Centennial Speaker Series: Lawrence Cunningham on Quality Shareholders: How the Best Managers Attract and Keep Them

Join us for the latest event in the Centennial Speaker Series, featuring Lawrence A. Cunningham, author of Quality Shareholders: How the Best Managers Attract and Keep Them, and Astrid Doerner, a financial correspondent. Anyone can buy stock in a public company, but not all shareholders are equally committed to a company’s long-term success. In an increasingly fragmented financial world, shareholders’ attitudes toward the companies in which they invest vary widely, from time horizon to conviction. Faced with indexers, short-term traders, and activists, it is more important than ever for businesses to ensure that their shareholders are dedicated to their missions. Today’s companies need “quality shareholders,” as Warren Buffett called those who “load up and stick around,” or buy large stakes and hold for long periods.

In Quality Shareholders, Cunningham provides an expert guide to the benefits of attracting and keeping quality shareholders. He demonstrates that a high density of dedicated, long-term shareholders results in numerous comparative and competitive advantages for companies and their managers, including a longer runway to execute business strategy and a loyal cohort against adversity.

Digital copies of Quality Shareholders: How the Best Managers Attract and Keep Them will be raffled off to attendees.

Agenda
12 p.m.: Welcome Remarks: Donna Rapaccioli, dean of the Gabelli School of Business

12:05 p.m.: Speaker Introduction: David Cowen, president/CEO of the Museum of American Finance

12:08 p.m.: Discussion: Astrid Doerner and Lawrence Cunningham

12:45 p.m.: Audience Q&A

1:00 p.m.: Closing Remarks: David Cowen

About the Speakers
Cunningham is an author, lecturer, professor, public company director, and consultant on corporate governance. He is the Henry St. George Tucker III Research Professor at George Washington University and founding director of George Washington University in New York. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Warren Buffett Shareholder: Stories from Inside the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting; The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, in collaboration with Buffett; The AIG Story, with Hank Greenberg; and Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values.

Doerner is a U.S. correspondent in New York for Handelsblatt, Germany’s leading business daily. She has covered Berkshire Hathaway for many years, including interviews with Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Ted Weschler, and she is a regular attendee of the company’s shareholder meetings in Omaha, Nebraska. Doerner also covers banks, financial markets, and the economy.

This event is co-sponsored with the CFA Society New York, the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, and the Museum of American Finance.