Ms. Franklin is the Global Ethics and Compliance Strategy Leader for the Sony Group companies where she is responsible for promoting a culture of ethics and devising enterprise-wide solutions for its critical risk areas. She also acts as the chief ethics & compliance officer for Sony Corporation of America and its operating subsidiaries.  Prior to joining Sony, Kathleen was a Partner and Co-Chair of the Corporate Governance Group for Boies, Schiller and Flexner, LLP where she served as a strategic advisor to public and private companies on a wide range of issues related to mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, corporate governance and crisis management.

Ms. Franklin also serves as an independent director of Bank OZK (NASDAQ: OZK), a regional bank with total assets of $26 billion as of August 2021.  She currently serves as the Chair of the board’s Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of the board’s Executive and Compensation Committees. She previously served as a member of its Risk Committee.

Ms. Franklin is engaged in various professional and civic organizations and has provided board leadership on several nonprofits throughout her career, including the Northeastern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross and Wildwood Programs, Inc. (a social services organization that provides educational, recreational and community based residential services to over 1500 individuals with autism and learning disabilities).  During her tenure at Wildwood, she served as a member of the Board’s Finance and Audit, Legislative and Advocacy and Planned Giving Committees.  She is a frequent panelist and speaker on a variety of issues including corporate governance, and ethics and compliance and has been a frequent guest lecturer at Fordham Law School’s Corporate Compliance Program.

Ms. Franklin graduated magna cum laude from Siena College, Loudonville, New York, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.  She graduated magna cum laude from Albany Law School of Union University and earned an LL.M in Taxation from New York University School of Law.

Ms. Franklin is an alumna of the DirectWomen Board Institute Class of 2007.