Chapter 16 - The Board Seat
I used my Sterling Trust voting seat exactly three times in five years.
First:
Remove Adrian formally after conviction.
Second:
Approve outside fiduciary reforms.
Third:
Vote against my mother.
That was the hardest.
She proposed investing $12 million into a defense technology company run by one of Dad’s former colleagues.
Good company.
Bad governance.
The CEO’s brother sat on supplier board.
Disclosure weak.
Mom said:
“Hector trusts him.”
I replied:
“We trusted Adrian.”
Silence.
Then she smiled.
“You’re right.”
Proposal sent back for review.
No family war.
That was what reform looked like.
Adrian’s legacy was not only loss.
It taught us systems matter more than character judgments.
Trust but verify.
My father hated phrase because “that’s not what Reagan meant.”
I told him no one asked.
May you like
Ordinary arguments.
Good.
