Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN (Ret.)

Managing Director, Gefinor Ventures and Limestone Capital Advisors

Admiral Inman graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1950, and from the National War College in 1972.  He became an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 1987.  He was appointed as a tenured professor holding the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy in August 2001.  He served as Interim Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs from 1 January to 31 December 2005 and again from January 2009 to March 2010.

Admiral Inman served in the U.S. Navy from November 1951 to July 1982, when he retired with the permanent rank of Admiral.  While on active duty he served as Director of the National Security Agency and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.  After retirement from the Navy, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) in Austin, Texas for four years and Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westmark Systems, Inc., a privately owned electronics industry holding company for three years.  Admiral Inman also served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 1987 through 1990.

Admiral Inman’s primary activity since 1990 has been investing in start-up technology companies, where he is a Managing Director of Gefinor Ventures and of Limestone Capital Advisors.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of several privately held companies.  He serves as a Trustee of the American Assembly and the California Institute of Technology.  He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Anne Eiting Klamar, MD

Chairperson, Midmark Corporation

Dr. Anne Eiting Klamar is the chairperson of Midmark Corporation. She joined Midmark in 2000 as president and was appointed to CEO in 2003, the fourth generation of the Eiting family to hold a leadership position at the company. She devotes a high quotient of her time to corporate strategy, innovation and driving the company’s growth initiatives in domestic and international markets.

Klamar began her career practicing medicine at Family Practice Physicians in Urbana, OH, in 1993 and served as director of the Well Child Clinic. She was elected to Midmark’s board of directors in 1993, and held the position of secretary of the board.

A member of the Young Presidents Organization, Klamar serves on several boards, including the HIDA Educational Foundation, the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation, Professional Women in Healthcare and the Dayton, OH Development Coalition. She recently became an active member of the World Economic Forum, an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

In 2009, Klamar participated in the installation of a dental school in the Republic of Tanzania, facilitated by Miracle Corners of the World. She continues to support global philanthropy in developing countries.

Klamar received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan and graduated with her doctoral degree from the Ohio State University. She is also a graduate of the Owner/President Management program at the Harvard Business School.

Grant Lundberg

​CEO, Lundberg Family Farms

Grant Lundberg is chief executive officer of Lundberg Family Farms, the nation’s leading producer of organic and eco-farmed rice and rice products. He is a member of the third generation of the Lundberg family, which has owned and operated the rice farming and processing business in California’s Sacramento Valley since it was founded by his grandparents in 1937.

Lundberg Family Farms practices the principles of organic and sustainable farming. They also use the concepts of renewable energy, waste diversion, and energy conservation in their production facilities.

Grant served as one of founding directors of the Non-GMO Project from 2007 to 2013. The company labels their products with the Non GMO verified seal. He was also co-chair of the California Right to Know Campaign, which supported California Proposition 37, the initiative to require the labeling of foods that contain GE ingredients.

Grant serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Frontier Natural Products Cooperative. Frontier produces organic and natural spices and essential oils. Grant has been on this board of directors since 2011.

Grant Lundberg is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Management, with a concentration in Farm Management. He earned a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University, and joined the family business in 1987. In 1998 he was appointed by the directors as the CEO.

Grant and Susie Lundberg reside in Durham, California. They have two adult kids.

Peter Mondavi, Jr.

Co-Proprietor, Charles Krug Winery

Eileen C. McDonnell

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Penn Mutual

Eileen C. McDonnell has been chairman and chief executive officer of Penn Mutual since July 2013. She was appointed chief executive officer in 2011 and president in 2010, after serving as chief marketing officer since 2008.

Before joining Penn Mutual, she was president of New England Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of MetLife, and senior vice president of the Guardian Life Insurance Company. Ms. McDonnell is a former member of the Master of Science in Management faculty at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., where she held the newly endowed chair for Women and Financial Services and was author of “Marketing Financial Services to Women.”

Ms. McDonnell serves on the Board of Managers of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Penn Mutual. In 2013, Ms. McDonnell was named to the board of Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS) and is a member of the Audit Committee. She also is a member of the Executive Committees of the Board of the American Council of Life Insurers and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania.

A graduate of Molloy College, Rockville Centre, N.Y., Ms. McDonnell majored in mathematics and computer science, and received an honorary doctor of laws (LL.D.) degree in 2011. She earned her MBA in finance and investments from Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y. and was recognized in 2013 for ‘Outstanding Service” to the university.

Jim McHugh

€‹Director, Southworth International Group Inc. and Kennebec Technologies Inc.

