Ropes & Gray Co-Hosts the Data Insights Webinar Series on Data and Data Analytics in Business, Public Policy and Law | News & Events

Speakers:

Ama A. Adams , Mark Barnes , Edward G. Black , Kellie B. Combs , Fran Faircloth , Joshua A. Lichtenstein , Michael R. Littenberg , Rohan Massey , Edward R. McNicholas , Christine Moundas , Erica B. Murphy , David Peloquin

Ropes & Gray, in partnership with Mass Insight Global Partnerships, hosts and presents the Data Insights webinar series. This series focuses on bringing together business people, academics and researchers, and government policy makers to discuss issues associated with the collection and use of data to address significant problems across a broad range of contexts.

The 2023 series included the following webinars.

AI and the Workplace: Seizing the Opportunities, Avoiding the Risks

AI’s use in the workplace is consistently ranked as one of the fastest growing applications of this powerful new tool, with employers and job seekers alike using AI for recruiting, job-seeking, and work-related tasks. The age of remote work has accelerated the trend, which could help increase fairness, transparency, efficiency and regulatory compliance in the workplace. However, AI tools also carry risks of bias and discrimination, copyright infringement, privacy violations, and other negative outcomes.

The panel explores recent trends in this space, benefits AI brings, current and future potential applications and the outlook for government regulation in the U.S and abroad. We also address steps to avoid the risks and pitfalls of using AI in the workplace.

Key questions include:
- What is the outlook for AI tools in the workplace in the next 3-5 years? What will be most useful for professional services, including law firms?
- How else can AI tools benefit employers and employees in the workplace?
- How can use of AI tools perpetuate bias in hiring decisions? How can it prevent bias?
- What are the other risks associated with using AI tools in the workplace?
- What is the outlook for regulation?
- What are best policies and practices going forward to mitigate the risks and comply with likely regulatory standards?
A recording is here.
Accelerating Drug Development With Real World Evidence: New Developments, the Opportunities and the Policy Agenda

In recent years, pharmaceutical and biotech companies have increasingly incorporated data from real-world evidence (“RWE”) into drug and product development programs, spurred by greater access to RWE, legislative changes, and significant policy development at FDA.

The use of RWE raises novel opportunities to accelerate drug development, as well as new challenges for regulators and the life sciences industry to set common standards for RWE.

The panel explores the RWE opportunities through emerging case study examples, consider the impact of recent regulatory decisions and review what’s on the horizon in the marketplace and for the policy agenda.

A recording is here.
Navigating State ESG Investment Considerations – Battle Lines are Drawn

In the last two years, ESG has taken on a prominent place in the workings of state treasuries and the management of public funds—whether we are talking about selecting asset managers and investments for the state retirement system or contracting with banks to underwrite bond issuances. An ever-growing divide has emerged between red states and blue states on whether and when ESG considerations should form part of financial decisions and clear battle lines have been drawn, resulting in contradictory state laws and approaches that present real challenges to managers as they work to comply with their own fiduciary duties to state retirement plans and public funds. Layered on top of that is the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Final ESG Rule and the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) both of which are more accepting of ESG than many red state rules, which present further complications and contradictions that managers must navigate. All of this translates into an intricate regulatory and policy web that must be navigated to manage money of both public and private sector retirement plans.

This panel covered:
- The red state and blue state divide from the perspectives of attorneys general, treasurers and other financial stakeholders as well as the red state backlash against the DOL’s Final ESG Rule
- Different strategies states are taking to evaluate ESG as a financial-based investment strategy or as an advancement of political agendas
A recording is here.

Further Information on State ESG Regulation

Be sure to check out our award-winning interactive website, Navigating State Regulation of ESG Investments, that tracks the latest ESG-related legislation, executive actions and initiatives, and coalition activities, as well as changes to state retirement plan investment policies across the United States. In addition, the website offers a variety of podcasts and memos to provide users with easy access to our team’s key insights in understanding this dynamic area.
Raising the Stakes for Corporate Boards and Cyber Risk Governance

With proposed board-focused SEC cybersecurity regulations as the most recent initiative, regulators and courts are raising the stakes for corporate board cyber risk governance – and looking for evidence that boards are challenging management to improve cyber defenses and business resiliency. The White House has released a new National Cyber Strategy with a call for minimum cybersecurity standards in the technology marketplace. While at the same time, boards and senior management in all sectors continue to struggle to find a common language, framework, and metrics that will enable them to embed cyber risk calculations in strategic business decisions.

This Data Insights webinar for executives, board members, and counsels will review the emerging regulations and requirements for cyber risk governance and the key questions sophisticated board members and senior executives should be asking and management should be answering in clear, non-technical language that easily translates to risk calculations:
- Are cybersecurity and digital risk officers at the table for enterprise strategic planning and M&A decisions? How does our corporate organization assure that is the case?
- How have we identified and prioritized for defense the business processes and “crown jewels” essential to our business?
- Do we have a resilience strategy to assure we continue to operate in the face of a damaging attack?
- How are we measuring our performance against the most dangerous threats? What can we learn through our failures and incident response simulations?
- Where are we out of compliance with regulatory requirements—and what are we doing to respond and plan for future regulations?
A recording is here.

Past Series

2022

Managing the New World of Sanctions: The Policies, Compliance Strategies and the Data to Measure and Comply

Event faculty included Adam Deutsch, Sanctions Advisory Manager, PayPal, Edward Fishman, Senior Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Trevor H. Rudolph, VP, Global Digital Policy & Regulation Governance, Schneider Electric, Rachel Ziemba, Founder, Ziemba Insights; Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and Ama Adams, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP.

A recording is here.

