What we also discovered in putting the list together was that in some instances, it became impossible to separate the captain from the team. This year’s D100 is a case in point: Our editors and board of advisors were nearly unanimous in our selection of President Barack Obama as this year’s most powerful corporate governance influence. And yet, to do justice to the seismic shift his policies have brought about in the boardroom, we also had to recognize the many other  “New Voices” in the Administration who are now leading the greatest financial reform of American business since the 1930s.

So, we ask that in the pages ahead you pay more attention to who counts, and less to how we count, in arriving at our final selection of individuals and institutions that have met the requirement to be “most influential.” We think you’ll agree it’s an intricate and impressive mosaic where the whole equals much more than the sum of its parts, which may or may not be greater than 100.

Regulators & Rulemakers

Team Obama
It is often written that reasonable people may disagree, and with Americans and their Presidents, it is practically a way of life. But even an unreasonable person could only conclude that this President and his Administration are having a profound and lasting influence over the boardroom. President Barack Obama has demonstrated an enormous capacity for calm in uncertain times. His relative youth leads to frequent comparisons to John F. Kennedy and his communications skills to those of Ronald Reagan. But it is his aggressive response to the unparalleled economic challenges that greeted him at the dawn of his young presidency that harkens back to an earlier figure of towering influence,  Franklin D. Roosevelt.

FDR’s massive social and financial reform programs—the creation of Social Security as part of the New Deal, the establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC)—helped restore confidence in the nation’s banking system coming out of the Great Depression. One could plausibly take major portions of FDR’s New Deal and substitute his name with President Obama’s.  The implementation of the $787-billion American Economic Recovery Act one month after Obama took office, coupled with his handling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which sought to strengthen the financial sector by buying up the assets and equity from troubled banks, has clearly helped the nation avoid further financial disaster and put the economy on the path to recovery.

And finally, turning again to the FDR playbook, Obama assembled a team of wise men and women, formidable economic and business minds, whose decisions are having a lasting effect on the role of the corporate director. Preeminent among them was the choice of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. Described as a veritable “influence machine,” within the Administration and Congress, the former Congressman from Obama’s home state of Illinois is known as a hard-charging, brutally candid, sometimes combative, acutely intelligent man who can get things done and knows the ways of the Capitol and the boardroom.

The Enforcers
Perhaps second only to Obama in terms of her influence on boards and corporate governance, career regulator Mary Schapiro heads up the 75-year-old SEC. Before the crisis, the agency’s very existence was in question: “Obsolete,” “out of touch,” and “behind the times” were just some of the many terms uttered by detractors. The Commission, under former chairman Christopher Cox, was pilloried for missing the Madoff scandal.

As former SEC chairman and Directorship 100 Hall of Famer, Arthur Levitt described her: “She has the skills, the intellect, and the character to be a superb SEC chair.” But Schapiro will face a new kind of challenge in the role, not just that of proving her own qualifications, but also instituting a significant remodeling of the SEC itself, as she works to bring it into the new regulatory era.

Moving swiftly to address regulatory concerns in the wake of the financial crisis, the SEC has rolled out a series of proposals that could embody the biggest change to the rules of the game for directors in some time. Schapiro, who is no stranger to the boardroom, having served on the boards of Duke Energy and Kraft Foods, has overseen proposed rule changes on proxy access, broker voting, say on pay, and new requirements for disclosure on executive compensation and director qualifications. It’s now up to her and fellow commissioners Kathleen Casey, Elisse Walter, Luis Aguilar, and Troy Paredes to determine the final regulations that emerge from the proposals.

Other key players Schapiro has brought into the SEC include Senior Advisor Kayla Gillan, Chief Accountant James Kroeker, and Director of Enforcement Robert Khuzami. Gillan was a founding board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and former general counsel to CalPERS. Kroeker joined the SEC as deputy chief accountant in 2007 from Deloitte and Touche where he had been a partner in the firm’s national accounting services group. Kroeker recently said that the proposed road map for the convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards,pushed to the back burner amid the larger issues of market reform, would be restored as another top priority. Khuzami is a former federal prosecutor, has pledged to improve the SEC’s enforcement performance by creating specialized units to provide “structure and resources for staff to ‘get smart’ about certain products, markets, regulatory regimes, practices and transactions.”

