Boardroom of the Future Forum

Barbara Adachi – Ms. Adachi is a corporate board director and executive coach. She previously served as national managing director of human capital consulting and national managing principal for the Women's Initiative at Deloitte Consulting, where she built and led a $1 billion consulting practice. She currently serves on the boards of VSP Vision, where she chairs the Compensation Committee; Old Republic International; and Atlas, and previously served on the board of TalentGuard and as president and board chair of the International Women's Forum Northern California.

Tim Brooks – Mr. Brooks is global head of AI development at World Wide Technology. He joined WWT in 2014, leading the team that earned NVIDIA's AI Solutions Partner of the Year award annually from 2017 through 2025, and previously served as managing director of strategic AI growth solutions at WWT, managing director at Absolutdata Analytics, and vice president at Opera Solutions, following co-founding Meeting Trader and executive roles in luxury hospitality with Ritz-Carlton, Regent, and Le Méridien. He currently serves on the NVIDIA Partner Advisory Board and the Harvard Business Review Advisory Board, and as an independent board director and advisor, and previously served as an international councillor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and editor-at-large for CDO Magazine.

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.

Sandy Carter – Ms. Carter is chief executive officer of Equs, Inc. (EQUS.AI) and a Forbes AI senior contributor. She previously served as chief business officer and chief operating officer at Unstoppable Domains, vice president at Amazon Web Services, and spent nearly 14 years at IBM in executive roles including channel chief, chief sales officer, and chief marketing officer. She currently serves as founder of Unstoppable Women of AI and Blockchain, and previously served on the board of directors of Altair, prior to its acquisition by Siemens.

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.

Adam Dumey – Mr. Dumey is vice president of Frontier Labs at World Wide Technology, where he leads the firm's relationships with the world's frontier AI labs, driving joint innovation and accelerating customers' AI journeys. He brings more than 11 years of experience across artificial intelligence, including driving go-to-market strategy for WWT's retail business, leading go-to-market for Amazon Web Services' Just Walk Out autonomous retail technology, and leading IBM's largest artificial intelligence implementation. Along the way, he earned four patents in AI. His prior roles include time with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oliver Wyman, and Marsh & McLennan. He serves on the board of Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic, as a guest lecturer at Duke University, Georgetown University, and the University of Michigan, and as a member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association.

Dr. Lev Gonick – Dr. Gonick is enterprise chief information officer at Arizona State University and professor of practice at the Watts School of Public Affairs. He previously served as chief executive officer of OneCommunity and DigitalC, vice president and chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University, chief technology officer at CSU Monterey Bay, and dean at Cal Poly Pomona. He currently serves as chair of the Sun Corridor Network and on the boards of U.S. Ignite, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice, and the American College of Education, and previously served on the boards of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Community Consortium, Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, and Wisr.

Jessica Grounds – Ms. Grounds is chief executive officer of Corporate Directors Forum and the Corporate Directors Forum Institute. She previously served as co-founder of Mine The Gap, co-founder and executive director of Running Start, executive in residence at San Diego State University, adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and Georgetown University, and founder of Solid Grounds Strategy. She currently serves on Nasdaq's Center for Board Excellence Insights Council and the boards of the Downtown San Diego Partnership and EdUCate! Foundation, and previously served as president of WUFPAC.

Admiral Jan Hamby – Admiral Hamby is a retired rear admiral of the U.S. Navy, where she spent more than 30 years leading space, cyber security, and information technology organizations. Her senior assignments included military deputy and chief of staff to the Department of Defense chief information officer, vice director of command, control, computers and communications for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, director of command control systems at NORAD-USNORTHCOM, and director of knowledge management for Multi-National Force–Iraq. Following her naval career, she served as chancellor of the College of Information and Cyberspace at National Defense University. She currently serves on the boards of Fulton Bank and Ligado Networks, and previously served on the boards of Cubic Corporation, prior to its acquisition by Veritas Capital and Elliott Management, and the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association.Ms.

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.

Dr. Chris Howard – Dr. Howard is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Arizona State University. He has spent the past two decades in academia, previously serving as president of Robert Morris University and Hampden-Sydney College, and vice president for leadership and strategic initiatives at the University of Oklahoma. Earlier in his career, he held corporate leadership roles at General Electric and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Howard currently serves on the boards of Vivmark Residential and Ellucian, and previously served on the National Security Education Board, appointed by President Barack Obama.

Joe Hurd – Mr. Hurd is a partner at Alpha, an AI-governance advisory firm, and an independent non-executive director across public and private boards. He previously served as operating partner at SOSV, director of emerging business at Facebook, senior director at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and a corporate solicitor at Linklaters, following executive roles expanding international operations for AOL, Friendster, and VideoEgg. In addition, Mr. Hurd currently serves on the Council of Lloyd's; Trustpilot Group plc; Hays plc; and the Computer History Museum. He previously served on the boards of SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp I, as lead independent director and audit committee chair, and GoCo Group plc.

