Mary Beth Kissane is a principal at Walek & Associates and heads the firm’s Investor Relations and Corporate Transactions Practice Group, which provides investor relations and media relations counsel to public and private companies in M&A, crises, activism campaigns, restructurings, IPOs, and other transactions.

In addition, she is responsible for the firm’s professional services and financial services clients, including law firms and financial services firms. Kissane is also the president and founder of Corporate Perception Research LLC. An attorney, she has over 25 years of experience in corporate and investor communications.

Previously, Kissane provided senior counsel to clients at Abernathy MacGregor, oversaw global content for PCG Worldwide, supervised the financial services practice at Hill & Knowlton, and advised international and domestic clients at Georgeson. An active member of the NIRI New York Chapter, she is a past-president and board member, and has held multiple chapter officer positions. A member of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable, Kissane also teaches NIRI’s Regulations 101 seminar and is a popular national and chapter speaker among her many other NIRI activities.

An adjunct professor in the New York University Graduate Program in Public Relations and Corporate Communications, she also teaches and lectures on related subjects at Iona College. Kissane graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Iona College, and received a Master of Science (honors) from Iona College. She graduated with a Juris Doctor from New York Law School where she was a member of the International Law Journal.

Stephen Cooke is a partner in the Corporate practice of Paul Hastings. He is chair of the Corporate practice in the firm’s Orange County office and is a member of the firm’s Securities Practice and Institutional Investments, Benefits & Compensation Practice.

Mr. Cooke concentrates his practice in securities and corporate law. His extensive experience in all aspects of the capital formation process includes representing issuers in private placements and public offerings, representing venture capital firms and representing underwriters and investment banks in securities offerings. Mr. Cooke represents NYSE, Nasdaq and OTC-traded companies with their periodic reporting requirements and listing qualification issues. Mr. Cooke frequently advises boards of directors of public and private companies regarding corporate governance issues.

Mr. Cooke has substantial experience in mergers, acquisitions and dispositions involving both public and private companies. He has represented both acquirors and targets in friendly and hostile tender offers, as well as negotiated mergers. Mr. Cooke has also represented foreign private issuers in connection with U.S. securities laws.

Mr. Cooke is active in many community and civic activities. Mr. Cooke served as the Chairman of the Board and as general counsel for the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross. He is a frequent speaker to business and professional groups including for the National Investor Relations Institute.

He received his M.B.A. and J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1985 Mr. Cooke received his B.A. in economics and political science, with honors, from the University of California at Davis.

Michael L. Zuppone is a partner in the corporate department of Paul Hastings in New York. He serves as the chair of the firm's securities & capital markets practice group. He practices primarily in the area of securities and capital markets representing public and private companies, underwriters and investors in domestic and international equity and debt securities offerings, including IPO's, follow on offerings, Rule 144A offerings, PIPE and other private placements.

Mr. Zuppone also practices in the area of general corporate and securities law and is often consulted as outside securities counsel by many of the firm’s public company clients with respect ongoing securities compliance. He regularly counsels public companies and their boards regarding Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley and related corporate governance compliance. Mr. Zuppone’s practice also includes counseling sponsors in connection with the formation of private equity funds and portfolio transactions. He also has substantial experience in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures involving public and private companies and he regularly counsels investment professionals regarding securities, broker-dealer and investment advisor regulations.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Zuppone served as a branch chief in the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where he administered the office’s full disclosure program, supervising the review of initial public offering documents of startup and small business issuers. During his tenure with the SEC, Mr. Zuppone also worked extensively on broker-dealer and other securities enforcement matters, participating in the investigation and civil prosecution of various violations of the federal securities laws.

Mr. Zuppone is ranked as a top attorney in Capital Markets: REITs by Chambers USA and in Capital Markets: Equity Offerings and Real Estate Investment Trusts by Legal 500 US. He has also been recognized by Expert Guides in the Guide to the World's Leading Corporate Governance Lawyers-United States

Mr. Zuppone is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, the Association of SEC Alumni and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association-Compliance & Legal Society. Mr. Zuppone is admitted to the State Bar of New York.

Mr. Zuppone received his B.A. degree from New York University with a double major in economics and politics, and his J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School, where he was a symposium editor of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. Mr. Zuppone completed a legal internship with the SEC while attending law school, where he obtained formative experience working on the notorious “Yuppy Five” insider trading case.