TARP Overseers
Another example of Obama’s preference for brains over politics was his reappointment of Sheila Bair to chair the FDIC. Another fiscally conservative Republican, on Bair’s watch alone this year, 94 banks have failed, creating a new challenge:  how to replenish the fund. Bair has also been an integral part of the team overseeing TARP. Neil Barofsky is a former New York assistant attorney general confirmed by the Senate in December as special inspector general. Dubbed the “TARP Cop,” his job is to figure out how and where the $700-billion TARP funds are spent, reporting directly to the President and providing updates to the Congressional Oversight Panel chaired by bankruptcy expert and Harvard Law School professor, Elizabeth Warren. COP’s first report, released in February, casti-  gated then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for his performance and lack of transparency, reporting that the Treasury Department  had overpaid by $78 billion for the assets it bought from banks.

Interestingly, while Obama sponsored and was a strong proponent of  “say on pay” legislation while a senator, since appointing Kenneth Feinberg special master of compensation, he has appeared unwilling to make the issue a top priority. Feinberg, who has immersed himself in some of the country’s most troublesome and high-profile cases, is considered a superb choice, both in terms of skill and temperament, by Capitol Hill insiders. His most noteworthy case was the 33 months of pro-bono work he did following the 2001 terrorist attacks to determine how much each victim would receive from the federal government’s September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Feinberg may in fact be perfectly suited for a job that most compensation specialists see as thankless, and possibly as a “no win” situation. As the Obama Administration’s comp expert, Feinberg was called on to monitor the compensation of executives in what were once some of America’s most prestigious corporations, now TARP recipients, including American International Group (AIG), Bank of America, Citibank, Chrysler, GMAC, and General Motors.

Fed to the Rescue
To prevent American capitalism from spiraling deeper into the abyss, nine months after President Obama made his first Cabinet announcement, he re-nominated Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman. The former Princeton economics professor was selected by Bush in 2005 to succeed Alan Greenspan. In 2008 after the market crashed, Bernanke invoked emergency powers, slashed interest rates, and spent trillions of dollars to right the financial system. Just last month, he declared the recession “likely over.” Though he seldom gives interviews, Bernanke is never far from the public eye and has been a stalwart in the transition between presidential administrations and in the effort to stem the economic slide.

When then President-elect Obama named his economics team, it included players who, like Bernanke, were already steeped in the crisis details, demonstrated a studied understanding of Depression-era economics, or some combination of both. Enter Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Chief White House Economic Advisor Lawrence H. Summers. Geithner, who is currently pushing legislation to provide more systematic regulation of financial institutions, including new limits on executive compensation, recently told one interviewer that he is optimistic major reforms will be passed.

Prior to his appointment replacing Henry Paulson, Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and part of the team central to the critical negotiations that resulted in Bear Stearns being tucked into JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch going to Bank of America, Lehman Bros. disappearing, and Citigroup and other struggling banks getting a lifeline.

Summers, the former Harvard University economist who became its president following his tenure as Treasury Secretary to President Clinton, is director of the Cabinet’s National Economic Council. The group was established in 1993 to coordinate and ensure that the President’s economic policy agenda is carried out.

Rounding out the team, Paul Volcker, the former Fed chief under Clinton, was selected to chair the president’s economic recovery advisory board. And Christina Romer, a former UC Berkeley economist, who administration sources suggest is well- regarded by both parties, chairs the Council of Economic Advisers. Her appointment was seen as a further triumph of brain over politics in Obama’s approach to talent recruitment.

Many TARP recipients are now scrambling to pay back their share of the $700 billion bailout to escape further government meddling. Some banks are believed to be under an undisclosed regulatory sanction that requires them to revamp their boards and focus on risk and liquidity management. Since Bank of America signed on to TARP, four directors have resigned from its board and been replaced, likely with government input.

Recently, Citigroup reshuffled its senior executives, including the removal of CFO Edward Kelly—changes made while under pressure from the Treasury and after discussions between regulators and Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons. Citi’s chief accountant, John Gerspach, is now the bank’s fifth CFO in five years. Citi also replaced four members of its board since signing on to TARP. Only three of AIG’s original 11-member board remain in place.

“You can at least see an attempt to make government regulators happier,” reflects Jaidev Iyer, managing director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals. “But there is a difference between making changes to appease regulators and making fundamental changes to your board and governance practices.”

“The government is working behind the scenes—but they will get their money back,” assures Simmons, who believes many of the casualties of the financial crisis will need to revamp their boards whether the government says to or not. Says Simmons: “The market is going to demand it.”

Chrysler named five new directors to its board: George F. J. Gosbee, chairman and president of Tristone Capital; Douglas Steenland, former CEO of Northwest Airlines; Scott Stuart, a founding partner of Sageview Capital; Ronald L. Thompson, chairman of the board of trustees for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association; and Stephen Wolf, chairman of R.R. Donnelley & Sons.

