EPISODE · Dec 8, 2025 · 52 MIN
Michelle Leder (Footnoted): Uncovering Hidden Risks in SEC Filings
from Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein · host Michelle Leder, Evan Epstein
(0:00) Intro(1:21) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel(2:08) Start of interview(2:36) Michelle's origin story(4:33) The Origins of Footnoted (started in 2003)(6:36) Understanding SEC Filings and Disclosures(7:20) The "Friday Night Dump"(9:34) The State of Public vs. Private Markets(12:40) The Rise of Private Markets and Challenges of Public Markets(18:43) Red Flags in SEC Filings(22:03) The Evolution of Executive Compensation and Elon Musk's Comp(28:53) Egregious Corporate Governance examples: Sketchers.(30:08) The problem of Related Party Transactions.(31:37) Independence and Compensation of Board Members (32:36) Quote of Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett on this topic(36:33) Are we in a AI bubble? Similarities with Enron/Worldcom era? (40:18) Reference to my article on AI washing(41:43) The Importance of SEC Changes (only 3 commissioners from a single party)(43:22) The Role of Markets in Everyday Life(47:45) Books that have greatly influenced her life:The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)Germinal by Émile Zola (1885)Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (2021)(48:20) Her mentors: Nell Minow, Diana Henriques, and Thornton O'Glove.(49:19) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "Don't Postpone Joy"(50:52) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. Michelle Leder is the founder and editor-in-chief of footnoted.com, a source for uncovering important information hidden deep in SEC filings. You can follow Evan on social media at:Website: boardroom-governance.comX: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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What this episode covers
Michelle Leder is the founder and editor-in-chief of footnoted.com, a source for uncovering important information hidden deep in SEC filings, and a longtime voice for transparency and accountability in financial disclosures. Michelle and I dive into how footnoted started, and why scrutinizing SEC filings, especially the rarely-read footnotes and after-hours “Friday Night Dump” disclosures, is relevant for boards, investors, and governance professionals.
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Michelle Leder (Footnoted): Uncovering Hidden Risks in SEC Filings
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