Executive Session: The Directors & Boards Podcast

In this episode of Executive Session, the official podcast of Directors & Boards, we talk to Judy Schrecker, lead independent director and audit committee chair of ClearSign Technologies, about the benefits and challenges of serving on a small or microcap company board. Also, Patricia Lenkov, advisory board member of SwarmDynamics.ai and BoardProspects Inc., discusses how many boards a director can serve on before both they and the board start experiencing diminishing returns. Our final guest, Dr. Denis Mowbray, FCG, FGNZ, dissects the concept of behavioral governance and the effect it can have on board evaluations. 

In this episode of Executive Session, the official podcast of Directors & Boards, Bill Hayes, editor in chief of Directors & Boards, talks to Susanne Meline, lead independent director and audit chair of MDB Capital Holdings, about the importance of efficient processes to the success of a board. He also interviews Lloyd Zygler, director, security and privacy risk consulting, for RSM, on the concept of implicit trust between a company and its vendors and service providers. He concludes with a discussion with Sonita Lontoh, director and member of the audit and compensation committees of Sunrun, on the board's responsibility toward sustainability and climate.

In this episode of the official Directors & Boards podcast, Executive Session, Bill Hayes, editor in chief of Directors & Boards, talks to Lara Lee, director and member of the audit and compensation committees of WD-40 Company, about the need for board members to engage in innovative thinking. He also gets the opinion of Lawrence Cunningham, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, on who's better for the board, generalists or specialists. Our final guest, Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, director of Marathon Petroleum Corporation and U.S. Bank, explains why "business transformation" is a better term than "digital transformation" for summarizing what good boards do for their companies in the area of technology adoption.

In this tech-centric episode of the official Directors & Boards podcast, Executive Session, Bill Hayes, editor in chief of Directors & Boards, talks to George Casey, advanced analytics practice leader of RSM US LLP, about the state of AI implementation among middle-market executives and companies. Also on the rapidly emerging topic of AI, Allan Grafman, CEO of All Media Ventures, discusses ways that boards and companies can go about accelerating their AI knowledge and adoption timelines. Our final guest, Rob Lyman, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, and a member of the advisory boards of Second Front Systems and Abacode Cybersecurity & Compliance, explores the relationship the board should have with the personnel responsible for a company’s cybersecurity.

In this board composition-centric episode of the official Directors & Boards podcast, Executive Session, Bill Hayes, editor in chief of Directors & Boards, talks to Michael Marquardt, director of Strategic Partnerships LLC and Commonwealth Trust Company, about the value of international directors on boards. He also discusses key director leadership traits with Daphne Jones, director of AMN Healthcare, Barnes Group Inc. and Masonite International. Plus, Rob Smith, director of Steve Madden, explains why the U.S. Supreme Court's recent diversity decisions have only made the topic more worthy of board prioritization.

In this episode of the official Directors & Boards podcast, Executive Session, Bill Hayes, editor in chief of Directors & Boards, talks to Kay Breeden, director of Viohalco, about unintended consequences of the board’s focus on ESG; Alicia Syrett, founder of Madam Chair, about the value of women on boards; and Charles Elson, director of Enhabit Home Health and Hospice and Blue Bell Creameries (as well as executive editor at large of Directors & Boards), about shareholder activism.