The chairman and CEO of Selby Lane, LLC, David C. Burke focuses on global private equity and venture capital strategy. Outside of these endeavors, David C. Burke serves as a guest lecturer with the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business (GSB).
In December 2020, the Stanford GSB organized a three-day “Conference on Corporations and Democracy” that brought together 450 online participants. Sponsored by the Stanford GSB Corporations and Society Initiative, the event focused on the importance of corporate interactions that emphasize trust, governance, and accountability.
Participants at the conference included legal, policy, and business leaders with expertise in the roles of corporations, individuals, and government entities that represent them in regulating business. An overarching goal of the event was to ensure that democracy safeguards in the government are “competent, effective, and uncorrupted.”
One major issue identified as a persistent challenge was the way in which corporate legal rights have evolved toward excessive power, with companies no longer serving society first and foremost. With some policy experts recommending constitutional amendments as a way of resolving US corporate rights issues, the panelists presented the view that improved judicial decisions and legislation would be a more straightforward and effective way forward.
