Neel Corporate Governance Center - Speaker Series Current Schedule

Herschel Frierson is the strategic networks leader and a principal at Crowe LLP with over 27 years of experience. In his current role, he is responsible for expanding the firm’s influence with network partners and associations, creating new opportunities and deepening existing relationships. He focuses on key networks for all industries across the firm and in the market. Frierson serves on the Bold Ambition Committee, which focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for the firm, and is the executive champion for the firm’s business resource groups.

In 2020, Accounting Today named Frierson to its list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. He is the 27th chairman of the board of directors for the National Association of Black Accountants, a nonprofit membership association bridging the opportunity gap for black business leaders in accounting, finance and entrepreneurship. Frierson has worked with professional associations in numerous capacities, including being the keynote speaker for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ We’re About Success program and leading discussions with the Indiana CPA Society, the North Carolina CPA Society and the Tax Executives Institute, as well participating in DEI roundtables for the Institute of Internal Auditors’ General Audit Management Conference.

Jeffrey P. Mahoney joined the Council of Institutional Investors as general counsel in 2006. His responsibilities include advocating for the Council’s membership-approved policies before standard setters, regulators, members of Congress and other policy makers. Prior to joining the Council, Mahoney was counsel to the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). From 1996 to 2006, he advised FASB and its parent entity, the Financial Accounting Foundation, on a variety of technical, administrative and research matters, and was primarily responsible for FASB’s Washington D.C. liaison activities. Prior to joining FASB, Mahoney was a corporate securities lawyer at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP; a law clerk to the Honorable James G. Exum Jr., chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; and an auditor at Arthur Andersen LLP. Mahoney holds a J.D. degree, served on the North Carolina Law Review, and was named to the Order of the Coif. He also holds a B.B.A. degree and an A.A. degree. Mahoney is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association and North Carolina Bar Association and is admitted and qualified to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He also is a certified public accountant in North Carolina and Michigan, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.