October 2023 NextGen Directors Program
UC Berkeley
NextGen Directors Program
Led by an elite faculty, the NextGen Directors Program is an intimate peer-to-peer learning environment, designed to accelerate the development and placement of the next generation of corporate board members.
OUR TEAM
Board of Directors
James D. White, Chairman of the Board
Mr. White is the former chairman, chief executive officer and president of Jamba Inc. and previously held senior executive roles at Safeway, Gillette and Ralston Purina. Mr. White is an experienced board chair with 20 years of boardroom experience having served on over 16 public, pre-IPO, private and startup boards. He currently serves on several public company boards, including Affirm – where he is lead independent director, Honest Company – where he is board chair, and Cava Group where he is the . He is Executive Chairman of Air Protein, a startup that makes protein-enriched food from carbon dioxide. Mr. White is also a co-founder and board chair of the Directors Academy.
Keith Meyer, President
Mr. Meyer is the co-founder and president of the Directors Academy, and also the global practice leader of the Board Services Practice at Major, Lindsey and Africa. Mr. Meyer was founder and managing partner of Park Avenue Advisors and previously was vice chairman and managing partner of the Global Board Consulting Practice and co-leader of the North America CEO & Board Practice at Heidrick & Struggles. Mr. Meyer held a variety of operations, corporate development and finance leadership roles with Exxon and PepsiCo. He was also a member of McKinsey’s global Energy Practice. He has previously been named to the D100 list of the most influential people in corporate governance. Mr. Meyer is a founding board member of the Directors Academy.
Niko Canner
Mr. Canner is the founder of Incandescent, a firm focused on turning ideas into businesses. He was co-founder and Managing Partner of the consulting firm Katzenbach Partners. Most recently, Mr. Canner was a member of the Management Committee of Bridgewater Associates. He began his consulting career at McKinsey & Company. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and has initiated and co-leads China 2024, a study of the development of business leaders in China.
Christine Heckart
Ms. Heckart is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Xapa World, a venture-backed biotechnology company, having served as chief executive officer of Scalyr prior to the company’s merger with SentinelOne in February 2021. Previously, she was senior vice president and marketing leader at Cisco and chief marketing officer of Brocade. Prior to joining Brocade, Ms. Heckart served as executive vice president of strategy, marketing, people, and IT at ServiceSource, a provider of cloud applications and services for managing recurring revenue. She was also chief marketing officer at NetApp and Juniper Networks. Ms. Heckart was general manager of Microsoft’s TV, video, and music business and president of TeleChoice. She is currently a member of board of directors at Contentful and SiTime and previously served on the boards of 6sense and Lam Research.
Heather Hiles
Mx. Hiles has served as a member of Udemy’s board of directors and serves as the chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Mx. Hiles currently serves as the founder and managing partner for Imminent Equity, a venture firm funding Black dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurs. Mx. Hiles previously served as the founding chancellor and chief executive officer of Calbright College, an online community college focused on preparation for jobs in the technology industry. Prior to that, Mx. Hiles was the deputy director of Postsecondary Success Solutions at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Mx. Hiles currently serves on the boards of directors for several private companies, including Black Girls Code and Udemy.
Susan Levine
Ms. Levine is a managing director and member of the North American Private Equity team at Bain Capital Private Equity. As head of talent, Ms. Levine leads the human capital agenda across Bain’s North America portfolio which includes ensuring its companies have strong boards and senior leadership teams aligned with each organization’s strategic objectives. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Ms. Levine served as Bain & Company’s director of North America marketing and client development and previously worked at Barents Group, advising clients M&A activities across emerging markets. She currently serves on the boards of Diversey and TI Fluid Systems.
Paul Williams
Mr. Williams currently serves as the Nominating and Governance Committee chair for the board of Air Transport Services Group, and on the boards of Public Storage and a group of American Funds boards (part of Capital Group). Previously, Mr. Williams was member of the Romeo Power and Compass Minerals boards, the Nominating and Governance Committee chairman for Essendant and he served as the lead independent director of State Auto Financial Corporation, as well as the Compensation Committee chairman and CEO Search Committee chairman for Bob Evans Restaurants. Mr. Williams served as executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary of Cardinal Health, a Fortune 20 company, and was the co-leader of the North America Board Practice of Allegis Partners. His career began as a corporate and securities associate with the law firms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease. Mr. Williams is also a Directors Academy board member.
Academy Staff
Keith Meyer
Mr. Meyer is the co-founder and president of the Directors Academy, and also the global practice leader of the Board Services Practice at Major, Lindsey and Africa. Mr. Meyer was founder and managing partner of Park Avenue Advisors and previously was vice chairman and managing partner of the Global Board Consulting Practice and co-leader of the North America CEO & Board Practice at Heidrick & Struggles. Mr. Meyer held a variety of operations, corporate development and finance leadership roles with Exxon and PepsiCo. He was also a member of McKinsey’s global Energy Practice. He has previously been named to the D100 list of the most influential people in corporate governance. Mr. Meyer is a founding board member of the Directors Academy.
Our Advisors
Our Advisors advance the Directors Academy mission through the sponsorship and participation of high-performing senior executive talent and access to future board opportunities.
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