Trusted Insight for Independent Oversight

MFDF is an independent association for independent directors of mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and other registered investment companies.

MFDF helps independent directors navigate an evolving regulatory environment and steward shareholders’ investments. MFDF provides tailored educational resources and facilitates peer-to-peer networking, with offerings that include webinars, white papers, and interactive conferences. As an independent association, MFDF’s membership includes a wide range of fund boards and represents a diverse community of directors.

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Educational Offerings

MFDF provides comprehensive and high-quality educational resources tailored to independent directors. Explore upcoming programs, including webinars, single-day in-person seminars, multi-day conferences, and informal networking discussions.

Insights for the Field

The nature of the work of independent directors is ever-evolving. Read the latest news, practical guidance, comment letters to regulators, and other viewpoints.

Become a Member

Your goal is to steward your investors’ resources. We promise to steward yours. We take our role as your trusted partner seriously. And we pride ourselves on accessible membership dues and meaningful opportunities to learn and connect.

August 27, 2026 MFDF Webinar: AI in the Fund Boardroom

K&L partners Thoreau Bartmann, Jennifer Klass, Pablo Man, and Fatima Sulaiman, will provide the fund director community practical guidance on how board members might use AI appropriately, while navigating both obvious pitfalls — like hallucinations and quality concerns — and subtler risks around confidentiality, legal privilege, and recordkeeping.
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August 26, 2026 Deloitte Survey Tracks Corporate Boards’ Use of AI

The survey found, for example, that 42% and 47% of respondents across private and public companies, respectively, reported that their companies do not expressly support AI/GenAI use in board and committee work; 25% at public companies responded that use of AI/Gen AI was permitted but no standardized tools were provided by management; and 8% at public companies responded that company-sanctioned tools were available for board/committee work.
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August 25, 2026 IRS, Treasury Officials Discuss ETF Tax Issues at Wall Street Conference

In July, at a meeting of the Wall Street Tax Association, IRS and Treasury officials discussed transactions involving ETFs, particularly the tax treatment of those transactions that take advantage of section 852(b)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). During the discussion, Treasury and IRS officials encouraged industry participants to provide input about these transactions.
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August 20, 2026 MFDF Board Bookshelf: The Coming Wave. AI, Power and Our Future. By Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar. Crown. 2025

Suleyman looks back to past waves, from the printing press, industrialization, and the automobile, noting that with each invention that transformed the way humans lived, proliferation was key. “General purpose technologies become waves when they diffuse widely.” Similarly, AI has the potential to transform the human race. His discussions on the uses of AI, particularly in bioinformatics, could be enough to change some AI skeptics’ minds on the technology’s potential for good.
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August 19, 2026 ACA Article Highlights Changes in Private Fund Marketing Compliance as Retailization Takes Hold

The article highlights that increasing interest from retail investors will require private fund managers to rethink their marketing architecture to take into account the understanding and needs of many less-sophisticated retail investors.
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Upcoming Events

Full calendar

  • September 2, 2026

    AI in the Fund Boardroom

    As part of MFDF's AI for Fund Boards webinar series, K&L partners will provide practical guidance on how board members might use AI appropriately, while navigating the risks around quality concerns, confidentiality, legal privilege, and record keeping. The webinar will broadcast live from 2 pm - 3 pm (ET).

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  • September 9, 2026

    Section 351 & ETF Formation: What Fund Directors Need to Know

    As part of MFDF's ETF webinar series, this webinar will provide an overview of Section 351 exchanges, which allow investors to contribute diversified assets into a newly formed ETF. The webinar will broadcast live from 2 pm - 3 pm (ET).

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  • September 10, 2026

    How Tokenization is Reshaping Funds: A Director’s Guide

    Stradley Ronon partners Jamie Gershkow and Jesse Kanach will outline practical frameworks to help independent fund directors understand the fundamentals of tokenization and key considerations related to oversight of tokenized products. The webinar will broadcast live from 2 pm - 3 pm (ET).

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Newest Resources

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MFDF Member Series - Leveraging MFDF Membership to Locate Future Directors

Leslie Beckbridge, MFDF's Operations and Member Services Manager, highlighted MFDF's Director Candidate Database, a service that provides curated candidate lists in response to member boards' requirements.  The webinar provided an overview of the Database, discussed how members can use it as part of succession planning efforts, and shared insights to get the best results from your inquiry.

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Board Diversity Resources

Explore news and resources relating to fund board diversity.

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