Jim McHugh is the Founder & CEO of McHugh & Co., a strategy and performance improvement consulting firm. Jim specializes in ‘fixing Stuck companies’. He created the 9Stucks® business diagnostic tool that identifies nine distinct yet interrelated business challenges that cause a company to underperform. His practical approach to working with the leadership of these Stuck companies has produced substantial improvements in strategic focus and alignment, operating performance, organizational clarity, profitability, cash flow, and shareholder value. Jim has worked extensively with Boards, investors, owners, CEOs and senior leadership teams of management-owned, family-owned, or private equity backed businesses in diverse industries: manufacturing, distribution, technology, business/professional services, and retail.  In addition to his work as a CEO advisor and consultant, Jim has broad, senior, general management experience in middle market and emerging growth companies as an operating executive (CEO and CFO) and a member of multiple Boards of Directors. His operating roles include Chairman and CEO of Chi-Vit Corporation and President of Strategies, Inc., an information technology consulting firm. He co-founded (2005) and leads the Maine Board Forum CEO Peer Group. Jim’s current board positions include Southworth International Group, Inc. and Kennebec Technologies, Inc. In the past Jim has served on the boards of Beckwood Services, Inc., Climax Manufacturing Company, The RETEC Group, Inc., Shield Pack, Inc., Chi-Vit, Inc., Questech Metals, Inc., and the Advisory Boards of Seaman Paper Co., Inc.  and Animation Technologies, Inc. He is a former Director of the Boston Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and Founder of The Concord Vine, a monthly breakfast group of operating executives, private investors, corporate development professionals, and attorneys. He writes regularly on his blog at www.9Stucks.com and for numerous business publications. Jim’s passions outside of work include family life (married 40 years with two daughters), running, reading, writing and boating. He graduated with an AB in Economics from Bowdoin College and an MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He earned his CPA while employed with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Barbara Hackman Franklin

Director, Aetna Inc.; Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Norman R. Augustine

Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.

Howard Brod Brownstein

€‹President, Brownstein Corporation; Director, P&F Industries, PICO Holdings, Inc.

Howard Brod Brownstein is President of Brownstein Corporation, which obtains financing and buyers for companies large and small, and provides turnaround management and advisory services to companies and their stakeholders, as well as fiduciary services, litigation consulting, and investigations. Mr. Brownstein regularly serves as an independent board member, and has chaired board Audit, Nominating and Strategic Planning/Risk Assessment committees. He currently serves on the board of P&F Industries (NasdaqGM: PFIN), a manufacturer and distributor of air-powered tools and hardware. Mr. Brownstein’s board experience spans a broad range of domestic and international industries, including basic metals production, manufacturing, apparel design and retailing, banking and financial services, as well as nonprofit organizations. Such positions have included “sensitive situations” involving, e.g., governance issues and restructuring. He previously served as sole board member of Betsey Johnson LLC, a privately-held designer and retailer of women’s apparel, on the board of Special Metals Corporation, a $1 billion nickel alloy producer, where he also chaired the Audit Committee, and on the board and Audit Committee of Magnatrax Corporation, a $500 million manufacturer of metal buildings. He also served as Board Chair of the National Philanthropic Trust, among the fastest-growing charities and largest grant-making institutions nationally (over $1 billion to date), and the largest independent provider of donor-advised funds. Mr. Brownstein’s additional board experience includes a regional bank, a retail department store, and nonprofit Boards including board chair of a United Way agency. Previously, Mr. Brownstein was Managing Director of Enprotech Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITOCHU (formerly C. Itoh), a Japanese trading company, then one of the world’s largest companies. Mr. Brownstein served in several senior executive and board positions, including CEO and COO of The Stone Group, a leading multinational manufacturer of comfort and safety equipment for the passenger rail industry with operations in the United States, Spain and England. Prior to becoming a turnaround management consultant, Mr. Brownstein founded a metals trading firm. Mr. Brownstein is a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP). He has served on the boards of the Turnaround Management Association, the Commercial Finance Association, and the American Bankruptcy Institute, as well as board committees and program leadership, and received TMA’s “Outstanding Individual Contribution” award in 2007. He has published over seventy articles, books and chapters, and serves as a contributing editor to two publications. He is an annual guest-lecturer at Harvard Business School, Wharton, NYU, Villanova, and Northeastern, as well as at professional and educational programs. Howard Brownstein is a graduate of Harvard University, where he obtained J.D. and M.B.A. degrees, and of the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained B.S. and B.A. degrees from the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Mary Tanner

​Senior Managing Director, Evolution Life Science Partners

Mary Tanner is Senior Managing Director of EVOLUTION Life Sciences Partners (ELSP). She is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Life Sciences Partners, LLC, a financial advisory firm. At Life Sciences Partners, Tanner specialized in healthcare investment and strategic advisory work. Before joining ELSP, Mary Tanner was Senior Managing Director of both Burrill & Company and Burrill Securities. She is a former Senior Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Peter. J. Solomon Company.

At Lehman Brothers, with Frederick Frank, she headed a global healthcare investment banking franchise for over twenty years. Tanner has devoted more than 25 years to the global healthcare and biotechnology industry. Her expertise includes the ethical pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare services, cosmetics and consumer medicines, as well as green technologies in chemicals.

