Board Immersion Program

Herman Bulls – Mr. Bulls is international director and vice chairman, Americas, at JLL, and president and chief executive officer of Bulls Advisory Group, a real estate and management advisory firm. He previously founded and led Bulls Capital Partners, a multifamily mortgage lender, and served 30 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, retiring as a colonel. He currently serves as chairman of Fluence Energy and on the boards of Host Hotels & Resorts and Comfort Systems USA. He previously served as vice chairman of USAA and of the American Red Cross, and on the boards of DXC Technology; Tyco International, prior to its merger with Johnson Controls; Exelis, prior to its acquisition by Harris; American Campus Communities; and Collegis Education. Mr. Bulls is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Jennifer Carlson – Ms. Carlson is a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where she is a member of the Corporate & Financial Services Department and Capital Markets practice, and serves as co-chair of the Public Company Advisory Practice. She regularly advises corporate boards and management teams on SEC disclosures, stock exchange compliance, and fiduciary duties. She previously spent a decade as a partner in Mayer Brown's corporate and securities practice, and practiced earlier at Skadden.

John Driver – Mr. Driver is founder and chief executive officer of Lynx Technology. He previously served as chief operating officer and chief marketing officer at PacketVideo, following senior leadership roles at Serena Software, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Ernst & Young. He serves as lead independent director on the board of City First Bank, where he chairs the Risk and Compliance Committee; as a board member of 50/50 Women on Boards; and as president of the NACD Pacific Southwest Chapter. He previously served on the board of Vital Energy, prior to its acquisition by Crescent Energy.

Ahmad Ejaz – Mr. Ejaz is Bay Area market leader and an audit partner at RSM, where he advises emerging growth and public companies in the life sciences and technology sectors. He previously spent more than 15 years at BDO, most recently as a partner in its Bay Area practice, following audit roles at Deloitte & Touche and PwC. Over his career, he has guided companies through IPOs in the U.S. and on foreign exchanges and advised clients on SOX compliance. He currently serves on the board of the Bay Area Council.

Christine Heckart – Ms. Heckart is the founder and chief executive officer of Xapa, a gamified app designed to develop leaders at all levels of an organization. She previously served as chief executive officer of Scalyr, a venture-backed data analytics platform acquired by SentinelOne. Previously she held senior leadership roles at Cisco, Brocade, ServiceSource, NetApp, Microsoft, Juniper Networks and TeleChoice. She currently serves on the board of SiTime and previously was a board member at 6sense, Contentful and Lam Research.  Ms. Heckart is a Directors Academy board member.

Wayne Hewett – Mr. Hewett currently is the chairman of Cambrex as well as the chairman of Quotient Sciences.  He previously was the chief executive officer of Klockner Pentaplast Group, Arysta LifeScience, and Momentive Performance Materials where he led the sale of the business from GE to private equity. Mr. Hewett began his professional career at GE and was chief executive officer of several businesses, including GE Advanced Materials, GE Silicones, GE Plastics Pacific, and GE Toshiba Silicones.  In addition, Mr. Hewett currently serves on the boards of The Home Depot, where he chairs the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee; UPS; Resolute Holdings, serving on the audit committee; and Wells Fargo, where he chairs the Finance Committee.

Heather Hiles – Ms. Hiles Hiles is an entrepreneur, investor, and corporate board member. As the founder of the Pathbrite portfolio platform, Hiles had the distinction of raising the largest venture capital fund, and had the largest exit, for any Black woman.  In 2020, Hiles co-founded a seed-stage venture capital fund and previously invested in innovation at the Gates Foundation. Heather built the first statewide online community college, preparing and placing Californians in tech-related jobs. Today, Heather is investing in the healthcare education space. Hiles has served on numerous boards including Udemy prior to the merger with Coursera earlier this year. Ms. Hiles is a Directors Academy board member.

Darrell Jackson – Mr. Jackson's professional career spanned over 37 years at Shore Bank, BMO Harris Bank and Northern Trust in executive roles overseeing private banking, investment, trust, commercial banking and wealth management organizations before he was named CEO of Seaway Bank and Trust in 2014. In addition, Mr. Jackson currently serves on the boards of Amalgamated Bank, where he chairs the Nominating and Governance Committee; FTC Solar; Janus Henderson Investors U.S. LLC; Dome Construction; and Gray-Bowen-Scott. He previously served on the boards of Delaware Place Bank and Seaway Bank. Mr. Jackson is an alumnus of the Board Immersion program.

