Tough Boardroom Situations – Directors Share Lessons Learned

New Board Briefing from WomenCorporateDirectors on Resolving Tricky Board Issues

NEW YORK – October 25, 2017 – When boards find themselves facing a challenge from within their own ranks, how are directors responding? In a new board briefing from the WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation (WCD), a panel of directors and governance experts explores the fraught issues that arise from everything from conflict-of-interest situations to crisis events, and the lessons they took away from both current and past board tenures.

“Managing Tough Issues in the Boardroom” is the latest in WCD’s board briefing series, with directors and executives from companies ranging from Walgreens Boots Alliance to JPMorgan Chase sharing governance strategies around complex board events. Topics addressed include:

• Navigating conflict-of-interest situations around director investments

• How independent directors play a vital role in surfacing issues

• Protecting board deliberations in an era of increasing demands for transparency

• Getting creative around board structure to meet specific situations

The briefing stems from discussions at WCD’s Institutes, including a panel of the same name at this year’s WCD Global Institute, which drew 250 directors from around the globe. WCD is the largest organization of women board members worldwide. Participants in the briefing include:

• Phyllis Campbell, Chairman, Pacific Northwest, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and director on a public company board; WCD member

• Jan Babiak, Director, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. and other public company boards; WCD Chapter Chair

• Diane de Saint Victor, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Swiss-based ABB, Ltd.

• Eunice Nyala, CEO, Etiquette Xllent Co., Ltd.; WCD Kenya Chapter

• Caroline Blitzer Phillips, Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity, Vinson & Elkins LLP

“Tough issues are only becoming more common,” says Phyllis Campbell. “As directors come up against challenges that can threaten the very functioning of the board, it is essential that there be alignment from the start perhaps not around the desired outcome, but at least around the process the board will take to get there.”

This WCD board briefing is the fifth in a series, which also includes:

• “What Directors Need to Know About Customer Loyalty and Shared Value”

• “What Directors Need to Know about the Next Marketplaces and Business Models”

• “The Growth and Management of Megacities”

• “Where Economic Growth Will Come From in the Americas”

For more information about WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation and WCD programs for directors, please contact Suzanne Oaks Brownstein or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or [email protected].  

About WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation, Inc.

The WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation, Inc. (WCD Foundation) is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the WCD Foundation has 79 chapters around the world. The aggregate market capitalization of public companies on whose boards WCD Foundation members serve is over $8 trillion. In addition, WCD Foundation members serve on numerous boards of large private and family-run companies globally. For more information visit www.womencorporatedirectors.org or follow us on Twitter @WomenCorpDirs, #WCDboards.

Upcoming WCD Institutes include:

• Americas Institute – March 7-8, 2018; Miami

• Global Institute – May 8-10, 2018; New York

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