In any significant corporate governance controversy, the de facto “deciders” are the largest institutional investors. This new balance of power sets the policy and research agenda. The Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance was launched in 2016 to address these issues, taking advantage of the concentration of finance, talent, and activity in New York and at New York University. Whatever the issue—activist shareholders, short-term versus long-term investment horizons, compensation, control contests, going private, spinoffs, etc.—the central questions should be “what do the big institutions think?” and “what should the big institutions think?” The institute brings key people together to understand these questions and encourage the development of institutional investors as a responsible force in corporate governance.