NextGen Directors Program

Our Objective

Accelerate shareholder value creation through the development and proactive placement of the next generation of diverse directors.

NEXTGEN DIRECTORS PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Directors Academy provides corporate governance education and training for future board members from diverse backgrounds who are underrepresented on boards of directors via the NextGen Directors program. The goal is to better prepare senior executives for their first board experience. The program is taught by practitioners with extensive board experience in a wide variety of public and private companies, and University of California, Berkeley faculty who address emerging topics of importance to boards.

The two-day in-person program covers a full range of corporate director duties and responsibilities, the work of the full board and each committee, emerging governance issues and best practices exchange, along with panel discussions with CEOs and other key stakeholders. In addition, participants have the opportunity to refine their personal board value propositions and meet with board leaders and executive recruiters to broaden their network and sharpen their ability to connect with board decision makers. As part of the program, each class member has the opportunity to build one-on-one mentoring relationships with existing board leaders.

*Participant fee of $7,500 includes the cost of the program.
Travel and hotel accommodations are not included in the participant fee.

Please contact Keith Meyer at kmeyer@directorsacademy.com or
202.292.1840 if you have any questions related to our program plans.

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION

+ Applications for the NextGen Directors Program are currently being accepted.  Please contact Keith Meyer for more information.

+ Please confirm you have the support of your board/CEO to participate in the program.

+ The participant fee is $7,500. Please contact Keith Meyer at kmeyer@directorsacademy.com or 202.292.1840 if you have any questions related to our program plans.

 PROGRAM AGENDA

May 2-3, 2024

 

May 2 Location: Boston
8:00 AM  Breakfast   
8:30 AM  Program Overview  and  Introductions 
8:45 AM  Director Duties, Responsibilities and Rights
9:30 AM  Board Committees – Their Work and Impact
Audit / Risk / Finance Committees
10:30 AM  Break  
10:45 AM  Human Resources and Compensation Committee 
11:45 PM  Governance and Nominating Committee
12:45 PM  Lunch
1:30 PM  Board Case with Break Outs
3:00 PM  Break  
5:30 PM  Wrap up
6:00 PM  Reception/Dinner

 

May 3 Location: Boston
8:00 AM  Breakfast
8:30 AM  Building an Effective CEO / Board Relationship 
9:30 AM  Building Effective Board / Investor Relationships
10:30 AM  Break
10:45 AM  Director Selection Process – Insider’s Perspective
11:45 AM  Lunch  
12:15 PM  One-on-One Meetings – Faculty and Board Search Firms
2:00 PM  Wrap up

PROGRAM FACULTY

Dr. Homa Bahrami – Dr. Bahrami is a senior lecturer at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, a faculty director at the Haas Center for Executive Education, and has served on the board of the Haas Center for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Bahrami has served on the board of directors of three public technology companies, including Fabrinet, where she is the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Chair and Compensation Committee Chair. She is active in executive education and executive development in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Sandra Beach Lin – Ms. Lin served as president and chief executive officer of Calisolar, Inc., a solar silicon company, until her retirement. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Celanese Corporation, Avery Dennison and Alcoa. Ms. Lin currently serves on the boards of American Electric Power (AEP), Avient, Interface Biologics, and Trinseo and is the co-chair of Paradigm for Parity and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Nominating and Governance Committee Chair Advisory Council. She previously served as board chair of WESCO.

Ryan Cotton – Mr. Cotton joined Bain Capital Private Equity in 2003 and is currently managing director and global head of the consumer/retail vertical. Previously, he served as a consultant at Bain & Company and worked in baseball operations at the Boston Red Sox.

Christine Heckart – Ms. Heckart is the founder and chief executive officer of Xapa World, a mobile app that helps people of all ages learn critical soft skills. Previously, she was chief executive officer of Scalyr (purchased by SentinelOne in February 2021), senior vice president and marketing leader at Cisco. Prior to that she was chief marketing officer of Brocade, NetApp and Juniper Networks, executive vice president of strategy, marketing, people, and IT at ServiceSource, 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. Ms. Heckart is also a Directors Academy board member.

Wayne Hewett – Mr. Hewett is chairman of Cambrex Corporation and formerly chairman of DiversiTech Corporation and chief executive officer of Klockner Pentaplast Group. He previously served as chief executive officer of Arysta LifeScience Corporation prior to the sale of the company to Platform Specialty Products Corporation. Mr. Hewett’s early career included over 20 years with General Electric where he was chief executive officer of GE Advance Materials; president of GE Plastics Pacific and Vice President, Supply Chain and Operations and a member of the company’s Corporate Executive Council. In addition to Cambrex, Mr. Hewett currently serves on the boards of Home Depot, Lytx, UPS and Wells Fargo.

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. Ms. Hiles is also a Directors Academy board member.

Susan Levine – Ms. Levine is a partner 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 board of TI Fluid Systems and previously on the board of Diversey. Ms. Levine is also a Directors Academy board member.

Phil Loughlin – Mr. Loughlin is a partner and the global head of the Financial and Business Services Vertical at Bain Capital. He also is a member of the Consumer/Retail Vertical. Prior to joining Bain Capital Private Equity, Mr. Loughlin was a consultant at Bain & Company. He also served in operating roles at Eagle Snacks, Inc. and Norton Company.

