1:00

Optional Golf Outing

6:00

Welcome Reception

9:00

We invite executives seeking their first public company board to gain advice from a panel of veteran directors, followed by 1-on-1 discussions.

– Gain tips for your board search and finding the right opportunity for you
– Understand the differences between serving on a public company versus private company board
– Learn how to prepare yourself to contribute immediately once you join a board 

11:00

Welcome Networking Lunch

12:00

The peer-driven format of these sessions encourages active dialogue among participants. Don’t miss the opportunity to engage with director peers in a private, off-the-record setting to share challenges and solutions. No Powerpoint presentations! Participants help develop the discussion outline to ensure the most relevant conversation with actionable takeaways to improve your board committee’s effectiveness in the year ahead. Select from the following concurrent session based on your board role and interests:

  • Audit Committee  
  • Compensation Committee 
  • Nominating/Governance Committee 
  • Private Company Boards  

For qualified executives not yet on a board, participate in the concurrent Prospective Directors Board Communications Workshop

You’re up against 22,500 other qualified board candidates. So, it’s important that your communication documents (Bio, Cover Letter, LinkedIn Profile), look every bit as good as you are. This session will take you through the simple points to make this happen and review the essential elements of leveraging LinkedIn. You’ll have the opportunity to finetune your cover letter and board bio and share it with other participants for feedback. Led by Tate Pursell, veteran of 12 boards, currently serving as independent director and compensation committee chair of Support Systems Association.

2:30

Networking Break

3:00

Forum Welcome

3:05

Robert Nardelli, Founder and CEO, XLR-8 LLC, Investment & Advisory Co.; Board Member, BWX Technologies; Former Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Corporation and The Home Depot
Moderator: Dan Bigman, Chief Content Officer, Chief Executive Group | Corporate Board Member

As we look toward 2023, the amount of uncertainty remains at an all-time high. The challenges will be different, bringing new risks but also new potential rewards. Borrowing on his 40-plus years of experience helping companies identify weaknesses and improve performance, Bob will help you evaluate the key economic and business trends that will impact how your board thinks about strategy so you can be better positioned to challenge assumptions and place the right bets.

4:00

David Moffett, Board Member, PayPal and CSX Corporation; Former Board Member, Genworth Financial, eBay, MBIA Insurance Corp., and EW Scripps; Former Vice Chairman and CFO, U.S. Bancorp

How do you think about growth—and risks—in the right strategic framework? In today’s economic environment with high inflation, increasing interest rates and a looming recession, assumptions about the cost of money and the return you get are changing. It’s imperative that boards establish priorities for capital allocation while setting realistic growth expectations for investors. David will provide a framework for your board to assess where capital opportunities are most likely to produce sustainable earnings.  

As CFO of U.S. Bank, David was responsible for assessing the growth and profitability of 22 lines of business to determine which opportunities would accelerate growth and where capital investments would have the greatest impact. It’s the board’s job to evaluate risk to the corporation versus a business unit’s ambition to grow and be prudent about changing the company’s risk profile under constrained conditions, while identifying opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. This session will provide you the top 5 questions your board should be asking your CEO, CFO, CTO and CHRO so you can make the right decisions on optimizing working capital with constrained finances and constrained cash flow.

5:00

Networking Reception

7:00

Breakfast

8:00

Day 2 Welcome

8:05

Fred Hassan, Board Member, Time Warner Inc. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International; Partner, Warburg Pincus; Former Chair, Bausch & Lomb
Moderator: Dan Bigman, Chief Executive Group | Corporate Board Member

Boards need the right dynamics and culture to effectively carry out their responsibilities. At their best, boards can catch budding issues before they negatively impact the organization and can partner with management to lead through change. Given boards’ dual mandate to monitor and advise management, how can boards strike the right balance? We’ll work this case study as a group to evaluate the board dynamics and culture of three companies presented in vignettes – GE, Theranos and Pepsico – and the take-away lessons from each to improve the dynamics in your own boardroom to set you up for success.

