Working primarily in the Board of Directors practice, Victor manages the firm’s Dallas-Fort Worth office, and leads the Consumer and Real Estate practices. Victor’s impact and exceptional track record spans several years, and he has consistently demonstrated unparalleled expertise in identifying and attracting top-tier talent for leading organizations in the consumer, retail, and real estate sectors. His keen understanding of industry dynamics, coupled with an innate ability to recognize potential, has allowed him to successfully place numerous high-profile executives in key leadership positions, driving growth and innovation within these companies. Through his strategic and personable approach, Victor has cultivated lasting relationships with both clients and candidates, solidifying his reputation as a trusted advisor in recruiting influential Board members for a host of leading companies and organizations.
Prior to joining Diversified Search Group, Victor had been with a few national firms, including more recently, Korn Ferry, where he served as senior client partner in the board of directors practice, the higher education practice, and was their global leader of the Diversity and Inclusion initiatives.
Victor is a trustee emeritus for the Stanford University board of trustees, the current chairman of Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) which is affiliated with the Stanford GSB, and a prior member of the Stanford GSB Advisory Council. In addition, he currently serves on the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) board of directors, the Aspen Institute Latinos in Society advisory board, the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), and is a former White House Fellows Commissioner appointed by President George W. Bush.
Katie Doyle has 30 years of experience leading and advising consumer health and nutrition companies with a proven track record of delivering outstanding shareholder value across both private and publicly listed companies. Since 2019, Katie has served on the Board of Directors for AholdDelhaize, an $85b global grocery retailer and serves as the Chair of the Health & Sustainability Committee and member of the Nominating & Governance Committee.
In 2020, Katie was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Perrigo, a global consumer self-care company, serving on the Audit and Nominating & Governance Committees.
She also serves on the private equity-backed boards of Orgain, FoodScience Corporation and Monterey Bay Herb Company, as well as on the Board of Advisors for League, a consumer health tech platform. In addition, Katie serves on two non-profit boards – the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Prior to full-time board work, Katie was the CEO at Swanson Health, an e-commerce health and wellness brand where she remains an advisor and investor. Before Swanson Health, she was a Senior Vice President and Corporate Officer at Abbott Laboratories where she led the Abbott Nutrition Products Division, responsible for $3.2 billion in revenue across a portfolio of consumer health brands. Prior to Abbott, Katie was a Senior Principal at McKinsey & Company where she worked with leading consumer and retail companies across the US, Europe, Africa and Asia. Katie is a member of The Chicago Network, The Economic Club of Chicago and The National Association of Corporate Directors.
Jay currently serves as a Board member of the following publicly-held companies: Illinois Tool Works, Inc., Northern Trust Corporation and the J.M Smucker Company. Jay also serves on the Board of Advisors of HAVI Group, LP (2019 – Present), a privately held global company that provides marketing and supply chain management services to leading global brands. Jay served as Vice Chairman, Client Service at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) from 2007-2016 and retired from PwC in June 2016. During his 39-year career at PwC, Jay gained extensive experience working with Boards and Audit Committees of Fortune 500 companies, and was appointed to major leadership roles within PwC responsible for driving the strategy of the firm. His prior roles included serving as the Greater Chicago Market Managing Partner, Managing Partner of the Cleveland Office, Member of the U.S. Management Team, and Leader of the U.S. Consumer and Industrial Products Assurance practice. During the ten-year period from 2006-2016, Jay was responsible for PwC’s firm-wide relationship with the PGA TOUR, including sponsorship activities at THE PLAYERS Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
John Driver is a Chief Executive, Independent Director, business strategist, and change agent with broad and diversified experience in large global, mid-market, and early-stage software companies. He has a foundation in software marketing and sales for matrixed and entrepreneurial organizations and direct experience in new product launches for first-to-market categories. In these roles he has held P&L accountability for established and pre-revenue businesses. Navigating complexity, delivering innovation, and creating new opportunities within the IoT (Internet of Things) market are hallmarks of his career.
Mr. Driver serves as Independent Director at Broadway Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BYFC) and its wholly owned subsidiary City First Bank, N.A., and Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE: VTLE, formerly Laredo Petroleum, Inc. NYSE: LPI). He is a member of the Audit, Nomination & Governance, Finance and Risk & Compliance Committees for these boards. Currently, he leads Lynx Technology a Smart Home IoT and digital media technology firm powering a range of consumer electronics products. Mr. Driver’s specific expertise in international acquisitions and divestitures, allowed him to successfully execute a management buyout of the North American, European, and Japanese Connected Home business operations, including the transfer of the market leading Twonky™ media connectivity technology, from PacketVideo, a subsidiary of Japanese public company, NTT DOCOMO. Mr. Driver successfully completed the asset purchase agreement, which was approved by the PacketVideo Board of Directors due to his knowledge of and commitment to the business.