American International Group’s annual meeting resulted in the re-election of Dennis Dammerman, former vice chairman of the board of General Electric; George Miles, CEO of WQED Multimedia; Suzanne Nora Johnson, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs; and Morris Offit, chairman of Offit Capital Advisors. Liddy said he will step down as CEO as soon as a replacement is found.

Ken C. Hicks has been named Foot Locker’s new CEO. Hicks will succeed Matthew D. Serra, who has been the company’s CEO since March 2001. Serra will continue as the company’s chairman until his planned retirement next year.

Trex Company named Richard E. Posey to its board. Posey has served as chief executive of Moen Inc., a faucet manufacturer, and Hamilton Beach/Proctor Silex.

Bank of America revamped its board by electing four new directors: Susan Bies, William Boardman, Paul Jones, and Donald Powell. Bies previously served on the SEC’s advisory committee. Boardman served as chairman of Visa International until his retirement in 2005. Jones is currently an attorney at law firm Balch & Bingham. Powell is a director of Stone Energy.

Biogen Idec confirmed two of billionaire activist Carl Icahn’s picks to its board: Richard Mulligan, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Gene Therapy Initiative; and Alex Denner, a managing director at Icahn Partners.

Jeff Huber, senior vice president of engineering at Google, has joined Electronic Arts’ board. Huber was in charge of technology development for Google’s AdWords and AdSense, as well as Google Apps. Prior to Google, he served in a number of management roles at eBay and Excite@Home.

David L. Calhoun has been named to Boeing’s board. Calhoun is CEO of The Nielsen Company. Prior to his work at Nielsen, Calhoun spent more than 25 years at General Electric.

Sonoa Systems named Tsvi Gal to its board. Gal is a general partner at Exigen Capital and previously served as Deutsche Bank’s Investment Bank and Assessment Management’s CTO.

Anne Egger has been appointed to Optical Sciences’ board. Egger has been working with Electro-Optic Sciences as a consultant since her retirement earlier this year.

Michael Gelmon and Cory Gelmon have been named to Safeguard Security Holdings’ board. Michael Gelmon has replaced Tom Montgomery as chairman of the firm and Cory Gelmon has been elected director and appointed new CFO.

Best Buy’s Brad Anderson will retire as the company’s CEO. Brian Dunn is believed to be Anderson’s successor. Dunn currently serves as the company’s president and COO.

E*Trade Financial named Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel Investment, to its board. Griffin currently sits on the Advisory Council for Chicago 2016, working to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to the Windy City.

George E. Minnich has been appointed to Kaman’s board. Minnich retired as senior vice president and CFO of ITT in 2007.

MarineMax appointed Russell J. Knittel to its board. Knittel has been executive vice president of Synaptics since 2007, and CFO  since 2001.

Ray Powers has been appointed to MediaG3’s board. He served as COO and executive vice president of International Communications, a wholesale carrier that owned nearly 460 wireless transmission sites in the U.S.

Robert Half International appointed Barbara J. Novogradac to its board. Novogradac is currently president of Novogradac Investment Company, a private real estate investment company.

FedEx elected Susan C. Schwab, U.S. Trade Representative from 2006 to 2009, to its board. Schwab is currently a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.

Qualys CEO Philippe Courtot has been elected to Tech-America’s board. Courtot served on the board of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA). He previously was chairman and CEO of Signio, an electronic payment start-up that he repositioned to become a significant e-commerce player.

James K. Brewington has been named to Sonus Network’s board. Brewington retired as president of Developing Markets at Lucent Technologies in 2007.

Boston Scientific CEO James Tobin will leave the medical-device maker. Tobin will be succeeded by Raymond Elliott, the former CEO of orthopedics maker Zimmer Holdings.

ScanSafe, a provider of Software as a Service web security, appointed Bernard Liautaud to its board. Liautaud was founder and CEO of Business Objects, an enterprise software company.

John McCartney was elected to Covance’s board. McCartney currently serves as chairman of the board of A.M. Castle, a provider of products, services, and supply chain solutions. McCartney previously served as president and COO of U.S. Robotics.

George E. Minnich has been named to Kaman’s board. He retired as chief financial officer from ITT in 2007.

Kenneth Feinberg, Obama Administration’s Special Master for Executive Compensation, will weigh in on the CEO pay debate at the Boardroom Leaders Forum in New York on November 16 and 17. Click here for more details.