The quest for reliable ESG data: Finding credible sources in the market today – and an agenda to produce common data standards

Event faculty included Professor Roberto Rigobon, Society of Sloan Fellows Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, Tamara Tisminetzky, ESG Research Director, Sustainable Fitch, Dr. Philipp Aeby, CEO, RepRisk, and Michael Littenberg, Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP.

A recording is here.

Optimizing Targeted Clinical Trial Recruitment and Increasing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Leveraging Data Analytics and Collaboration

Event faculty included Barbara Bierer, MD, Faculty Director, MRCT Center, and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Amy Franzen, Vice President, Tempus, Lyric Jorgenson, PhD, Acting Associate Director for Science Policy and the Acting Director of the Office of Science Policy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Jill Pellegrino, Vice President of Recruitment and Real World Evidence (RWE), CVS Health Clinical Trial Services, Christine Moundas, Partner, Ropes & Gray, David Peloquin, Partner, Ropes & Gray.

A recording is here.
Web 3.0/blockchain: A more secure Internet?

Event faculty included Jon Adams, Director, Legal (Product, Platform, and Partnerships), LinkedIn Corporation, Marta Belcher, General Counsel, Protocol Labs, Chair of the Filecoin Foundation and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, and Special Counsel, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Anders Brownworth, Principal Architect, Payment Strategies, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Ravi Sarathy, Professor, International Business & Strategy, D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, and Ed McNicholas, data, privacy & cybersecurity partner, Ropes & Gray.

A recording is here.

2021

Return to Normal? How Data Can Facilitate Recovery and Return to Work

Event faculty included Dr. Barbara Z. Larson, Executive Professor of Management, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, David Luzzi, Senior Vice Provost for Research, Vice President of the Innovation Campus in Burlington, MA, Northeastern University, Erica Murphy, Chief Human Resources Officer, Ropes & Gray, and Marc Zissman, Associate Division Head, Cyber Security and Information Sciences, MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

A recording is here.

Accelerating Next Generation Developments in Cancer Care: A Collaborative Agenda for Data Innovations and Policy

Event faculty included Dr. Todd R. Golub, Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dr. Brian Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Medicine, Inc., Andy Beck, MD PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, PathAI, Rebecca Li, PhD, Executive Director, Vivli, Christine Moundas, Partner, Ropes & Gray, and David Peloquin, Partner, Ropes & Gray.

A recording is here.

Cyber Threats, Data Sharing and the New White House Executive Order

Event faculty included Dan Sutherland, Chief Counsel, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Sara Cable, Chief, Data Privacy and Security Division, and Assistant Attorney General, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Timothy Edgar, Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs, Brown University, David Luzzi, Senior Vice Provost for Research, Vice President of the Innovation Campus at Burlington, MA, Senior Advisor to the President, and Chairman of the Board of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security, Northeastern University, and Ed McNicholas, Partner, Ropes & Gray.

A recording is here.

ESG and Climate Change: Developing Common Standards and Data to Evaluate Investment Risk and Corporate Performance

Event faculty included Robert L. Jackson, Jr., Pierrepont Family Professor of Law, NYU School of Law, and SEC Commissioner from 2017 to 2020, John (Jianqiu) Bai, Associate Professor of Finance, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Dr. Rao Kotamarthi, Senior Scientist, Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Sam Tortora, Global Head of Aladdin Sustainability, BlackRock, and Michael Littenberg, Partner, Ropes & Gray.

A recording is here.

2020

Data Partnerships: How to Apply Data Solutions to Address COVID-19 and the Financial and Economic Crises (and Accelerate Innovation Long Term)

Event faculty included Andrew Lo, Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor of Finance, Director of Laboratory for Financial Engineering, MIT Sloan School of Management, Raj Echambadi, Dean, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Ed McNicholas, data, privacy & cybersecurity partner, Ropes & Gray, Alfredo Sciascia, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Research, Liberty Mutual, Randy Swanberg, Senior Vice President, Automation and AI, State Street, and Marc Zissman, Associate Division Head, Cyber Security and Information Sciences, MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

A recording is here.

Modeling COVID-19, Tracking Health Data: How Data is Developed and Leveraged to Inform Re-Opening Plans and COVID-19 Response

Event faculty included Alessandro Vespignani, Sternberg Family Distinguished Professor, Director – Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Susan Holleran, Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President, Internal Audit, Waters Corporation, David Luzzi, Senior Vice Provost for Research, Vice President of the Innovation Campus in Burlington, MA, Northeastern University, Rohan Massey, data, privacy & cybersecurity partner, Ropes & Gray, Erica Murphy, Chief Human Resources Officer, Ropes & Gray, Ara Tahmassian, Chief Research Compliance Officer, Harvard University, and Marc Zissman, Associate Division Head, Cyber Security and Information Sciences, MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

A recording is here.

The Corporate World Turned Upside Down: Measuring Change in Culture, Compliance and Innovation in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

Event faculty included Koen Pauwels, Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Co-Founder of the DATA Initiative, Northeastern University, Tara Palesh, Senior Director – Global Compliance Analytics Lead, Pfizer Inc., Mike Garcia, Managing Vice President, Capital One Financial Corporation, Lili Gil Valletta, Co-Founder and CEO, CIEN+ and CulturIntel, and Eugene Soltes, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School.

A recording is here.

Ropes & Gray is serving as the exclusive legal partner of Mass Insight Global Partnerships in an ongoing initiative to align leading financial services organizations with university members, academic researchers and venture capital partners to identify and address digital technology and data challenges. Leading the efforts to liaise with Mass Insight Global Partnerships and its members for the webinar series include IP transactions partner Ed Black in coordination with Bill Guenther, Chairman, CEO & Founder, Mass Insight Global Partnerships.