Corporate Board Member magazine announces the sixth annual Board Leadership Awards, honoring exemplary companies and individuals who go beyond the basic requirements of governance, regulation and compliance and serve as models for other companies and individuals to emulate.
The awards underscore the role that corporate governance and effective board leadership plays in driving a company’s success and a board’s contribution to long-term value.
After a time of unprecedented challenges, the awards seek to shine a light on those boards who are making a positive impact serving all of their stakeholders—shareholders, employees, customers, partners and communities.
The Awards will recognize individuals or groups of individuals in three categories:
Recognizing a non-executive chairman or lead director who has demonstrated a passion for advancing the principles of good governance.
Recognizing a board that has demonstrated exemplary leadership in overcoming a significant challenge with a well-constructed response to a major incident, took a big risk or made a bold transformative change in response to business conditions.
Open to boards, investors, regulators (past and current) and other corporate governance leaders recognizing the recipient’s actions that have significantly influenced how all public company boards think about an emerging issue.
The award recipients will be selected by an independent panel of public company directors and former honorees.
Corporate Board Member’s Board Leadership Awards will recognize outstanding individuals and boards who go beyond the basic requirements of governance, regulation, and compliance, aiming for and obtaining excellence and serving as models for other companies and individuals to emulate. The awards underscore the role that corporate governance and effective board leadership play in driving a company’s success and a board’s contribution to long-term value.
After a year of unprecedented challenges, the Awards seek to shine a light on those boards who are making a positive impact serving all of their stakeholders—shareholders, employees, customers, partners and communities.
Independent Director of the Year
This award will recognize a non-executive chairman or lead director who has demonstrated a passion for advancing the principles of good governance. The honoree has the ability to objectively solve the most difficult boardroom challenges, as well as the proven experience to offer independent, sound guidance when the company faces hurdles and opportunities. The honoree effectively leads the board in its interactions with the CEO/management to create a collaborative culture.
Courage in the Boardroom
This award will recognize an individual director or full board that has demonstrated exemplary leadership in overcoming a significant challenge or a making a bold strategic change for the business. The award recipient will exemplify a well-constructed response to a major incident, took a big risk or made a transformative decision in response to business conditions. Examples could include, but are not limited to, an unexpected CEO departure, proxy battle, reputational crisis, a customer crisis, financial turnaround, or how the organization responded to Covid-19, social unrest or other major societal disruptions in a positive way. The individual director or full board may have executed a difficult decision in the face of differing opinions within the board or between the board and management.
Through the response, the award recipient sets an example for other boards to follow when faced with unforeseen challenges. Throughout the challenge, the company will have demonstrated uninterrupted business operations in the midst of an adverse or crisis situation.
Greatest Impact on Corporate Boards
This award is open to boards, investors, regulators (past and current), and other corporate governance leaders. The award recipient’s actions will have significantly influenced how all public company boards think about an emerging issue.
Examples could include, but are not limited to:
Independent Director of the Year:
Non-executive Chairmen and Lead Directors of publicly traded companies
Courage in the Boardroom:
Public Company Board
Greatest Impact on Corporate Boards:
Individual director of public company; investor, activist, regulator, academic, corporate governance adviser, or other influencer in corporate governance
Entries may be self-nominated or submitted on behalf of an individual or corporation by those who work with them, or by outside vendors and service providers.
Materials submitted in support of nominations should relate to qualifications and activities from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. All entries must be received by March 31, 2024 to be eligible for consideration. Eligible entries will consist of an entry form and executive summary. The judges panel will reach out for any necessary supplemental information.
The award recipients will be selected by an independent panel of public company directors.
All award finalists will be provided a complimentary registration to attend Corporate Board Member’s 20th annual Boardroom Summit on September 16-17, 2024 at the Marriott Marquis in New York. The winners in each of the 3 categories will be invited to participate in a panel discussion shining a light on their achievements and learnings for other directors. A gala reception will be held in honor of the winners during the Summit. Each award recipient will be profiled in the Q4 2024 issue of Corporate Board Member magazine.
Recognizing a non-executive chairman or lead director who has demonstrated a passion for advancing the principles of good governance.
Cultivating a high-performance board that satisfies a spectrum of stakeholders while still offering up inviting returns isn’t easy—especially over the long haul. John Lundgren’s ability to deliver on both counts is a masterclass in how to do it right.
Recognizing a board that has demonstrated exemplary leadership in overcoming a significant challenge with a well-constructed response to a major incident, took a big risk or made a bold transformative change in response to business conditions.
The attack on Ukraine started long before Russian forces set foot on Ukrainian soil, with nation-state actors reaching through cyberspace to stalk its infrastructure. Fortunately, the country had a powerful ally in Microsoft, whose efforts to defend the country led our selection committee to honor them with CBM’s 2023 Courage in the Boardroom award. Lead director Sandi Peterson shares a boardroom perspective on the tech company’s role in fending off the threat of cyber weapon deployment and on other challenging issues faced by today’s boards.
Open to boards, investors, regulators (past and current), and other corporate governance leaders, recognizing the recipient’s actions that have significantly influenced how all public company boards think about an emerging issue.
Consummate corporate influencer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has been mobilizing the private sector around critical issues for more than four decades. But it was the Yale professor’s efforts to lead the corporate pullout from Russia in the wake of their Ukraine invasion that led our selection committee to honor him with this year’s Greatest Impact on Corporate Boards award.
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