Julia Lewis – Ms. Lewis is a principal and co-head of talent at Norwest Venture Partners. Prior to joining Norwest, she held recruiting leadership roles at Robert Walters, most recently as head of the firm's finance and operations practice, focusing on venture capital firms and founder CEOs.

Marizu Madu – Mr. Madu is a principal with Pay Governance, an independent executive compensation advisory firm. He has over 20 years of experience working with board compensation committees and management on all aspects of compensation related to executives, independent directors and the broader workforce. Prior to Pay Governance, Mr. Madu was a vice president at Pearl Meyer and previously worked at Towers Watson.

Bob Maricich – Mr. Maricich is the executive chairman and founder of ANDMORE (formerly International Market Centers) and served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company from 2011-24.  The company is the premier omnichannel wholesale marketmaker serving gift, home furnishings, and apparel industries.  In 2011, he pioneered the formation of International Market Centers, L.P., securing over $1 billion in funding from Bain Capital and Oaktree Capital Management enabling the strategic consolidation of major showroom properties in High Point, NC and the World Market Center in Las Vegas, creating the world’s largest network of permanent showroom and tradeshow facilities for furnishings, décor and gift sectors.  Prior to IMC, Mr. Maricich served as CEO of Century Furniture Industries, and president and CEO of American Drew Furniture and held leadership roles at American of Martinsville, Flexsteel Industries and Texaco.

Jonathan Mariner – Mr. Mariner served as chief financial officer of Major League Baseball from 2002 to 2014 and then as chief investment officer until 2016. Following his retirement from MLB, he launched TaxDay, an app that tracks the time individuals spend working or living in different states to support accurate residency reporting at tax time. He also served as chief administrative officer, chief people officer and a board member of Enjoy Technology from 2020–22. Mr. Mariner is currently a general partner at Harbinger Sports, and he serves on the boards of Delaware North; Five9; Overtime; OneStream, where he chairs the Audit Committee; and Rocket Companies, where he also chairs the Audit Committee. He previously served on the boards of McGraw Hill Education, Ultimate Software and Tyson Foods.

Keith Meyer – Mr. Meyer is the co-founder and president of the Directors Academy. 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. In addition, 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 list of 100 most influential people in corporate governance. Mr. Meyer is a Directors Academy board member.

Mike Millegan – Mr. Millegan served as president of Verizon Global Wholesale Group and concurrently as president of the company's Digital Media Services business, where he focused on global carrier, wireless and cable company network requirements, from 2007 until his retirement in 2013. Previously, Mr. Millegan was senior vice president and market president for Verizon's Midwest Operations and senior vice president of the company's Enterprise/Wholesale business unit. Mr. Millegan also led the Logistics/Supply Chain business unit as senior vice president from 2000 to 2004. He currently serves on the boards of Axis Capital Holdings, where he chairs the Human Capital and Compensation Committee, and Portland General Electric, where he chairs the Audit and Risk Committee. Previously, Mr. Millegan served on the Wireless Telecom and CoreSite boards. He is a Board Immersion program alumnus.

Adrienne Monley – Ms. Monley is a managing director at PJT Camberview, where she leads the firm's governance advisory team. She previously held several leadership roles at Vanguard, most recently as head of investment stewardship for the Americas, overseeing issuer engagement, research, and proxy voting for more than 4,500 companies held by its equity index funds. Earlier, she served as Vanguard's global head of investment stewardship policy and as its first head of investment stewardship for Europe. She also served as chief of staff to Vanguard's board of directors and global general counsel, following consulting roles in the rewards, talent and communication practice at Towers Watson.

Michael Montelongo – Mr. Montelongo is chief executive officer of GRC Advisory Services and an executive fellow at Harvard Business School. He previously served as chief administrative officer and chief strategy officer at Sodexo, Inc., and was assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the U.S. Air Force. He currently serves on the boards of Merlin; Civeo Corporation; Monarca Food Solutions; and the National Association of Corporate Directors, and previously served on the boards of Conduent, Herbalife Nutrition, Denny's, and The Aerospace Corporation. Mr. Montelongo is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Elizabeth Patterson – Ms. Patterson is an operating partner at Sapphire Ventures. She previously served as chief talent officer at Wildcat Venture Partners and Mohr Davidow Ventures, where she built and advised executive leadership teams across growth-stage technology companies, following sales and marketing leadership roles at Visualize, Nike, @Road, and Clarify. She currently serves on the boards of Black Women on Boards and the Sharks Foundation.

