Michele Hooper
President and CEO, The Directors’ Council; Director, United
Airlines Holdings, Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Inc.; Member, WCD Chicago
(United States)
Read Bio
Michele Hooper is President and CEO of The Directors’ Council which consults with major companies on board effectiveness and corporate board of director recruitment, focused primarily on diverse candidates.
With over 30 years of corporate board experience, Ms. Hooper is an audit committee financial expert with over 25 years of experience chairing the audit committees of several major companies, a highly regarded governance expert and business leader. Ms. Hooper was selected as the 2017 Director of the Year by the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Ms. Hooper serves on the corporate boards of directors of UnitedHealth Group (Chair, Nominating and Governance) and United Airlines Holding (Chair, Audit Committee). Ms. Hooper formerly served on the boards of PPG Industries (Chair, Audit Committee), AstraZeneca PLC (Senior Independent Director and Chair, Audit Committee), Warner Music Group (Senior Independent Director and Chair, Audit Committee), Target Corporation (Chair, Audit Committee), Seagram Company, and DaVita Corporation.
Ms. Hooper is retired from the National board of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and as President of NACD Chicago. She was a commissioner on ten NACD Blue Ribbon Commissions on governance including Strategy Oversight, Board-Shareholder Communications, Audit Committees and Risk Oversight. Ms. Hooper served as co-chair of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission on Audit Committees.
Ms. Hooper retired as a board member and former Vice Chair of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), a public policy advocacy organization serving public company auditors, investors, and capital markets. She was Chair of the CAQ Working Group focused on Deterring and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud.
Previously, Ms. Hooper served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Expanded Learning and of Stadtlander Drug Company, Inc. Prior to joining Stadtlander, Ms. Hooper was Corporate Vice President, Caremark International Inc, and President of the International Business Group, responsible for the expansion of Caremark into Europe, Canada and Japan. Ms. Hooper began her career at Baxter International and from 1988 to 1992, as President of Baxter Canada, Ms. Hooper led Canada’s largest health care and laboratory supplies company.
Ms. Hooper is a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Board as well as a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago, the World Presidents’ Organization (WPO), The Committee of 200, and The Chicago Network.
Ms. Hooper earned an MBA in Finance and Accounting at the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.