In addition to her well known work with large companies, she specializes in domestic and cross-border transactions between large and small companies, including corporate partnering and minority investments and cross-border mergers. Tanner has directed over 500 mergers and acquisitions, over 130 initial public offerings and hundreds of financings. Tanner’s clients have included Pfizer in its $60 billion acquisition of Pharmacia, Amgen in its $16 billion acquisition of Immunex, Rhône-Poulenc in its $1.8 billion acquisition of Rorer, followed by representing Rhône-Poulenc Rorer in its £ 1.8 billion acquisition of U.K. company Fisons, Marion Merrell Dow in its $7.1 billion acquisition by Hoechst BASF/BASF Pharma, in its £ 840 million acquisition of U.K. Boots Pharmaceuticals.

Tanner received a B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University. Ms. Tanner is a member of the Board of Directors of Lineagen, Inc., a molecular diagnostic company, and Genticel , S.A., an immuno oncology company. She serves on the Dean’s Council of the Yale Medical School and the Yale School of Organization and Management Advisory Board. Ms. Tanner has been honored for her contributions to biotechnology with numerous awards, including the highest award of Springboard Enterprises, the Oracle, for professional accomplishment and mentoring of women entrepreneurs

Ernest M. (Bud) Miller, Jr.

​Director, A. Duda & Sons, DKH, Incorporated, D&K Insurance Agency, ECI, Inc.

Bud Miller has over 35 years of experience in real estate, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and finance. He has been a senior officer and/or board member of companies ranging in size from Fortune 100 to entrepreneurial start-ups and is, or has served, on the boards of a number of family-owned or private businesses.

Throughout his career Bud has assisted or led efforts that enabled companies to capitalize on opportunities or to solve complex and challenging problems by designing and implementing action plans based on a realistic assessment of a company’s current situation and economic environment, its strengths, weaknesses, and competitive position, and the needs of investors and lenders. His experiences have included involvement in a number of corporate turnarounds, including the Penn Central Corporation (the then largest bankruptcy in US history), leading over 50 corporate and real estate acquisitions, raising in excess of $1.5 billion in debt and over $750 million in public equity. Bud also was the CEO of a major real estate development company with sales in excess of $1.0 billion. In addition, Bud has been the dean of a business school (at Clayton State University) where he assembled an outstanding team of faculty and staff that enabled the school to become one of the top business schools in the southeast. Bud also was on the Board of Trustees of the University’s Foundation and the Board of the Foundation’s Real Estate LLC. As one of the LLC’s Managers, he helped raise over $40 million in a public/private bond issue that was used to fund the design and construction of a dormitory and a student activity center.

Early in his career Bud worked for the Sperry & Hutchinson Company and helped that company expand into the banking, retail, home furnishings, and financial services by leading 10 acquisitions with a total cost of over $200 million. He then joined the Penn Central Corporation as part of a small team that radically restructured the company so that it could successfully emerge from bankruptcy. Bud’s responsibilities included the identification and sale of non-essential assets, acquisitions to enhance core assets, development of a new strategic plan, and leading the successful defense of a hostile takeover.

In 1980 Bud joined Arvida Company where during a 15 year period he rose from CFO, to COO, and then CEO. During this period Arvida became one of the largest and most successful community developers in the southeast and southwest with a reputation for quality and integrity. Arvida also successfully transitioned through several changes in ownership including a LBO with the Bass Brothers, ownership by Disney, and acquisition by JMB Realty and subsequent sale of public limited partnership interests.

Bud also was a co-founder and Chairman of Wilson Miller Capital, a privately held company that specialized in acquiring troubled real estate assets, creating value by solving the problems, and realizing the higher value through sales. In addition, Wilson Miller worked with small and medium sized companies and helped them grow by providing “hands on” advice in developing and implementing strategic plans, restructing balance sheets, acquisitions, management development, and succession planning.

Bud has served on a number of boards of directors of corporations as well as not-for-profits and was the first non-family chairman of a 100+ year old family business. He currently is on the boards of four family businesses and advises other companies on how to navigate change successfully. Bud graduated from Tufts University, received a MBA from Harvard University, and was an infantry Captain in the United States Marines Corps.

Ken Baker

CEO, NewAge Industries

Ken Baker is the CEO of NewAge Industries, a plastic and rubber tubing and hose manufacturer and RFID tag solutions provider located in Southampton, Pennsylvania. The company originated in 1954 and Ken joined in 1985 as the second generation of his family to carry on its successes.  NewAge provides solutions to many Fortune 500 companies and services customers worldwide.

Ken has over 25 years of experience in the tubing and hose industry. He is a majority owner of Colex International, NewAge’s sister plant in Leicestershire, England. In 2001, Ken led NewAge in the launch of AdvantaPure, the company’s high purity tubing and hose division, and has since worked to develop several innovative Single Use disposable solutions. He is a co-inventor on five patents in RFID tagging technology for the company’s Verigenics™ RFID division and is a co-founder in the RFID in Healthcare Consortium. Ken is also a board member of the BPSA Bio-Process System Alliance, an industry trade organization. 

