Nasdaq Future of the Boardroom Series: Public vs. Private Company Practices

Date and Time
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
2 PM ET | 11 AM PT
60 minutes

Daphne E. Jones

Director, AMN Healthcare, Barnes Group, Masonite International

Daphne E. Jones is a director of public companies AMN Healthcare and Barnes Group and private company Masonite International. She is a former Fortune 500 executive with over 30 years of experience in general management and executive-level roles at IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Hospira and General Electric.

Jones is CEO of The Board Curators, a company that curates senior leaders to best prepare them to serve on paying boards. McGraw Hill published her book, Win When They Say You Won’t: Break Through Barriers and Keep Leveling Up Your Success, which draws from her impoverished background and teaches others how to win despite impossible circumstances.

Tom Petro

Director, Derstine’s Inc., Fintegra and Univest

Tom Petro is director and chair of the risk management and trust committees of Univest, and director of Derstine’s Inc. and Fintegra. He is managing general partner of 1867 Capital Partners and board member in residence at Mach49. A current board observer of NovaData Solutions Inc., he previously served as chair of the board of OrthogenRx and BizEquity, and as independent director of Genome Profiling, WealthHub Solutions and NextGen Reporting. The former president and CEO of Fox Chase Bank and CEO of Northeast Pennsylvania Financial Corporation was chair of the board of Higgins Insurance and co-founder, CEO and chair of PRC Inc. He was executive VP and chair of Bryn Mawr Asset Management for Bryn Mart Trust Company, director and executive VP at Insurance Counsellors of Bryn Mawr, principal of S.R. Snodgrass AC, and an angel investor of Embrella Cardiovascular Inc.

Shannon Nash

Director and Compensation Committee Chair, SoFi Bank

Shannon Nash is a director and compensation committee chair of SoFi Bank, a director and audit committee chair of NETSCOUT, and a director and audit committee chair of Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar. She is a limited partner of Operator Collective and an executive producer of OnBoard, a film about the rise of Black women on American boards and the evolution of board diversity. She previously served as lead independent director, nom/gov chair and audit committee member of UserTesting, and has been CFO for companies like Wing, Reputation, Insidesource and Sunseeker Media. Previously, she served as vice president finance and HR for Cumulus Media, chief operating officer for Aspire Public Schools, partner at Register Lett LLP and executive director of Debbie Allen Dance Academy. After beginning her career as senior tax manager for KPMG, she was an associate for K&L Gates, senior associate of Cooley LLP and senior counsel at Amgen.

Kaley Childs Karaffa

Head of Board Advisory, Americas, Nasdaq

Kaley Childs Karaffa is the Head of Board Advisory in the Americas at Nasdaq. She advises boards on corporate governance matters, including board effectiveness, composition and culture, CEO performance, strategy, ESG, and compliance and risk matters. Kaley works with public, private and nonprofit corporations in a wide range of industries globally. Prior to Nasdaq’s acquisition of the Center for Board Excellence (CBE) in 2019, Kaley was Vice President of Client Services and Business Development & Legal at CBE. Kaley also previously served as General Counsel of Clarolux. Before beginning an in-house practice, she practiced law in New York City with a focus on real estate, banking law and litigation. Kaley served as Program Director of Jefferson County Teen Court prior to attending law school.

Kaley serves on the board of Horizon Education; as board chair of the Northside Charter High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.; on the patient advisory board for a privately held pharmaceutical company; and on the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center Patient Safety Committee and Patient & Family Advisory Council. She served as co-chair of the CLE committee of the North Carolina Bar Association Corporate Counsel Section from 2015 through 2017. Kaley also founded and served on the board of YP Civitan of Greensboro from 2013 through 2016.

Kaley volunteers with many leading civic and philanthropic organizations. She speaks publicly on corporate governance topics with many leading governance and business organizations, including Competent Boards, Society for Corporate Governance, TechGC, Equilar and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Kaley received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Political Science from Samford University and a Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

Charles Neidenbach

Director of Board Advisory, Nasdaq

Charles Neidenbach is a Director of Board Advisory at Nasdaq. In this role, Charles advises boards and management teams on emerging governance themes and conducts annual board evaluations. Charles brings a holistic approach to corporate governance through deep expertise in sustainability and ESG strategy.

Prior to joining the Board Advisory team, Charles was Nasdaq’s Lead ESG Advisor. In that role, he advised boards and management teams on ESG strategy, program implementation and reporting. Charles has held several in-house sustainability roles, including at Office Depot and UPS, and has advised both private and public organizations globally.

Charles received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Clemson University and a Master of Science degree in Sustainability Studies from Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Stephen Perrone

Director of Board Advisory, Nasdaq

Stephen Perrone is Director of Board Advisory at Nasdaq. In his role, Stephen works with the Board Advisory leadership and operations teams to provide client-focused guidance, planning, design, and execution of customized and effective evaluations and compliance processes.

Stephen was Director of Operations at the Center for Board Excellence (CBE), which was acquired by Nasdaq in 2019. With years of experience in conducting and managing thousands of evaluation and compliance questionnaire projects, Stephen has helped clients of all types identify optimal approaches to improving their governance processes.

Stephen received his B.S. in Business Administration from Guilford College.

David Shaw

Publishing Director, Directors & Boards

David Shaw is the publishing director for MLR Media. He also co-founded and serves as conference director of the Transitions conferences, the Private Company Governance Summit and Family Business Legacy. David writes frequently on governance issues for public and private companies, and develops and maintains close relationships with multigenerational family-owned businesses. He is married, with two grown children.