Following the First Public Benefit Corporation

adam sterling

A new case study from Adam Sterling and two colleagues from UC Davis tracks how Veeva Systems became the first publicly-traded firm to convert to a Public Benefit Corporation. Unlike most for-profit companies, which generally focus first on shareholders, a PBC — a relatively new corporate form that has been introduced in Maryland, California, Delaware, and 33 other states over the past decade — allows corporations to aim for a public purpose that could benefit multiple stakeholders. The case study, sponsored by Berkeley Law Executive Education, is publicly available along with a companion video and will be used in two courses: Sustainable Capitalism & ESG Online and ESG: Navigating the Board’s Role