9:35

Kevin Brown, Chief Information Security Officer for SAIC; former CISO, Boston Scientific and Raytheon; former U.S. Navy Officer with assignment in cyber security at the Space and Naval Warfare Command and the National Security Agency

Under the new SEC rules expected to be enacted in early 2023, companies will be required to develop and maintain reasonable cybersecurity practices, describe those practices in public filings, report material cybersecurity incidents promptly, and explain how their senior leadership oversee those programs effectively. At the same time, in our 2023 What Directors Think survey, directors rank cybersecurity as the most challenging issue to oversee. So what can smart, proactive boards do?

From automation, product development and remote workforces to ransomware, identity management and social engineering, cybersecurity could be your company’s greatest competitive advantage or your greatest downfall. The strategic conversations in your boardroom must go beyond asking your CISO for basic metrics reports but also include how a proactive cybersecurity strategy is a business enabler as well.

Named one of the top cyber executives to watch in 2022, Kevin will provide a framework for your board to think about how cybersecurity can help your business grow securely. He’ll demystify the misnomers around terms like “zero trust” and give you tips to prioritize your cybersecurity investments as you execute on your digital transformation strategies.

10:25

Networking Break

10:45

Joyce Cacho, Board Member, Sunrise Banks and Sistema.bio
Christopher Tower, ESG Strategy and Services Leader, BDO
Amy Rojik, National Managing Partner – Governance, Emerging Issues and External Communications, BDO

50% of respondents in our 2023 What Directors Think survey said ESG is getting too much attention in the boardroom. But perhaps the backlash may be attributed to ESG simply not being viewed through the proper lens… It’s time to refocus the ESG conversation through competitive growth and value creation. How exactly does a strong ESG proposition make financial sense? This interactive session will help your board think about ESG more systematically by demonstrating how ESG links to optimal investment and cash flow in several important ways: (1) facilitating top-line growth through product innovation, (2) reducing costs through better supply chain management, (3) minimizing regulatory and legal interventions through preparation and disclosure, (4) increasing employee engagement, and (5) proactively evaluating energy transition and capital expenditures.

11:35

Doug Baumstein, Member and First-Chair Litigator, Mintz Levin
Ran Zioni, Member, Mintz Levin

As economic headwinds reset from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, boards must be smarter and savvier than ever before to take advantage. Capability-oriented deals can create a lasting competitive advantage. The secret to successful M&A starts with strong board processes.

Part art, part science, there are fundamental elements that drive successful M&A outcomes, and the board plays an important role. This panel will share their hard-earned lessons on doing diligence the right way, deal negotiations and key contract terms to reduce risk exposure, the keys to post-deal integration success, getting both teams aligned (quickly) – or knowing when to walk away from a deal. Gain invaluable insights to help your board influence better deal outcomes.

12:20

Networking Lunch

1:15

Pamela Arway, Board Chair, DaVita Inc. and Iron Mountain; Board Member, The Hershey Co.
Kelly Conlin, Board Member, E.W. Scripps, Former Chairman & CEO, Zinio
Moderator: Matt Paese, Senior Vice President, Executive and C-Suite Services, DDI

CEO succession is not an event, but a series of actions orchestrated over the course of several years. Ensuring the right CEO is leading the organization may be one of the board’s most difficult tasks because the ideal CEO today may not be the ideal CEO for where the company will be strategically 5 or 10 years from now. What conversations does your board need to have – and with whom – to ensure an exceptional CEO succession process? How do you gauge potential successors? How do you evaluate an individual’s current success to predict his or her future success? How do you assess the whole leader? And how does the board get buy-in from the current CEO? This panel will deliver a framework to improve your board’s approach to both the planned—and unplanned—CEO succession process.

2:05

A can’t-miss session! Plan your flights accordingly to take advantage of this opportunity to break down the key takeaways from the 2 days to create immediate action plans for your next board meeting.

3:00

Forum Concludes