The Buck Stops in the Boardroom

Mr. Gordon is a nationally recognized corporate governance expert who has presented his director education program: "The Buck Stops in the Boardroom-Empowering Today’s Directors" to boards of directors of private companies as well as NYSE and NASDAQ listed companies across the country including Constellation Energy, National Oilwell Varco, and Fairchild Semiconductor. He has been interviewed by media such as CBS and NBC TV, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswire on corporate governance matters. Mr. Gordon, who is an attorney licensed to practice in Texas, California and Massachusetts, began his professional career in 1978 in Houston practicing business and real estate law. In 1982, he joined Gordon Jewelry Corporation, the nation's second largest retail jeweler ($550M annual sales; 660 stores, as corporate counsel and later as Executive Vice President, board member, and a member of the six-person Executive Management Committee that ran the company’s day-to-day operations, as well as a member of the Real Estate Committee. As Executive Vice President, he directed the Guild Jewelry Division with overall P&L responsibility for all its 220 stores, 1,500 employees and $135M in annual sales. As a member of the Real Estate Committee, Mr. Gordon jointly decided all store openings and closings, and all real estate purchases and sales. After Gordon’s was acquired by Zale Corporation, Mr. Gordon moved to San Diego, California in 1997 to become the Chief Operating Officer (and later CEO) of an internet company specializing in online software applications for the commercial printing industry. In 2001, Mr. Gordon returned to a full-time law practice in business and corporate governance law in San Diego and in Houston. He graduated with a B.A. cum laude from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of Texas.