Effective board placement begins years in advance. Join us for an informed and dynamic conversation about what top organizations are doing to deepen board pipelines and connect leaders of color to compelling opportunities.
The conversation will dive into who is moving the needle forward for executives of color, how they go about doing so, and how new executives can begin to prepare for board service. Hear directly from organizational leaders who are building and connecting network channels that will lead to board placement for executives of color, and how you can begin to prepare for future board service.
Esther Aguilera is President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), which convenes Latino directors and executives at the highest levels of corporate leadership who share the mission: to increase the number of US Latinos on corporate boards. She’s a proven leader who brings a 30-year record of successfully executing strategic business plans to drive organizational effectiveness, growth, and impact. In her current role, she influences some of the most powerful companies by bringing together accomplished executives at the pinnacle of corporate governance to advance diversity in the boardroom.
She has worked in leadership positions with the Nation’s most accomplished leaders from Corporate America, the U.S. Congress, the Executive Branch, and the not-for-profit sector. Drawing upon this unique cross section of experiences, she is a sought-after thought leader who has delivered numerous speeches and presentations for diverse audiences.
She is recognized as a social entrepreneur and turnaround specialist, leading scale-up, innovative change, and managing high-performance teams. In her last role, Esther led the growth of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) for 11 years as its President & CEO, where she spearheaded programs that transformed the life trajectory of hundreds of young Latinos across the country.
Lisa Edwards is President and COO of Diligent Corporation, the largest governance, risk and compliance (“GRC”) SaaS provider serving over 23,000 organizations around the globe. Lisa is responsible for commercial growth and performance. Prior to joining Diligent, she served as EVP of Strategic Business Operations at Salesforce. Lisa also held leadership positions at Visa, Inc. and KnowledgeX, and co-founded Valubond, prior to the company’s acquisition by Knight Capital.
Lisa received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She serves on the Board of Directors of Colgate-Palmolive Company, and is deeply involved in two non-profits where she previously served on the board, Playworks and the Presidio YMCA.
David has led Equilar since its inception to become one of the most trusted names in the corporate governance community. David has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Players in Corporate Governance” by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Disruptor Award by 2020 Women on Boards and Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business.
David speaks publicly on corporate governance and board diversity matters, including events hosted by The Conference Board, Deloitte, EY, HR Policy Association, KPMG, NACD, NASDAQ, NYSE, The Society for Corporate Governance and Stanford’s Directors’ College. Prior to founding Equilar, David was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, a global investment bank that has since merged with Credit Suisse.
David earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors of Science with Honors in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Named by NACD as one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance and the boardroom, Stephen L. Brown is a globally recognized thought leader and trusted advisor to corporate boards and C-suites. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor at KPMG Board Leadership Center.
Formerly, he was CEO of the Society of Corporate Governance and led the corporate governance group at TIAA/Nuveen. Prior to TIAA, Brown practiced securities law at WilmerHale and Skadden and was an associate with Goldman Sachs. He serves on several advisory and nonprofit boards including, John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at Univ. of Delaware, Rutgers Law School Center for Corporate Law & Corporate Governance, CEOs for Corporate Purpose CEO Investor Network, and Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University.
Mr. Brown received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Matt is the founder and CEO of Bolster, a marketplace for on-demand executive and board talent. Matt was previously Chairman & CEO of Return Path, the market leader in email optimization, from 1999, until its sale to Validity. Under Matt’s leadership, Return Path won numerous employer of choice awards including #2 on Fortune Magazine’s “Best Companies to Work for” list. Prior to founding Return Path, Matt founded the Internet division of MovieFone (777-FILM) and had previously worked in venture capital and management consulting. Matt is Founder and Chairman of Path Forward, a non-profit that was spun out of Return Path in 2016 whose mission is to empower women to restart their careers after time spent focused on caregiving.
He is the author of Startup CEO: A field guide to scaling up your business, based on his popular blog on entrepreneurship, StartupCEO.com, Startup CXO: A field guide to scaling up your company’s critical functions and teams, and the forthcoming Startup Boards, all published by Wiley & Sons.
Bolster is the marketplace to connect high-growth companies with trusted and flexible executive talent. Their services engage a diverse community of executives, give them the tools they need to manage their business or consulting practice, help CEOs understand the scalability of their executive teams and boards, and enable investors to seamlessly connect their networks to their portfolio companies. Join the Bolster platform today.
MLT is a national nonprofit that is transforming the leadership pipelines of more than 120 leading organizations by driving breakthrough results for individuals and institutions. MLT equips and emboldens 10,000+ high-achieving women and men from underrepresented communities to realize their full potential, to make a mark, and make a difference. Building on its nearly two decades of experience and deep understanding of how to accelerate a uniquely powerful and vibrant community, MLT launched a new fellowship for senior alumni executives (SELF). The next SELF cohort opens in spring 2022.
Black Corporate Board Readiness (BCBR) program helps prepare Black executives for board service, and connect those candidates to networks to increase the likelihood of placement. The program is open to executives with extensive senior leadership experience or equivalent span of control (e.g., CEO or GM), who are interested in public or private corporate board service. The next session will start on November 18, 2021.