Natalie Rothman – Ms. Rothman is chief human resources officer at The Hershey Company. She previously served as chief people officer at Inspire Brands and executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Advance Auto Parts, following eight years in human resources leadership roles at PepsiCo. Earlier in her career, she held roles at The Estée Lauder Companies, Brown Raysman Millstein Felder as an employment law associate, and Gundersen Partners as an executive search consultant. She currently serves on the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence Advisory Council and New Mountain Capital’s Human Capital Advisory Council. She previously served on the boards of Udemy, where she chaired the Compensation Committee, prior to its merger with Coursera; Pearce Services, prior to its sale to CBRE; SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp I; and The Woodruff Arts Center.

Dr. Christine Shropshire – Dr. Shropshire is professor of management and entrepreneurship at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, leads ASU’s New Governance Lab, and is associate editor at Academy of Management Review. She previously served as associate professor at Arizona State University and associate professor at the University of Georgia, following experience as a senior consultant in human capital at Ernst & Young.

Tamar Thompson – Ms. Thompson currently serves as vice president of Global Patient Experience and Insights, Medical Affairs at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, having previously led the company's global corporate affairs following its merger with AstraZeneca in 2021. She built her earlier career across health policy, market access and claims reimbursement roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, ADVI, Kimbell & Associates, Avalere Health, Lantheus, Bracco, GE, Beacon Health Options and Humana. Ms. Thompson currently serves on the boards of Avidity Biosciences and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, where she chairs the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. Ms. Thompson is an alumnus of the Board Immersion program.

Tony Wells – Mr. Wells is a venture partner at Copper Sky Capital, Arizona's largest venture fund. He is the former chief media officer of Verizon, served as chief brand officer of USAA, and was chief marketing officer at Schneider Electric North America, ADT, and 24 Hour Fitness. Earlier, he built his marketing and sales leadership experience at Visa, General Motors' R*Works division, SFX Sports Group, The Mills Corporation and Nissan. Mr. Wells is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He is currently a member of the Amalgamated Bank, Nexstar Media Group, TripleLift and Yelp boards. Mr. Wells is an alumnus of the Board Immersion program.

James D. White – Mr. White is the former board chair, president and chief executive officer of Jamba Inc. and previously held senior executive roles at Safeway, Gillette and Ralston Purina. He is the co-founder of JDWhite Design Labs focused on developing and guiding CEOs, boards, and executive leaders on designing high-performance organizations with purpose. Mr. White is an experienced board chair with 20 years of boardroom experience having served on over 20 public and private boards. He is currently the chair of The Honest Company board and a member of the Bay Club, BJ’s Restaurants, CAVA, Greenlight, Schnuck Markets and Simply Good Foods Company boards. His prior board service includes Adtalem Global Education; Affirm, where he was lead independent director; Hillshire; Medallia and Panera Bread. Mr. White is also co-founder and board chair of the Directors Academy.

Rhonda White – Ms. White is a board member and former chief marketing officer with over 25 years of strategic leadership in the technology and consumer sectors. She currently serves as co-founder of JDWhite Design Labs, where she collaborates with CEOs and leadership teams to intentionally build high-performing, inclusive cultures. Ms. White previously led digital and marketing transformations at global companies including Symantec (Norton), HP, and Wells Fargo, and has scaled growth-stage ventures like Centrify, RocketFuel, and MobileIron to acquisition. She currently serves on the boards of Kiteworks, Monterey Jazz and the Directors Academy.

Felicia Williams – During her 20-year career with Macy's, Ms. Williams held various senior-level leadership roles, including interim chief financial officer; executive vice president, controller and enterprise risk officer; senior vice president, treasury and risk management; and chief audit executive. She also served for three years as the Macy's fellow for CEO Action for Racial Equity, a first-of-its-kind, business-led coalition committed to advancing racial equity and social justice through public policy and corporate engagement. Earlier, she held global finance, treasury and audit roles at The Coca-Cola Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Arthur Andersen. Ms. Williams serves on the board of NeoGenomics, and previously served on the boards of Paycom and Anywhere Real Estate, which was acquired by Compass earlier this year. She was also Audit Committee chair for Meridian Bioscience prior to the sale of the company.