In 2006, Ken established the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and its employees now own 40% of the company.  He is a founding member and Chairman of Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PCEO), a new organization designed to raise awareness and increase the number of employee owned companies in Pennsylvania. In addition, Ken spends time speaking about ESOPs to other CEOs at local and national events. 

Ken invites area high school students to intern at NewAge Industries each summer and is on the Foundation board of Montgomery County Community College. Ken is also a generous contributor to local and national charities.

Daniel Korschun

Associate Professor of Marketing and fellow, Center for Corporate Governance, Drexel University

Daniel Korschun is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Drexel University and a fellow of the Center for Corporate Governance at Drexel. Dr. Korschun works with companies to develop innovative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices that generate value for both the company and society. Some of these innovative practices are profiled in his first book, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Business and Social Value (co-authored with C.B. Bhattacharya and Sankar Sen, Cambridge University Press).

His work also appears in leading academic journals such the Journal of Marketing, Academy of Management Review, MIT-Sloan Management Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Business Ethics. His latest book, We Are Market Basket (co-authored with Grant Welker, AMACOM), tells the true story of a grassroots movement to reinstate a beloved CEO and save a $4.5 billion supermarket chain.

Mary E. Landry

Director of The United Services Automobile Association; Rear Admiral (Ret), United States Coast Guard

Challis Lowe

€‹Director, Seaway Bank & Trust

Challis is a top human resources executive and seasoned corporate board director with 20 plus years of “C” suite experience within global public companies, and with the nation’s largest tax-exempt health care system. She serv es on the board of Seaway Bank & Trust, where she chairs the compensation committee and is a member of the executive committee of the board. She is a highly skilled business partner with expertise in the areas of strategy development, oversight, and execution, corporate governance as both a corporate board director and as a company executive, Board of Director recruiting, CEO succession and planning, CEO transitions, executive compensation strategies, M&A due diligence and integration, CD&A, and proxy development. Challis provides strategic counsel to the CEOs and Boards she has served and has established herself as a partner leading cultural, operational, and organizational change. She has developed and provides oversight on key corporate structures and processes that facilitate turnaround, transformation, improved business operations, and revenue growth. Earlier in her career, Challis was featured in The Wall Street Journal as one of only two African-American female Named Executive Officers (NEOs) of a Fortune 500 corporation. For the past decade, Challis has worked for multibillion dollar organizations where she has been a vital executive team member for companies experiencing either rapid growth where her expertise in governance, formalized strategies, and best practices has been critical to ongoing growth and returns or in leading national and global turnaround initiatives that have repositioned these organizations to achieve improved performance and returns for shareholders. During this same time, and while serving on corporate boards, she and her fellow directors recommended and oversaw several significant events, including the development and execution of a CEO succession plan, the negotiation of CEO compensation, and the successful sale of a $14B US bank to an international, Canadian-based diversified financial services firm. Most recently, Challis retired from Ascension Health as Senior Vice President, Organizational Development and Human Resources. Ascension Health is a $23B health system with more than 118 thousand associates serving in more than 500 locations across 21 states. She was responsible for all human resources functions and served as the management liaison to the Executive Compensation Committee and the Pension Committee of the Board of Directors.

Dennis Chookaszian

Retired Chairman and CEO, CNA Insurance Companies

Larry Siff

CEO, Neptune Advisors; Director, Kayem Foods Inc., Mason Companies Inc.

Julia H. Klein

 

Chairwoman and CEO, C.H. Briggs Co.

 

Julia H. Klein is Chairwoman and CEO of C.H. Briggs Co., a value-added distributor of specialty building products headquartered in Reading, PA. Past and current Board service includes C.H. Briggs, Hedwin Corporation, Arbill Safety Supply, Reading Health System, Reading Physicians Network, Berks County Community Foundation, and the National Association of Wholesalers. She is a frequent speaker on technology, governance, entrepreneurship, and women’s issues, has a particular interest in closely held and family enterprises.

Julia Klein is a Chairwoman & CEO, Board Director, and leader in the building materials distribution industry. As C.E.O. and Chairwoman of C.H. Briggs Company, she transformed a local business into a super-regional, professionally managed platform company.

With expertise in strategy, governance, mergers and acquisitions, technology and supply chain solutions, and the residential and commercial construction industries, Ms. Klein has led C.H. Briggs for over 20 years. The Company is one of the nation’s largest independently owned distributors of specialty building materials. Customers include manufacturers, architects and designers of specialty interior products. Ms. Klein has successfully integrated 6 acquisitions expanding the C.H. Briggs footprint throughout the Middle Atlantic and Southeast.

Strategic use of new technology has established the company’s reputation as an innovator and Ms. Klein’s reputation as a thought leader in the industry. Over the last 20 years Briggs has achieved top quartile performance in its segment, and is among the nation’s top 100 women-owned businesses.

