and working in the stock transfer relationship management group of The Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. Karl has been a board member of the Shareholder Services Association (SSA) since 1998 and is also a past president. In 2010, he was selected to serve as a member of the NYSE Proxy Fee Advisory Committee.
Jackie spent 10 years leading the Shareholder Services function in the Office of the Corporate Secretary for Prudential Financial, Inc. In this role, she was responsible for the logistical details of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, including oversight of voting tabulation with the Inspector of Elections. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Shareholder Services Association and remains an honorary member. Jackie also served as the company’s relationship manager to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Georgeson Shareholder Communications, and Computershare Investor Services, where she was a key member of their Client Advisory Board. Jackie’s career expanded to numerous other areas within the company where she specialized in corporate governance, third-party risk management, and vendor governance. She recently retired as Vice-President, Provider Governance and Contracts, after 36 years of service.
Charlie has 42 years of experience in the shareholder services industry and has served as Inspector of Election for over 500 annual meetings. Most recently, he was an assistant vice president-relationship manager at Computershare Trust Company NA, LLC. His previous experience includes managing Navistar Corporation’s in- house stock transfer operation and working as a vice president-trust officer in the shareholder relationship management group of Bank of Montreal/Harris Bank. Charlie was a past president of the Corporate Transfer Agents Association (Chicago Chapter) as well as business manager and board member of the Midwest Securities Transfer Association. He has a bachelor's degree from Lewis University and an MBA from DePaul University.
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