• Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

  • By: Evan Epstein
  • Podcast

Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

By: Evan Epstein
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  • Summary

  • In-depth interview podcast with leading corporate governance experts, including world-class founders, scholars, board members, executives, investors and more. The content is structured as a long-form conversation to explore not only the latest corporate governance trends, but also to get some personal insights from some of the best and brightest minds behind America's boardrooms.
    2020-2024 Boardroom Governance
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Episodes
  • Maggie Wilderotter: Strategic Oversight and the Attributes of Great Directors

    Maggie Wilderotter: Strategic Oversight and the Attributes of Great Directors
    Sep 30 2024

    (0:00) Intro.

    (1:30) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

    (2:15) Start of interview.

    (3:05) Maggie's origin story.

    (7:08) Maggie's board career. Reference to HBS case study on her. On staying on boards between 8-12 years to remain independent.

    (10:19) On distinctions between serving on public and private company boards. The role of directors in each. *Reference to VC-Backed Board Academy (VCBA) on Oct 29, 2024 at Nasdaq in NYC.

    (13:37) On PE-backed company governance.

    (14:58) Debate on staying private vs going public.

    (18:07) On creating her own board bootcamps for women and minorities, and placing directors on boards. "She's trained ~750 people: over 70% have been placed on their first board"

    (21:49) On the evolution of boardroom diversity. Getting into the nomination-governance committee.

    (24:21) On board leadership as chair of the board and/or other committees. "As a board chair, I'm a facilitator, not a dictator."

    (28:04) On the board's role in strategy: 1) oversight, 2) insight, and 3) foresight (3-5 year increments).

    (30:37) Costco's strategy (including details on its famous $5 rotisserie chicken). Legacy of Charlie Munger.

    (36:30) On attributes of great directors: "They're great listeners and learners. In addition to participants, they know when to lean back and they know when to lean in. They ask questions versus making statements. They spend time outside the boardroom with senior leaders and with other board members to get to get to know them."

    (38:30) On stepping up as a CEO at Docusign, and dealing with its leadership transition.

    (41:30) Increasing importance of transparency, and explaining "the why" to stakeholder and stockholders.

    (42:37) Books that she enjoys.

    (42:53) Her mentors.

    (43:36) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by.

    (44:18) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.

    (46:26) The person she most admires.

    Maggie Wilderotter is a seasoned executive and board member with extensive experience leading both Fortune 500 companies and startups. She currently serves on the boards of Fortinet, Costco, and Sana Biotechnology, and she is the Chairwoman of DocuSign.

    You can follow Evan on social media at:

    Twitter: @evanepstein

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

    Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

    __

    You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:

    Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod

    __

    Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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    48 mins
  • Peter Gleason: CEO of NACD on 2024 Board Practices and Oversight Surveys – Trends and Takeaways

    Peter Gleason: CEO of NACD on 2024 Board Practices and Oversight Surveys – Trends and Takeaways
    Sep 23 2024
    (0:00) Intro.(1:23) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(2:10) Start of interview. *Reference to prior episode with Peter (E83 from Jan 2023).(3:00) NACD Surveys on Board Practices and Oversight: Private Company Results and Public Company Results.(3:44) 1/ On Technology Oversight: "We are seeing boards go after technology, not necessarily expertise, but experience."(11:16) 2/ On CEO Succession Planning. "Succession is always a challenge at companies, especially with founder CEOs."(14:37) 3/ On Board Leadership Succession Planning. "Governance is more art than science, it depends on the board."(20:26) 4/ On Board Reporting. Reference to paper on Netflix Governance by Larcker and Tayan (2018). (23:43) NACD's BRC Report on Culture as the Foundation. *Reference to episode with Sonita Lontoh (June 2024).(25:23) NACD's BRC Report on Technology Oversight. *Reference to episode with Nora Denzel (Oct 2022).(32:12) On Cybersecurity concerns for boards and directors.(33:56) On AI concerns for boards and directors.(35:27) On trend of alternative corporate structures used by new AI companies including public benefit corporations.(41:41) On the upcoming NACD Directors Summit Oct 6-9, 2024, in Washington, DC. *My reference to keynoting the 25th IBGC Summit in Brazil.(46:35) On geopolitics and the increasing politicization of the boardroom.Peter Gleason has been the CEO of NACD since 2017. You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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    51 mins
  • Cedric Bru: CEO of Taulia (now part of SAP) on Boardroom Dynamics and the Value of Teamwork

    Cedric Bru: CEO of Taulia (now part of SAP) on Boardroom Dynamics and the Value of Teamwork
    Sep 9 2024
    (0:00) Intro.(1:03) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(1:50) Start of interview. (2:24) Cedric's origin story.(4:30) U.S. talent management insights (cultural differences with other countries): current merit.(6:00) On his management career with HP, Visa, and Syncada from Visa (a joint venture between Visa and U.S. Bank).(8:13) His transition to Taulia, a venture-backed company, in 2013.(11:04) On managing board dynamics as CEO and Chair of Taulia as a venture-backed company. *Reference to VC-Backed Board Academy (VCBA) on Oct 29, 2024 at Nasdaq in NYC.(15:20) The role of the Chair, and challenges of managing a large board, even when the business is thriving. "[It is] important to have a couple of directors that can anchor the entire group in addition to the chairman or the CEO."(17:32) The exit strategy behind the acquisition of Taulia by SAP in 2022 and the business of Taulia and Supply Chain Management. "[I]t's all about free cash flows and moving liquidity across the economy." "Cultural fit is one of the number one success indicators of an M&A transaction." "I think someone will write a book at some point about this M&A transaction because it has been successful on all fronts." "Taulia is managed independently and autonomously, which is not maybe a standard setup."(23:28) On transitioning from a VC-backed board to a board of a fully-owned subsidiary of SAP. Going from private to public: "[T]he first advantage is that we don't have to do capital raise anymore if we wanted to invest in some areas. If we need some capital, we have access to a line of credit that SAP can provide." "If I was spending 20% of my time on investors, capital raise, and so forth in the the past. Now I spend 20% with SAP executives, regional presidents, to make sure that we can sell Taulia to as many clients as possible."(28:56) Decision-making on exit strategies for Taulia (and in general): i.e. IPOs, SPACs, M&A, and PE.(33:50) The impact of AI in business.(37:14) On managing geopolitical risks. "Two angles: 1) customers, and 2) compliance, law, and governance."(40:53) On the current economic landscape. "The number of M&A transactions is actually picking up, especially with companies that have a good bottom line." "I think that the best companies have built agility in their financial architecture to really adjust their business profile based on what the market can cope with."(44:48) On director education for board members, particularly venture-backed companies. "I would encourage VCs to recommend [not mandate] their [portfolio] CEOs to go through a training about governance, how to manage a board, how to make the board evolve, how to recruit board members, how to interview board members."(45:39) Books that have greatly influenced his life: Tribal Leadership, by Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright (2008)Good to Great, by Jim Collins (2001)Sports magazines and newspapers(46:13) His mentors. (47:37) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by.(50:15) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: cold plunges.(53:13) The person he most admires.Cedric Bru is CEO of Taulia, a fintech provider of working capital management solutions. In March of 2022, Taulia became part of SAP. Before Taulia, Cedric served as Global Head of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development at Syncada from Visa. Cedric has over two decades of experience in financial services and software industries, including positions at Visa and Hewlett-Packard. You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
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    57 mins
Leadership Management Economics Personal Success
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