She has served as C.E.O. and Chairwoman of C.H. Briggs since 2007. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of Hedwin Corporation in Baltimore, Reading Physician Partners, the Reading Health System, Springboard Enterprises, Arzu Studio Hope, the Advisory Board of Modern Distribution Management, and is Co-Chair of the Committee of 200 Northeast Region. Most recently, Ms. Klein was elected to The College of Wooster’s Board of Trustees. She is a former member of the Advisory Boards of Quaker Maid Meats, Inc. and Arbill Industries, Inc.

She and C.H. Briggs have received numerous industry and community awards. Ms. Klein was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards© in Greater Philadelphia, and was honored with the Junior Achievement Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame Award, the Athena Award, and as a Distinguished Girl Scout Alumna by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania. She also received the SmartCEO magazine Brava Award and Best Managed Companies in Philadelphia.

Ms. Klein is actively involved in numerous professional organizations. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the NAW (National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors) Institute for Distribution Excellence, the Board of Directors of the North American Building Materials Distribution Association, and the Cabinet Industry Distribution Association, which she helped establish. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors, World Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and a former member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO); she is also a member of the Committee of 200, an international organization of women entrepreneurs, executives, and board members.

She was a member of the Board of the Berks County Community Foundation for 11 years, served as Chairwoman and continues as a member of its Governance Committee. Ms. Klein served on the Governance Committee of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania and was a founding member of BEP.

She earned a M.A. in Public Policy as an Urban Scholars Fellow at the University of Chicago and a B.A. from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Ms. Klein and her husband have a college-aged son and live in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Steven R. Walker

General Counsel & Managing Director, Board Advisory Services, National Association of Corporate Directors; Director, Director, Objective Interface Systems, ContractRoom

Steven R. Walker has led the legal affairs and Board Advisory Services of the National Association of Corporate Directors since 2009 where he currently serves as the General Counsel and Director of the Board Advisory Services. In his Board Advisory Services role, Mr. Walker provides counsel to board leaders and C-suite executives on a wide range of strategic governance matters. He is a frequent public speaker on the topic of board governance, performance, and composition and has been designated a Board Leadership and Governance Fellow by NACD.  Prior to joining NACD, Mr. Walker has served as general counsel and senior executive to public and private entities ranging from private equity backed start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations in a variety of sectors, including managed healthcare, healthcare delivery, pharmaceuticals, life and health insurance, banking, securities, finance, technology, funeral and cemetery, and software.  Mr. Walker has also served in the government sector as an Attorney-Advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance during the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley. He was also a Senior Attorney with the State of Florida Division of Banking, Finance, Securities and Investor Protection.  Mr. Walker is the past Co-Chair of the Securities and Governance Forum of the Association of Corporate Counsel Washington Metro Chapter. The breadth of his board service also includes the Advisory Board of ContractRoom, Orange Bowl Committee, Association of Corporate Counsel-MI Chapter, American Cancer Society-Tampa, and Friends of the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts-Miami.  Mr. Walker is an alumnus of Florida State University where he earned his BS and JD degrees. He also completed post graduate studies at Oxford University and Emory University. 

Pascal Levensohn

Director, C. Mondavi & Family, Inc.; Chairman, ShotSpotter Inc., Mixed Dimensions 3D, Cure Network Dolby Acceleration Partners LLC

Jayne Millard

CEO, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Jayne Millard is CEO of Turtle & Hughes, Inc., one of the nation’s largest independent electrical and industrial distributors. This fourth generation family business was co-founded by Ms. Millard’s great grandfather in 1923. With a long history of management by women—beginning with Ms. Millard’s great grandmother—it is one of the nation’s top 50 women-owned businesses. A graduate of the Eugene Lang School of the Arts, Ms. Millard also received an M.B.A. from Dominican University of California. She is a board member of The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance; and member of the Zenith Group and Committee of 200. Ms. Millard received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in New Jersey.