Rob Kaplan – Mr. Kaplan is partner and a vice chair of Goldman Sachs. He previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, representing the Eleventh District on the Federal Open Market Committee, and as professor of management practice and senior associate dean at Harvard Business School, following 22 years at Goldman Sachs that culminated in his role as vice chairman with global responsibility for investment banking and investment management. He currently serves as chairman of Project A.L.S., co-chairman of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. He previously chaired Google's Investment Advisory Committee and served as a trustee of the Ford Foundation.

Kate Kuehn – Ms. Kuehn is area vice president of global cyber advocacy at World Wide Technology. She previously served as global head of cyber advocacy at World Wide Technology, chief trust officer for cyber solutions at Aon, U.S. CEO at Senseon, senior vice president at vArmour, business CISO at Wandera, Americas CISO at BT, and global enterprise sales director at Verizon. Ms. Kuehn currently serves on the boards of the National Technology Security Coalition, The Cybermaniacs, Forte Group, and HYAS, and serves on advisory boards for the Cyber Security Hall of Fame, Senseon, rThreat, and Wolf Hill Group.

Noelle London – Ms. London is founder and chief executive officer of Illoominus. She previously served as Accenture Ventures South lead, assistant director of innovation and entrepreneurship at Invest Atlanta, director and campus manager at 1776, emerging markets consultant at National Instruments, and entrepreneurship advisor with the Peace Corps. Ms. London previously served on the board of Startup Atlanta.

Guilherme Loureiro – Mr. Loureiro is executive in residence and executive professor at IMD, as well as an active board member, CEO mentor, and investor. He previously served as regional CEO of Walmart Canada, Chile, Mexico & Central America, president and CEO of Walmart de México y Centroamérica, and CEO of Walmart Brazil, following executive roles at Unilever including head of corporate strategy, senior vice president of finance for the Americas, and global head of mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Loureiro previously served as chairman of the board of Walmart de México y Centroamérica.

Dr. Eldar Maksymov – Dr. Maksymov is professor of accounting at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He previously served as associate professor and assistant professor at Arizona State University, and as a lead audit senior in Deloitte's federal, energy, and financial practices.

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.

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.

Jay Roberts – Mr. Roberts is founding partner and board member at Ventac Studio, partner at Ventac Partners, and managing partner at DigiLife Funds. He previously served as chief executive officer of Vyant Bio, executive chairman of Cingulate Inc., chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Cancer Genetics, Inc., and chief financial officer across InfoLogix, Daou Systems, Clarient, VirMedica, and AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions. Mr. Roberts currently serves on the boards of US Pharmacopeia, Caidya, VeriSkin, Inc., NaviPoint Health, and Fight Cancer Global.

Dr. Joseph Ryoo – Dr. Ryoo is assistant professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He previously served as assistant professor of marketing at the City University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Asish Satpathy – Dr. Satpathy is teaching professor of information systems at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He previously served as associate teaching professor and lecturer at Arizona State University, lecturer at UC Riverside, managing partner at ByteFuture, and founder of Zympi and VidyaBuddy, following 15 years as a research scientist managing detector operations at CERN, SLAC, and KEK.

Todd Sears – Mr. Sears is founder and chief executive officer of Out Leadership. He previously served as Americas head of diversity and inclusion at Credit Suisse, head of strategic initiatives in the office of diversity at Merrill Lynch, and senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, where he founded Wall Street's first LGBTQ+-focused wealth management team. Mr. Sears currently serves on the boards of the Williams Institute at UCLA, The Palette Fund, the Global Equality Fund of the U.S. Department of State, Lambda Legal, and the North Carolina Community Foundation.

Dr. Christine Shropshire – Dr. Shropshire is professor of management and entrepreneurship at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, director of its New Governance Lab, and 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 EY.

Dr. Marsha Vande Berg – Dr. Vande Berg is chief executive officer of MVandeBerg Advisory, a firm providing macro risk and innovation advisory services, and chairs the President’s Leadership Council at The Asia Foundation. She previously served as chief executive officer of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute, a global network of institutional asset owners and managers, following executive roles in national and regional print and broadcast media. She currently serves on the board of Quantum Advisors, an India-focused investment management firm, where she serves on the Audit and Risk Management Committees, and on the advisory board of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy. She previously served on the boards of Tata Capital’s Singapore and London subsidiaries.

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.

Barry Williams – Mr. Williams previously served as managing general partner of WPV Inc., interim president and chief executive officer of the American Management Association, president and chief executive officer of C. N. Flagg Power, and managing principal of Bechtel Investments. He also served as a senior mediator with JAMS and began his career at McKinsey & Company. He currently serves on the Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation community board and previously chaired Management Leadership for Tomorrow. His prior corporate board service includes PG&E, Jacobs Engineering, Navient, CH2M Hill, prior to its acquisition by Jacobs, Simpson Manufacturing, Northwestern Mutual, and Ameron International.

Paul Witkay – Mr. Witkay is founder and chief executive officer of the Alliance of Chief Executives. He previously served as president of VitalAire, director of corporate strategy for Air Liquide, and founder and managing director of Witkay Associates executive search firm, following early roles at Amoco Oil and Dow Chemical.