The Neel Corporate Governance Speaker Series was founded in 2003 with three speakers from regional law firms. Since then it has brought academics, politicians, regulators, industry executives, board members and other experts in corporate governance from around the country.

Corporate governance is the overarching set of policies, procedures and relationships that enable an organization to establish objectives, set ethical boundaries to the acceptable means with which those objectives will be met, monitor the achievement of objectives, reward successful achievements and discipline unsuccessful or inappropriate attempts to meet objectives, in order to keep the organization aligned with the needs and interests of its primary stakeholders.