Gerry Czarnecki

Director, MAM Software Group, Inc., Jack Cooper Enterprises

Gerry Czarnecki is the Senior Managing Director & Executive Producer of Ventureland Productions, LLC, fullservice media and marketing organization concentrating on Brandintegrated TV. Gerry is also Chairman & CEO of The Deltennium Group, Inc., a consulting practice helping individuals and organizations with effective strategic marketing, managerial leadership and board governance. Prior to forming The Deltennium Group, Mr. Czarnecki was Chairman and Founder of Snowden Hill, a boutique investment bank focused investments in the retail industry. As an entrepreneur, he has founded and operated several consumer marketing organizations, and continues to this day with investments in retail marketing. Mr.Czarnecki held a number of executive positions in the banking and financial services including General Manager of the 4th largest bank Trust Department in the country; CFO of the 8th largest bank holding company; the CEO of a large, publicly held bank and another large privately held bank owned by an investor group headed by former Secretary of the Treasury, William Simon. In 1993 Mr.Czarnecki was part of the team recruited by Louis Gerstner to begin the turn around of IBM Corporation. Serving as an IBM Senior Vice President, Mr. Czarnecki had worldwide responsibility for customer focused quality initiatives, human resources, real estate services, quality programs, non-­-manufacturing procurement, aviation and a wide range of other staff functions. Later he was President of UNC, Inc., NYSE aviation company, which manufactured air craft engine parts, repaired and overhauled aircraft engines and accessory components and provided significant outsourcing services to the US military. In addition to his leadership responsibilities, Mr. Czarnecki is an author who has written 6 books,the last was published in April, 2013. Mr.Czarnecki holds a B.S. in Economics from Temple University, an M.A. in Economics from Michigan State University, is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Doctor of Humane Letters from National University. He is also a member of the board of directors of several companies: MAM Software Group, Inc, where he is the Chairman of the Board, and Jack Cooper Enterprises, where he chairs the Audit Committee. He is also the founder and Chairman of The National Leadership Institute, not-for-profit organization committed to expanding research and development of leadingedge ideas in marketing, strategy and customer focused organizational development. This organizational so provides training in those techniques, in large measure to small-to-medium sized business and other not-for-profit entities. He is also: a member of the Board of Trustees of National University, where he is former Chairman; Chairman of the National Association of Corporate Directors-Florida Chapter, advisory board member for Private Capital, Inc.; the Board of Governors of Junior Achievement Worldwide, Inc.

Kathryn Swintek

Director, Turtle & Hughes, Open Road Integrated Media, Mela Sciences

Kathryn Swintek, Managing Partner of Golden Seeds Fund 2 LP, is also the Co-Head of the Consumer Group for Golden Seeds. She joined Golden Seeds in 2010 and has built stakes in 10 early stage companies over a 20+ year period. Prior to Golden Seeds, Kathryn was a senior executive in the banking industry, heading Structured Finance, North American Leveraged Finance and launching and heading Global High Yield at BNP Paribas where she completed over 200 transactions in a variety of sectors including the consumer sector.  She also served as the Head of Acquisition Finance at BNY Mellon. Active in women’s leadership circles, Kathryn served as Chair of C200, the leading global businesswomen’s organization and as Membership Chair of The Women’s Forum of New York. She is a Director of Open Road Integrated Media, Turtle & Hughes, and Mela Sciences. She holds a BA from the College of Mt St Vincent and an MBA from New York University.  

Dennis Cagan

€‹Director, Acorn Technologies, HeartStories, Prista Corp, Pratter, Inc.

Dennis Cagan is a recognized authority in the high-technology industry. He is a respected CEO, entrepreneur, professional board member, venture investor, mentor, consultant, and Shadow CEO™. His career spans 47 years of founding and leading a wide variety of information technology, systems, software, services, distribution, and Internet firms. Dennis has been on 52 corporate boards. He has authored a number of articles on the dynamics of private and early-stage company boards of directors, many of which have been featured in Directors & Boards. He has done business in dozens of countries and has an impressive track record of both start-up and turnaround situations. He has founded over a dozen enterprises, and has participated in taking several public. Since 1981 Dennis has delivered his services through his consulting firm Caganco Inc. As a serial interim CEO, in 2011 Dennis served as president, CEO and managing member of a cybersecurity software company; in 2009-2010 as president and CEO of a software-as-a-service financial services firm; in 2006-2008 as CEO and president of a public distance learning company; and from 2000 to present as founder, chairman and CEO of a private technology incubator and venture investment firm. Between 1983-1995 Dennis provided consulting services to numerous technology companies, including AT&T, IBM, General Electric, and Xerox, and other smaller firms. In 1979 he had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the first COMDEX Show in Las Vegas. In 2011 he was inducted into the IT Hall of Fame - Channel Wing, administered by CompTIA. In 2013 he was selected by NACD and the Dallas Business Journal as one of 12 Outstanding Directors in North Texas. Dennis currently serves on five corporate boards: Copper Mobile, Acorn Technologies, Truston, HeartStories and Tavros Technology. He served in the USMC and is active in his church. He lives with his wife Angelia in Carrollton, TX, with their youngest of four daughters.

Stephanie Brun de Pontet, PhD

Senior Consultant, The Family Business Consulting Group

Jeffry Powell

Executive Vice President, Sales, Diligent Board Member Services Inc.

Jeffry Powell serves as Diligent Board Member Services’ EVP of sales, where he is responsible for the development and execution of client acquisition strategies throughout the Americas. Throughout his five years with Diligent, he has advised thousands of companies across industries, including banking, energy, higher education and health care on how secure, electronic access to board materials can improve organizational effectiveness and governance. In addition to more than 15 years of sales experience, Jeffry also worked for 12 years as a founder, board member and officer of a commercial translation agency. This deep familiarity with both the sales and executive management of growing organizations has enabled him to become expert in critical governance issues. He frequently contributes thought leadership and appears at both governance-related and vertical market events to discuss board portal adoption and implementation best practices. He is also a member of both the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries.

