Madam Chair is a collaborative group of ~300 female Chairs and Lead Directors of publicly-traded companies across all industries and market capitalizations.
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Based on the success of the Madam Chair community, additional groups (all genders) have been created in other board-related areas of expertise. Given the synergies amongst these communities, event invitations and resources are often shared, and opportunities exist for members to connect with each other across groups.
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The communities are outlined below:
Chairs & Leads
NomGov Chairs
Legal Leaders
People Leaders
Chairs & Leads is an invite-only group of 200+ top publicly-traded company Chairs and Lead Directors across genders.
NomGov Chairs is an invite-only group of 100+ top publicly-traded company Nominating and Governance Chairs.
Legal Leaders is an invite-only group of 100+ top publicly-traded company Chief Legal Officers and General Counsels who serve in the Corporate Secretary capacity and play an integral role in their company’s board work.
People Leaders is an invite-only group of 100+ top publicly-traded company people leaders who are (or who aspire to be) on corporate boards. For companies who believe "people are our greatest asset," these leaders bring this expertise to the boardroom.
Founded in 2021, Madam Chair has built upon its success each year to grow its membership, continually attract phenomenal speakers, and hold exclusive in-person events for the community.
Events are off the record and never recorded to maintain an intimate and candid feel in the group.
Speakers
Board Leaders:
Pat Russo (Chair of Hewlett Packard Enterprises and Lead Director of General Motors), Sharon Bowen (Chair of the NYSE), Rich Stoddart (Chair of Hasbro), Robin Washington (Lead Director at Salesforce and Board Member of Alphabet), Dr. Helene Gayle (President of Spelman and Compensation Chair of Coca-Cola), Nora Denzel (Lead Director of AMD), Glenn Hubbard (Chair of MetLife), Mindy Grossman (former CEO of WW, Int’l)
Leading Investment Firms:
Jeff Smith (CEO of Starboard Value), Aeisha Mastagni (Portfolio Manager at CalSTRS), Michelle Gadsden-Williams (Global Head of DEI at BlackRock), Hilary Gosher (Managing Director at Insight Partners), Christine O’Brien (Head of Investment Stewardship at Elliott Investment Management)
Industry Thought Leaders:
Gretchen Carlson (Co-Founder of Lift Our Voices), Dr. Judith Rodin (former President of the Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania), Kristen Silverberg (President and COO of Business Roundtable), Donna Morris (Chief People Officer of Walmart), Brad Lerman (Chief Legal Officer of Starbucks), Homaira Akbari and Shamla Naidoo (authors of The Cyber Savvy Boardroom)
Trusted Board Service Providers:
Lex Suvanto (Global CEO of Edelman Smithfield), Jing Ulrich (Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at JP Morgan), Jaimie Nawaday (Co-Head of Government Enforcement & Internal Investigations at Seward & Kissell), Robin Ferracone (CEO of Farient Advisors), Kai Liekefett (Co-Chair of Sidley’s Shareholder Activism & Corporate Defense Practice), Jim Rossman (Global Head of Shareholder Advisory at Barclays) , Kevin Kajiwara (Co-President of Political Risk Advisory at Teneo) and Diane McIntyre (CEO of People Advisory in the US at Teneo)
Board Search and Advisory Professionals:
Beth Stewart (CEO of Trewstar), Rusty O’Kelley (Managing Director in Russell Reynolds Associates’ Board and CEO Advisory Practice), Lisa Blais (Co-Head of US CEO & Board Practice at Egon Zehnder), Seonaid Charlesworth (Spencer Stuart’s Board Practice), Chuck Gray (Co-Head of the US CEO and Board Practice at Egon Zehnder)
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We collaborate with fantastic organizations such as Him for Her, Black Women on Boards (BWOB), Tapestry Networks, and Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB) to further the mission of supporting members in board leadership roles.
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Press Highlights:
Directors & Boards magazine: The Opening Act
Bloomberg: Goodbye Chairman, Hello Chair. US Companies Are Ditching Gendered Title
The Corporate Director Podcast: Empowering female corporate leaders
Corporate Governance Podcast: The Chair Should Focus the Agenda Primarily on Strategic Discussions
Members share recommendations and connect with each other to support our respective leadership activities.
Contact Us
If you fit the description of one of the above groups and would like to join, or if you believe you could provide value to any one of the above groups, please reach out.
Email info@madam-chair.com
Acknowledgments:
A special ‘thank you’ goes out to Jun Frank, Managing Director in ICS Advisory at ISS Corporate Solutions, who has been integral to this initiative from the start by providing the data on board leaders. This information facilitated the outreach and subsequent creation of the community. We are grateful to Jun and his colleagues for their efforts to support board leadership.
© 2021 Madam Chair
