Speaker details

Biography

Leslie F. Seidman is a recognized thought leader in corporate reporting who is dedicated to providing stakeholders with decision-useful information. Ms. Seidman serves as a member of the board of directors General Electric Company (GE: NYSE), where she chairs the audit committee, and Moody’s Corporation (MCO: NYSE), where she chairs the nominating and governance committee, and previously chaired the audit committee. She is also an advisor to idaciti, Inc., a cloud-based analytical platform for structured financial and nonfinancial data, including environmental, social and governance (ESG). Previously, she completed two terms as a Public Governor for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), where she chaired the audit committee. Ms. Seidman is a former Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), where she also served as a member of the Board from 2003-2013. As FASB Chairman, Ms. Seidman collaborated with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators to improve financial reporting in the U.S. capital markets. She guided the FASB's joint agenda with the International Accounting Standards Board to converge U.S. and international accounting standards and was an Observer to the International Integrated Reporting Council. During her tenure, the FASB assumed responsibility for maintaining the U.S. GAAP XBRL (digital) taxonomy, which standardizes and structures financial information. Previously, Ms. Seidman worked as an auditor with EY, as a VP of accounting policy with J.P. Morgan, and as a member of the FASB staff. Ms. Seidman is a certified public accountant and received certification in cybersecurity oversight from the NACD and the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and in ESG oversight from Competent Boards (GCB.D).