Mark Rogers

Founder and CEO, Board Prospects

Mark is the Founder and CEO of BoardProspects.com. Prior to founding the company, Mark practiced corporate law in the Boston area for more than 10 years. In 2010, he was selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of Massachusetts’ “Up and Coming Lawyers”. Mark also served as an adjunct professor for 4 years at New England School of Law. He serves on the boards of several non-profit and private companies and has lectured and written extensively on the topics of corporate governance and boardroom issues. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Forbes.com, and The Boston Globe.

Simone Petrella

Chief Cybersecurity Officer, CyberVista

Simone Petrella, chief cybersecurity officer at CyberVista,  focuses on product development and delivery of training and education curriculua as well as workforce initiatives for executives and cyber practitioners. Previously, Simone was a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton where she helped build the firm’s cyber fusion center, focusing on integrating cyber threat intelligence, security operations, and cyber defense operations into effective cyber security operations. She also led the firm’s all source cyber threat intelligence business in the national security and defense sectors, where she built out a threat capability and team with in-depth subject matter expertise in all aspects of cyber threat intelligence. Her areas of specialty included predictive cyber intelligence based on an understanding of the threat adversary and developing service offerings to integrate intelligence into exercises to provide realistic cyber scenarios. Simone received her J.D. with honors from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Government and a M.A. in International Law and Policy.

Lowell W. Robinson

Director, EVINE Live, Higher One, Support.com and The Smithsonian Libraries

Wayne Yetter

Director, InfuSystem Holdings, Inc. (INFU), Special Diversified Opportunities Inc. (SDOI), and MTG Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Wayne had a 30 year career in the pharmaceutical industry and held executive positions at Pfizer, Merck, Astra-Merck (now AstraZeneca) and Novartis.  His roles included VP, Marketing Operations and VP Far East and Pacific at Merck, founding CEO of Astra-Merck, and President and CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., the US division of Novartis AG.  He also served as COO of IMS Health, a healthcare market research data company, and as Chairman and CEO of Synavant, Inc. “spin-out” of IMS.  He has served as Chairman or Lead Independent Director of several public companies including Noven Pharmaceuticals, Transkaryotic Therapies, Matria Healthcare, and most recently NuPathe Inc. (each of these companies was acquired).  Wayne is currently a director of InfuSystem Holdings, Inc. (INFU), Special Diversified Opportunities Inc. (SDOI), and MTG Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Margaret Pederson

€‹President, Amirexx, Director, Viad, Xamax Industries and TextureMedia

Margaret Pederson is a strategist, innovator and business operator who serves as a Board Director and Chair of Innovation and Strategy Committees and member of Compensation & Nominating/Governance committees for public and private companies. Her current board assignments are: Viad  (NYSE: VVI), Chairman of Innovation and Marketing Strategy Committee, Member of Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees; Xamax Industries, Chair Strategy Committee; TextureMedia Inc, Member Compensation Committee; National Association of Corporate Directors, President Connecticut Chapter and Women Corporate Directors Advisory Board. Margaret was President of Penton Exhibitions, Primedia Exhibitions (NYSE: Primedia) and Prism Exhibitions over a period of nine years.  She held operating and senior management roles at Reed Exhibition Groups (Reed-Elsevier). Her early career included preparing Board material for Corning Glass and PepsiCo.  She now runs Amirexx, a boutique consulting group that focus on innovation, business development and strategy for middle market and private equity companies and governments.  She works in early stage investing with Golden Seeds with a focus on Media and Technology and a functional expertise in marketing. Margaret has both domestic and international operating and business development experience in stand-alone as well as large multidivisional companies. She has led operations in Canada and led development in Europe and Asia having lived in London, Paris, Tokyo and Manila. Margaret has demonstrated professional experience in strategy, business development, M&A, innovation and marketing for a wide range of industry sectors. She is a frequent speaker and writer on Innovation in the Boardroom.  Margaret combines judgment, experience and knowledge in a collaborative manner that adds value to board matters.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Honors Program at University of Virginia,, an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business and studied international law and business at The London School of Economics.  She enjoys adventure travel, trekking, home renovation, reading and writing.

Allan Grafman

CEO of All Media Ventures; Director, Blue Socks Media

Deborah Hicks Midanek

CEO & Chairman, Solon Group, Inc., Advisory Board Member, The Biltmore Company, Independent Director Representative, Richcourt Funds