His strong business and financial acumen have enabled Lynx Technology to grow profitably. As a change agent, he outsourced the entire business operation, reducing overhead and increasing profitability. In addition, continuing to develop the pioneering Twonky™ software platform, embedded in tens of millions of consumer electronics devices worldwide, generates revenues to fund research and invest in new innovations, ultimately expanding Lynx’s footprint in the IoT market.
Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of PacketVideo, a subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO, a global leader delivering innovative, digital media solutions to the world’s largest service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers. He led the company’s Connected Home business operations with full P&L responsibility across North America, Europe, Japan, and India while also driving global marketing strategy and its execution, which grew the division’s profitability.
Lily is Assistant Dean at Syracuse University College of Law, overseeing strategy and operations for the Office of Career Services, and appointed by the Chancellor as a member of the University Leadership Team. Previously, Lily was the Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Arrow Electronics, Inc., responsible for the 120+ member global legal, compliance and trade compliance organizations based in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. With 2020 sales of nearly $29 billion and 19,000+ employees worldwide, Arrow is a Fortune 110 global provider of products, services, and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. She guided Arrow through high-profile geo-political matters, including navigating sensitive discussions with different government regulators and significant business partners. Lily also transformed the legal and compliance teams into a highly motivated and effective “One Arrow” global team focused on excellence and delivery of services as trusted business advisors.
Prior to joining Arrow, Lily served as the Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Public Storage an S&P 500 and FT Global 500 company with $55 billion+ market cap. She provided leadership and oversight for all legal and internal audit matters, including board, corporate securities, governance, capital markets, litigation, employment, real estate, compliance, operations, intellectual property, M&A, business continuity, enterprise risk management, government affairs, investor relations, and external communications.
Public Storage is a consumer-facing, service-oriented and data-driven real estate operating and development company that faces significant competition. The company had to transform how it drove consumer traffic into 2,700+ brick-and-mortar stores across 38 states to sell moving supplies and rent self-storage “garage” spaces. While Lily was CLO of Public Storage, she also served as General Counsel to PS Business Parks, an affiliated NYSE company with $4.8+ billion market cap and advised a separate board of directors and executive team. She also provided legal oversight to the General Counsel and legal team of another affiliated European company, Shurgard (currently $4.5+ billion market cap), which she helped to spin-off in a successful IPO.
Prior to joining Public Storage in January 2015, Ms. Hughes served in roles of increasing responsibilities for almost 18 years in the legal department of Ingram Micro, an Orange County-based former Fortune 100 (now privately owned) and the world’s largest wholesale information technology and mobile devices distributor with at that time, $47B+ in annual sales, over 20,000 employees, serving customers in 160 countries, Lily’s last role was Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Corporate, M&A and Finance, the #2 corporate lawyer of the company, with primary legal responsibilities for board matters, securities, governance, treasury, tax, strategic partnerships, and executive compensation matters and as global legal lead on all mergers and acquisitions and finance transactions.
Maria Moats is the leader of PwC’s Governance Insights Center, which strives to strengthen the connection between directors, executive teams and investors by helping them navigate the evolving governance landscape. With more than 25 years of experience at PwC, Maria is an Audit partner and has previously held important PwC leadership roles within the US firm. From 2011 to 2016 Maria served as PwC’s Chief Diversity Officer. After that role, and before becoming the leader of the Governance Insights Center, Maria served as Vice-Chair, Mexico & US Assurance Leader. In this capacity she oversaw PwC’s national Assurance practice. Maria has served as the lead audit engagement partner for a number of public companies and she is currently the Senior Relationship Partner on several companies across various industries.
Maria brings extensive knowledge in governance, technical accounting, SEC and financial reporting matters to organizations and has a strong background in diversity and inclusion. She has held board roles with the March of Dimes (Dallas & Northern New Jersey) and currently serves on the Advisory Board of The University of Texas at El Paso – College of Business Administration and the Board and Audit Committee of Donors Choose.
Maria is a Certified Public Accountant (licensed in Texas, New Jersey, New York & Massachusetts), is fluent in Spanish and is a graduate of The University of Texas at El Paso with a BBA in Accounting. Maria and her family live in New York.
Yolanda is the PwC US Chief People Officer and is based in Stamford, Connecticut where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Yolanda is a principal who has been with the firm for over a decade. Before joining the US Leadership Team, she was the firm’s Chief Employment Counsel and led a team of lawyers responsible for advising the firm’s People team, the Office of Partner Affairs and the Office of Diversity. In that role, Yolanda was also a member of the firm’s People Leadership team, and worked closely with business leaders and partners across many aspects of the people agenda.