Bob Maricich – Mr. Maricich is the chairman and chief executive officer of Andmore (formerly International Market Centers). In 2011, he was instrumental in envisioning and developing the strategy for the creation of the company with the founding sponsors, Bain Capital and Oaktree Capital Management. Mr. Maricich successfully raised over $1 billion to purchase the International Home Furnishings Center, ShowPlace properties, and Market Square properties, merging them with World Market Center Las Vegas to form the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the furnishing, home décor, and gift industries. Prior to IMC, Mr. Maricich served as CEO of Century Furniture Industries, and president and CEO of American Drew Furniture and American of Martinsville, at the time the largest manufacturer of furniture for the hospitality industry.

Jonathan Mariner – Mr. Mariner served as chief financial officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2002 to 2014 and then chief investment officer until 2016. Following his retirement from MLB, he launched a new app, TaxDay, that tracks the time you spend working or living in different states to facilitate accurate residency reporting when individuals file their tax forms. He also served as chief administrative officer and chief people officer of Enjoy Technology from 2020-22. Mr. Mariner currently serves on the boards of Five9, Overtime, Rocket and Tyson Foods.

Kim McCaslin – Ms. McCaslin is a partner and head of the North America Private Equity Portfolio Group at Bain Capital Private Equity and has served on a number of portfolio company boards. Prior to joining Bain Capital, she served as vice president, M&A and corporate development at Capital One Financial. Ms. McCaslin was also a principal at Mercer Management Consulting, where she advised companies across a variety of industries. She began her career at Accenture, focusing on business process redesign and financial systems development projects.

Maria Fernanda Mejia – Ms. Mejía is the former chief executive officer of Newell Brands’ international business. Prior to Newell Brands, she served as senior vice president of The Kellogg Company and president of Kellogg Latin America. Before joining Kellogg, she spent 23 years with Colgate-Palmolive in a number of general management and marketing roles, including general manager of Global Personal Care, the Europe region and Greater China. Ms. Mejía currently serves on the board of Avery Dennison and Pepco Group, and was previously a board member of Bunzl, Grocery Outlet and the International Consolidated Airline Group.

Keith Meyer – Mr. Meyer is the co-founder and president of the Directors Academy, and also the global head of the CEO & Board Practice at Allegis Partners. 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.

Mike Millegan – Mr. Millegan served as president of Verizon Global Wholesale group, a business unit of Verizon Communications, where he focused on global carrier, wireless and cable company network requirements from 2007 until his retirement in 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Millegan was senior vice president/market president for Verizon’s Midwest Operations and senior vice president Enterprise/Wholesale business unit. Mr. Millegan also led the Logistics/Supply Chain business unit as the senior vice president from 2000 to 2004. Mr. Millegan is a member of the Axis Capital Holdings and Portland General Electric boards, previously served on the Wireless Telecom board, and is a NextGen Directors program alumnus.

Heather Redman – Ms. Redman is co-founder & managing partner at Flying Fish Partners, a venture firm investing in artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics companies. Her prior career included C-suite roles in product, strategy and finance at Getty Images, Summit Power, Atom Films, and Indix Corporation. She currently serves on the boards of PPL Corporation (NYSE), Coldstream Holdings Inc., and the Institute for Systems Biology and as a Regent of Washington State University.

Florin Rotar – Mr. Rotar is chief AI officer at Avanade, a joint-venture between Accenture and Microsoft that provides digital, cloud and advisory services, and industry solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem. Mr. Rotar previously served as chief technology officer at Avanade.

Merline Saintil – Merline Saintil is a software engineer turned Silicon Valley COO and investor. She has taken six companies through their IPOs and is an active investor in dozens of companies that are shaping the future of work, e-commerce and deep technology. Her Fortune 500 board service includes TD Synnex and high-growth companies including GitLab, Symbotic, and Rocket Lab, where she is the lead independent director. Merline is passionate about empowering future generations and co-founded Black Women on Boards.

Lynn Tetrault – Ms. Tetrault is board chair of NeoGenomics Laboratories and non-executive director at Acelyrin and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Tetrault served as executive vice president of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at AstraZeneca PLC from 2007-2014 and held a variety of other executive roles during her 22-year tenure with the company. She began her career in private law practice in Boston. Ms. Tetrault is a Fellow and Advisory Board Member of the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership. She serves on the board of directors of Paradigm for Parity, a non-profit organization focused on closing the gender parity gap in corporate leadership. Ms. Tetrault is also the founder of Anahata Leadership, a firm focused on supporting the empowerment and development of women leaders.

James D. White – 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, Cava Group, and Simply Good Foods. He is the 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.

Felicia Williams – Ms. Williams recently completed three years of service as the Macy’s fellow for the CEO Action for Racial Equity, the first business-led coalition of its kind with a commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace through public policy. Previously, she held financial leadership roles at Macy’s including interim chief financial officer; executive vice president, controller and enterprise risk officer; and senior vice president, treasury and risk management. She had prior experience in financial leadership roles at the Coca-Cola Company. Ms. Williams currently serves on the boards of Paycom and Anywhere Real Estate (formerly Realogy) and she is the Audit Committee Chair for both boards. She was also the Audit Committee Chair for Meridian Bioscience prior to the sale of the company in 2023.

Paul Williams – Mr. Williams currently serves on the boards of Air Transport Services Group, where he is the Nominating & Governance Committee Chair; Public Storage; and a group of American Funds boards (part of Capital Group). Previously, Mr. Williams was member of the Romeo Power and Compass and 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.

NEXTGEN PROGRAM TEAM

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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