“Oprah,” “Ellen” . . . and “Nell!”

Nell Minow, scheduled to testify before Congress on Friday on the subject of Wall Street pay, is one of my favorite people . . . in the world (at least that I’m not related or married to).

She has been following executive pay for decades, and no one is smarter or more incisive about the issue (she’s also a veritable quote machine).

[Full disclosure: once upon a time, she was also one of my first backers and clients when I was doing investor relations consulting, a couple (professional) lifetimes ago.]

My suggestion, if you happen to be in front of a TV Friday?

Skip “Ellen” and “Oprah” and tune in to . . . Nell!

Here’s Floyd Norris on Friday’s lineup:

Today, Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services industry, announced a hearing on “Compensation in the Financial Industry.” It will be held Friday morning. Such haste is not usual. But neither is a Republican senator from Massachusetts. The witnesses for the hearing are:

1. Lucian Bebchuk, professor of law, economics and finance, and director of the Program on Corporate Governance, Harvard Law School
2. Nell Minow, editor and founder, the Corporate Library
3. Joseph Stiglitz, university professor, Columbia Business School

There are no defenders of Wall Street in that crowd.

–Floyd Norris,”Bad for Banks“; The New York Times (1/21/10)

And, no, I don’t expect any of the witnesses to be AWOL (not an issue for Nell, who lives in the DC area).

P.S.: leave it to Frank, who knows which way the political wind is blowing, to assemble a blue ribbon panel of Wall Street pay critics (at least when it suits his purposes).

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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