The Directors to Watch: Racial & Ethnic Diversity Class of 2025 highlights 24 significant and diverse directors who have contributed to and will continue to expand ongoing dialogue on board best practices and corporate governance excellence.
Daria Walls Torres
Columbia Financial Inc.
Daria Walls Torres is a tech-savvy strategist and experienced corporate director. As a member of the audit, nom/gov, risk and technology committees, Torres serves on the board of Columbia Bank and its publicly traded parent company, Columbia Financial Inc.
Walls Torres is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her firm, Walls Torres Group, with an esteemed track record of value creation spanning vast industry contexts and organizational profiles. Prior to her consulting career, Walls Torres was a Lockheed Martin TS/SCI-cleared systems engineer, which served as the entrée into her expertise in digital transformation, cybersecurity, supply chain logistics and compliance management.
Walls Torres has several university-level teaching affiliations, which include roles at her alma maters, The University of Virginia and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and her servant leadership includes mentoring and board roles with the National Association of Corporate Directors, Giving Cycle and the University of Virginia School of Engineering.
High-performing boards strike many delicate balances. “They modulate strategic foresight and operational oversight, ensuring that short-term pressures do not cloud long-term vision. They couple disruptive innovation with risk management, fostering a culture that embraces emerging technologies while safeguarding against potential pitfalls. They integrate broad perspectives with specialized expertise, crafting a lens of discernment shaped by diverse insights, varied experiences and intersectional thinking in the boardroom. The ‘mixed pairs' list continues: stability vs. agility, scale vs. specialization, competition vs. collaboration, and tradition vs. modernization. Boards should periodically self-assess their balance-striking discipline as it is crucial for driving forward-looking, resilient governance.”