Yolanda served as president of the PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. During her time on the Foundation’s board, she championed diversity, equality and inclusion, education and humanitarian efforts.
As Chief People Officer, Yolanda helps provide strategic leadership across initiatives to align the firm’s People strategy and function with its growth strategy. She is committed to helping PwC continue to be a place where people can be themselves, grow their careers and thrive in their personal and professional lives. Outside of work, Yolanda strives to be of service to her community. She is an active leader in the Stamford Norwalk Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc. and the Fairfield County Chapter of The Links Incorporated.
Yolanda received her JD from the Boston University School of Law where she was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellow and a staff editor of the Public Interest Law Journal. She is a proud graduate of Howard University, where she received her BA.
Christine J. Spadafor is an experienced corporate, university and non-profit board director with deep expertise in growth strategies, corporate transitions, M&A, regulatory compliance, risk management, DEI and ESG. She has a demonstrated track record leading successful global transformational initiatives at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and human capital management in both domestic and global markets across a broad spectrum of industries, including health care and entertainment and media. She has worked extensively as an advisor to Fortune 100 C-suite executives and boards of directors.
Christine is CEO of SpadaforClay Group, a management consulting firm. She serves as an Independent Director at Boyd Gaming Corporation, a $3.6B NYSE-listed company, where she is Chair of its Governance and Nominating Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and former member of the Compensation Committee. Christine also serves on the President’s Council of Massachusetts General Hospital’s MGH Institute of Health Professions. She previously served on the boards of Kindred at Home, a private company that is the largest provider of home care and hospice services in the US, where she served as Chair of the Quality and Compliance Committee, and of Intus Care, a private company with a proprietary platform to synthesize healthcare data to optimize patient outcomes. Christine serves on the Board of Trustees for Mercyhurst University, on the Advisory Board of WBUR, one of the premier National Public Radio stations in the US, and is a commentator on the BBC World Service “Business Matters” global radio broadcast and podcast. She is also a frequent contributor to Forbes, Fortune, Inc., and other business journals.
Christine was a Partner in three premier global management consulting firms (The Boston Consulting Group, AlixPartners, CSC Index). At Fortune 100 companies, her primary clients have been global C-suite executives whom she advised on strategy and governance initiatives: advising on the design of governance structures for global finance transformation projects; leading strategic design for and execution of new revenue-generating shared services, finance, and business innovation units; leading the design and analysis of a global ERP strategy; and repositioning private equity portfolio companies for market. At a national financial institution, she restructured the board of directors and developed a new governance structure unanimously adopted by the board.
In addition, Christine has broad experience leading international engagements. She led a transformational worldwide strategic communications/change management program reaching nearly 3,000 stakeholders across more than 20 territories for a global entertainment and media company. She led the design, execution and strategic communications of a transformational finance initiative for another global entertainment and media company’s newly created international business unit; led the development of a worldwide strategy for a perfume company in France; led the development of a digital strategy for a globally-regulated major medical equipment manufacturer in the Netherlands; and served as a public health consultant to the United Nations in China on public health and sustainability.
Christine is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Public Health and was selected by the Business Section of the American Bar Association/Direct Women as one of the top 20 female attorneys with outstanding expertise for corporate board service. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she co-authored a workplace health treatise published by Johns Hopkins University. She is a lecturer on Strategic Leadership in the Visiting Executive Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, a lecturer/presenter at Harvard Medical School and other Harvard graduate programs. She is a speaker/keynote at seminars, meetings and podcasts addressing agile leadership, gender equity and board governance, including at the US Chamber of Commerce, Young Presidents Organization and American Medical Group Association. Christine has been awarded two Doctor of Humane Letters degrees – received in recognition of her professional accomplishments and lifelong contributions to vulnerable and at-risk populations.
Elise Walton is a principal at Pearl Meyer. She specializes in advising on corporate governance, strategic organization design, change management, and executive leadership. Her recent work includes projects on board assessment, governance and organization design, CEO evaluation and succession planning, and executive leadership development, in both the public and not-for-profit sectors.
Before joining Pearl Meyer, Elise was a principal at Board Compass and a senior partner at Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Delta, LLC.) and Delta Group Consulting where she led major projects and served as the corporate governance practice leader. As a published author, her work includes contributed book chapters, as well as articles in publications such as The New York Times, American Psychologist, The Corporate Board, The Conference Board, Consulting Magazine, Harvard Business Review, and Annual Review of Psychology. She has presented at several conferences, meetings, and forums, including those of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Yale Governance Forum, American Bar Association, Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board, Kravis-de Roulet Conference, Conference Board HR Leadership Council, and the Human Resource Planning Society.
