Editorial Staff

Robert H. Rock

E-MAIL: rrock@directorsandboards.com

Bob is chairman and publisher of Directors & Boards. He was a member of the ownership group that purchased Directors & Boards from founder Stanley Foster Reed in 1980.

He is president of MLR Holdings LLC, an investment company with interests in the publishing and information businesses.

He formerly was chairman and majority owner of IDD Enterprises, a publisher of magazines and newsletters and a provider of online data for financial executives. IDD was sold to Dow Jones & Co. in 1995. And he was chairman of The Hay Group from 1984-1987 after having served in senior positions with the consulting firm since the mid-1970s.

He is a member of the board of directors of Alberto-Culver Co., Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., Quaker Chemical Co., Advanta Corp., the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Wistar Institute.

He received his B.A., M.B.A., and D.B.A. degrees from Harvard University.

James Kristie

E-MAIL: jkristie@directorsandboards.com

Jim is editor and associate publisher of Directors & Boards. He has been editor since 1981, and associate publisher since 1991.

During this tenure, he served as coordinating editor of Corporate Restructuring: A Guide to Creating the Premium-Valued Company, published in l989 by McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Prior to becoming editor of Directors & Boards, he was managing editor of a weekly business magazine for the Philadelphia metropolitan area (1979-1981), editor of a regional media industry trade newspaper (1977-1979), and associate editor of publications for a regional supermarket chain (1976-1977).

He received a B.A. in Journalism summa cum laude from Temple University in Philadelphia in 1976, and served in the U.S. Navy from 1968-1972.

He is an adjunct instructor at Temple University's School of Communications and Theater, teaching the course "Advanced Public Relations Writing."

He appears frequently before governance conferences and meetings, and is regularly quoted in the major media and specialized publications as an authoritative source on leadership issues.

Contributing Editors and Columnists

 
Hoffer Kaback

E-MAIL: hofferk@worldnet.att.net

Hoffer is a contributing editor and the lead columnist for Directors & Boards. His column, "Quiddities," first appeared in the Winter 1997 issue. In addition to his column writings, he has authored several major articles for Directors & Boards, including "Principles to Govern By" (Summer 1995), and "The Case for Cash for Directors" (Winter 1996), and has conducted a series of in-depth interviews with major business figures for cover stories for Directors & Boards.

He is the president of Gloucester Capital Corp., an investment firm in New York that he founded in 1980. Previously he practiced corporate and securities law. He has served on a number of corporate and not-for-profit boards.

He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1972 (where he wrote the anonymous "Fenno" humor column for the Harvard Law Record), and holds an A.B. from Columbia College.

Barbara Spector

E-MAIL: bspector@familybusinessmagazine.com

Barbara joined Directors & Boards as a contributing editor in September 2002.

She also is the executive editor of Family Business magazine (www.familybusinessmagazine.com) and editor of The Family Business Compensation Handbook (2001), The Family Business Conflict Resolution Handbook (2003), and The Family Business Mentoring Handbook (2004).

Previously, she was managing editor of a trade magazine for the jewelry industry and editor of a news journal for biomedical scientists. She also has served as production manager and copy editor for scholarly and medical book publishers.

She received her B.A. in English and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.

Stephen Weiss

E-MAIL: sweiss@hklaw.com

Steve writes the "D&O Insurance Update" column in every issue of Directors & Boards and has also published several important reference articles in Directors & Boards over the years, including Getting the Best D&O Coverage (Summer 1994).

Steve is one of the nation's leading authorities on D&O liability insurance and employment practices liability insurance. He is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Holland & Knight LLP, a national law firm with offices in 17 cities across the U.S. For more than 25 years he has lectured and written on D&O liability insurance and represented corporations in resolving coverage controversies with insurance companies and in negotiating the terms of their D&O and EPLI policies.

He is the author of two highly regarded reference works: Navigating the D&O Maze: A Handbook for Purchasers of Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance (1997) and Navigating the EPLI Maze: A Handbook for Purchasers of Employment Practices Liability Insurance (1998), both published by Bowne & Co., New York.