Deborah Hicks Midanek is an experienced director, and her knowledge of operations, finance, and strategy has served 15 corporate and 5 nonprofit boards since 1990. At Solon Group, where she serves as Chairman and CEO, Deborah works with companies on growth strategy and handling rapid change. For example, she has served as Business Advisor to a Federal District Court and later a Receiver in a complex and highly sensitive cross border fraud situation; has helped a pharmaceuticals manufacturer manage a drastic revenue decline caused by a patent loss; has played numerous roles in the recent financial services company difficulties, has developed multiple successful investment funds, registered and unregistered funds; served as the de facto board of directors when the board of the GP of a Master Limited Partnership resigned and no one was available to right the ship and rebuild the board. Not content to sit and watch, she wants to resolve the issues at hand so all can move on. Previously, as President of Glass & Associates, Deborah guided the firm to double revenue and triple margin in two years. She started and ran the New York office of this provider of interim management services to manufacturing and distribution companies, opened new offices in the U.S. and Europe, rebuilt the brand, and positioned the firm for a successful sale in 2005. In addition, she led teams for diverse companies including Parmalat USA, Mississippi Chemical, and FINOVA. Earlier, she served as interim CEO of United Companies Financial Corporation and Standard Brands Paint. Deborah has served as director, lead director or chairman as well as committee chair (audit, compensation, governance, special independent) for public and private companies including HCC Insurance Holdings, Signature Group Holdings, MB Holdings, Phosphates Holdings, Inc., Rodman & Renshaw Group, Inc., and Tricapital, Ltd., among others. She is a member of the executive committee for the Committee for Economic Development, is on the advisory board of family owned Biltmore Companies and is Solon’s representative as sole director of various BVI-based investment funds. Deborah chaired the board of Standard Brands Paint and American Homestar, and The Solon Funds, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. She also served as de facto lead director for Drexel Burnham, deemed an inadvertent investment company, during its bankruptcy, where she organized the shareholders to achieve recognition in the bankruptcy and restructured the incumbent board to favor independent directors. She joined Drexel Burnham to start its derivatives function, which grew to $50 billion in contracts; she then formed and led the firm’s structured products group. She is a 2011 NACD Board Leadership Fellow, the first year such designations were available. Her Wall Street background combined with her experience running her own institutional investment management firm, Solon Asset Management Corporation, gives her both depth and breadth of knowledge of capital markets and the innovations of the last few decades, where she has had a front row seat. Her firm, founded in 1990 with $75,000 in personal savings, quickly became a highly regarded institutional investment management firm due to the firm’s reputation for detailed knowledge of complex instruments and how to use them to reduce rather than amplify risk. The firm, which attracted Fortune 50 pension funds, large endowments and foundations as clients and won national recognition for its work with troubled derivatives portfolios, was sold in 1997. Deborah also built a no load mutual fund complex from $100 million to $1 billion in assets in 11 months, then the fastest growth recorded by Lipper. Deborah earned her MBA from the Wharton School and an AB from Bryn Mawr College. A frequent writer and speaker on governance, strategy, and leadership, Deborah also manages Prevail Investments LLC and Prevail Fund, Inc., all part of Prevail Companies.

Robert Rosone

Director, Deloitte LLP

Bob Rosone is a director with the accounting and advisory firm Deloitte LLP where he is focused on developing its middle market practice through Deloitte Growth Enterprise Services. His responsibilities include business development, marketing, public relations, advertising and communications.  Prior to this role, Bob served as the chief of staff for Deloitte’s Chairman of the Board for six years, and has held numerous marketing and leadership positions since joining the firm in 1998. Earlier in his career, he was a vice president of sales with Chase Bank from 1988-1998, and sold municipal and corporate bonds for various brokerage firms. In addition to serving on the board of Pro Mujer Inc., Bob is also a member of the board of The United Way of Monmouth County, New Jersey. His prior board service includes the Affordable Housing Alliance, and he is a past chairman of the Business & Professional Committee of the American Cancer Society, Monmouth County Chapter.  Bob graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1982 with a B.A. in Political Science and earned his MBA from Fordham University in 1994.

Daniel Korschun

Associate Professor of Marketing and fellow, Center for Corporate Governance, Drexel University

Daniel Korschun is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Drexel University and a fellow of the Center for Corporate Governance at Drexel. Dr. Korschun works with companies to develop innovative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices that generate value for both the company and society. Some of these innovative practices are profiled in his first book, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Business and Social Value (co-authored with C.B. Bhattacharya and Sankar Sen, Cambridge University Press).

His work also appears in leading academic journals such the Journal of Marketing, Academy of Management Review, MIT-Sloan Management Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Business Ethics. His latest book, We Are Market Basket (co-authored with Grant Welker, AMACOM), tells the true story of a grassroots movement to reinstate a beloved CEO and save a $4.5 billion supermarket chain.

Deborah L. DeHaas

Vice Chairman, Chief Inclusion Officer, and National Managing Partner, Center for Corporate Governance, Deloitte LLP

Alyson Daichendt

Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP

 

Alyson Daichendt is a director in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Human Capital, Organization, Transformation and Talent service area.  She leads the Engagement and Culture offerings for the Human Capital practice, including CulturePath, Deloitte’s culture change solution.  She has led work in Culture Transformation, Organization Strategy and Effectiveness, Talent, and Leadership Development.  Alyson has helped clients with strategic planning initiatives and leadership development activities, and led the integration of people and processes to meet large-scale organizational objectives, in a variety of industries on a global scale.  

Davia Temin

President and CEO, Temin and Company