R. William “Bill” Ide focuses on (i.) structuring M&A transactions, (ii.) Board risk management reviews, and (iii.) representing boards of directors, audit committees and management with corporate governance, special investigations, crisis management, ethics and strategic projects. Bill has been an active advisor to fortune 100 and 500 companies, boards of private companies, and boards of government agencies and not-for-profits.
Bill formerly served as senior vice president and General Counsel of Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON). He was Counsel to the United States Olympic Committee and President of the American Bar Association. He also was an investment banker for E.F Hutton and Cranston Securities.
Bill has an extensive history in fashioning and executing M&A structure in the US and abroad as a deal lawyer, an investment banker and as general counsel at Monsanto.
Bill currently serves on the Boards of MetaJure and Rimidi Diabetes. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) where he chaired the Governance Committee and served on the Audit and Compensation Committees.
He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLKI) where he chaired the Executive and Governance Committees, while also serving on the Audit Committee.
Bill is also chair of the Advisory Board to the Conference Board’s Governance Center, a senior fellow and co-founder of Emory University’s Directors Institute and he chaired the Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee of the Clark Atlanta University Board of Trustees. He is General Counsel and Secretary of the EastWest Institute, serves on the Audit Committee and is chair of the Executive Committee.
Education:
- Georgia State University, MBA
- University of Virginia, JD, Law Review, Order of Coif
- Washington and Lee University, BA, cum laude, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award
Admissions and qualifications:
- District of Columbia
- Georgia
Experience:
- Sale of African Agriculture Company to Major Global Agriculture Company:Designed and executed an auction process which took an initial offer of US$50 MM to a sale price of over US$100 MM.
- Lead Legal Negotiation to Create a Monsanto and American Home Products “Mergers of Equals”; Also oversaw the ultimate un-winding of the merger.
- Merger of Monsanto and Plarmacia & Upjohn: Oversaw the merger and ultimate spinoff of the agriculture assets into a new Monsanto.
- Negotiations and re-Negotiations of Joint Ventures; Oversaw remediation between Monsanto and a large agriculture entity by emphasizing mutual trust over technical legal quarrels over words.
- Private Company Co-founder Compliance Issues: Performed for board of private company which issued public debt, fact finding, crafted and oversaw implementation of a successful remediation of a co-founder’s compliance on issues.
- Governance Review of India Subsidiary Financial Irregularities: Through use of local and in-counsel , oversaw fact finding and institution of remediation program.
- Risk Management Assessments of Large Privately-Owned Health Care Company to Prepare for an IPO: Conducted fact finding on legal and regulatory risks, made enterprise risk management analysis and recommended risk mitigation steps.
- Multiple Fortune 100 Companies: Completed numerous global cyber security governance and strategy reviews of Fortune 100 companies with significant governance recommendations implemented by senior management and the board.
- Confidential clients: Has led successful 10A investigations for NYSE and NASDAQ board audit committees, extensive interface with the Big Four and relevant regulators.
Memberships:
- Monsanto Company, Former General Counsel and Secretary
- United States Olympic Committee, Former Counselor
- EastWest Institute, Board of Directors, Chair Executive Committee, General Counsel and Secretary
- Nancy Creek Capital, Advisory Board
- Rimidi Diabetes, Board Member, Former Chair
- Conference Board Governance Center Advisory Board, Chair
- Honorary Consul General, Thai Embassy
Cost
Rate : $$$
