about doug chia

A widely recognized and respected corporate attorney and governance professional

Douglas K. Chia is the Sole Member and President of Soundboard Governance LLC, a company he formed in 2019, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Corporate Law and Governance at Rutgers Law School. 

Until June 2019, Doug was Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center.  He continues to contribute to The Conference Board as an ESG Center Fellow.  Doug is also a Fellow at The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program; ESG Fellow at The American College's Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services; Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law; Advisor to Foresight® BoardOps; and a member of the Advisory Boards of the ESG Professionals Network and PracticalESG.com.

Before joining The Conference Board in 2016, Doug served as Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Johnson & Johnson.  Previously, he served as Assistant General Counsel, Corporate of Tyco International and practiced law at the global firms Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Clifford Chance, both in New York and Hong Kong. 

Doug has held central leadership positions in the corporate governance field, including Chair of the Board of the Society for Corporate Governance, President of the Stockholder Relations Society of New York, member of the New York Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Commission, and member of the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association.  He is currently a member of the Society for Governance Governance, American Law Institute, American Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Ascend Pan-Asian Leaders.  Doug has also received numerous awards and recognitions for his work in corporate governance. 

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A nationally recognized governance expert, Doug has spoken at major conferences and seminars across the United States throughout his career and has frequently appeared in the news media, including Barron's, CNN, NPR Marketplace, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune, and The New Yorker. 

Doug received an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College and a J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.  He currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey with his wife and their four children.  Doug is a Trustee and Vice President for Governance of the Historical Society of Princeton and member of the Dartmouth College Fund Committee.