48. Bridget Ross: CEO and board member for the first time, at the same time
Release Date: 12/03/2022
83. Matching Board Members with Public Company Boards with Suzanne Brown
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaik welcome Suzanne Brown, Director of New York Stock Exchange Board Services. She shares her unique career journey from law and the nonprofit world to board placement leadership at the New York Stock Exchange. Suzanne unpacks how NYSE Board Services was created to bridge the gap between talented board-ready individuals and the NYSE companies that need them. Suzanne also explains their unique “CEO-vetted” approach, the powerful influence of the NYSE brand, and the structural components that make their board placement program...
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82. Reimagining AI Board Intelligence with Raffaela Rein
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Raffaela Rein, a seasoned entrepreneur and board member with expertise in frontier technology and innovation-driven leadership. Raffaela began her career as an analyst at BlackRock, and launched three companies for the world's largest incubator, Rocket Internet, across China, Australia, and Taiwan before becoming an entrepreneur. She serves on multiple corporate and private equity-backed boards, including Porsche, Mutares and International University IU. As the founder of WildWildVentures and CareerFoundry, she has...
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81. Building a High-Performing Board with Lynn Clarke
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Lynn Clarke, an experienced leader in family board governance who has served on more than a dozen family and private equity-backed boards including as an independent chair and lead director. Lynn is also a strategic advisor and mentor and has served on boards spanning from beverage and food services to e-commerce and manufacturing. Lynn has mentored next generation board members and leaders throughout her career and was named the Private Company Director of the Year by National Association of Corporate Directors in...
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80. Mastering Robert’s Rules of Orders with Susan Leahy
On Boards Podcast
In this episode hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Susan Leahy, the founder of Robert’s Rules Made Simple. Susan has trained and advised thousands of board members, board chairs and others on how to master Robert’s Rules of Order, to help lead and participate in productive meetings. Key Takeaways 1. History of Robert’s Rules of Order Robert’s Rules of Order is a decision making process developed in the 1800s by General Henry M. Robert, who was frustrated by disorganized meetings. Roberts created a guide, first published in 1876, which summarized and simplify...
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79. Enhancing Board Composition and Strategies for Board Leadership
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Tom Rosedale, a partner at the law firm of Nutter McClennen & Fish. Tom serves as chair of the firm’s Corporate and Transactions Department and is a member its Executive Committee. Tom has 27+ years of experience as a corporate attorney and regularly advises public and private company boards of directors in tech, life sciences and more. He has also served on the board of directors of multiple companies including Caring Cross, Vector BioMed, and AMD Global Telemedicine. The discussion with Tom...
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78. AI in the Boardroom with Andrew Sutton
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Andrew Sutton, an attorney with the law firm McLane Middleton and an expert on AI ethics and the use of AI in law. As a founding member of his firm’s AI practice group, Sutton brings his knowledge of AI to this discussion of the ethical, legal and governance aspects of AI. As AI continues to gain prominence, boards will have to consider how they can incorporate AI into companies and in the boardroom. Our discussion dives into the management of AI, implementation strategies and how to develop trust in the AI...
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77. The Win-Win Workplace: How Thriving Employees Drive Bottom-Line Success
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Dr. Angela Jackson, founder of Future Forward Strategies, an award-winning social entrepreneur, a global C-Suite executive, and an experienced board member. She discusses the board's role in holding leadership accountable for “people strategies” and ensuring companies remain competitive in a rapidly evolving business environment. Her new book “The Win-Win Workplace: How Thriving Employees Drive Bottom-Line Success” will be published on March 11, 2025 and will be available from all major book retailers. Key Takeaways...
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76. Unlocking the value of Risk Governance and the DCRO Qualified Risk Director Program
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Lucie Claire Vincent, a global leader in consumer products and an independent board director, to discuss the vital role of risk governance in board effectiveness. Lucie Claire shares insights from her distinguished career at Fortune 100 companies, her experience as an independent director, and her work with the Directors and Chief Risk Officers Institute (DCRO). Lucie Claire also delves into the importance of earning the Qualified Risk Director (QRD) designation and the impact it has on boardroom discussions and...
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75. Marc Schneider on Empowering Entrepreneurs and Building Mission-Driven Companies
On Boards Podcast
Episode Summary In this episode of On Boards, Joe and Raza welcome Marc Schneider, an accomplished e-commerce and fintech executive with decades of experience building and scaling mission-driven companies. Marc shares his entrepreneurial journey, including his tenure as co-founder and CEO of Zebit, a transformative e-commerce and fintech platform, and his current role as an Operating Venture Partner at Ulu Ventures. The discussion dives into governance challenges in venture-backed startups, the evolution of boards from early-stage to IPO, and how founders can effectively leverage board...
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74. Navigating Board Stages of Startup Boards: Insights from Chris Cuddy, Board Chair of ezCater
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, Chris Cuddy, a seasoned executive and board leader with over 25 years of experience growing technology-enabled companies in both the private and public sectors shares invaluable insights into the evolution of a company’s board as it progresses through different growth stages. He discusses how the board’s role shifts over time from hands-on support to formal governance. His unique perspective is informed by his extensive career, including key roles in companies like Cheapflights, Engage, and ezCater, as well as his background in consulting,...
info_outlineIn this episode, Bridget Ross talks about her career in life sciences and her most recent roles: CEO of a medical device startup, and independent board member of a medical device company; the difference between her private and public company board experience; and the challenge of growing into two new roles during the pandemic.
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Quotes
Separating serving as CEO from Board chair - ChroniSense Medical
I felt that the separation of the CEO and Board Chair role would diversify responsibility. It's a good check and balance for the CEO to have a separate board chair to oversee, to challenge, to support, to help ignite things that are important and help move us forward, break down barriers and support me on those things, or to help put the brakes on if they think I'm going too fast on something.
Big Ideas/Thoughts
Independent Board member as Board Chair of startup company
The intention originally was to find the right independent board member, who would be a good fit for our board, help us build our company culture, and who would have a strong background to support me during this early stage of company growth.
We found a really strong individual who we believed would be a terrific addition to our board. Then I proposed to my two current investors/board directors - We've got a really unique person with terrific experience who's an MD, holds an MBA and MPH, has raised capital as an entrepreneur, sits on other boards, is local, with impeccable education, and is a terrific person! She also happens to be female. I think she’d make an excellent board chair for us and that we should seriously consider naming her so.
We were looking for a great independent director and found an amazing board chair!
ChroniSense Medical
“ChroniSense is a company I joined at the beginning of the pandemic. I signed on and started in February 2020, flew to Israel, met with the group and I was… really impressed with the investors I'd be working with and the leadership team … . Just great people [and] great talent; smart, creative, great problem solvers, and meaningful technology…”
…”the opportunity for ChroniSense … how to support transition from the acute care settings into the community-type care, remote care, and how can we help with chronic care support / the variety of conditions that need to have ongoing management…”
“… this is not a consumer device, it's not a health and wellness device, it's a medical-grade monitoring device that we will put through the FDA offering medical-grade, on-demand, in-the-moment detailed information.”
LeMaitre
“I met the LeMaitre team right around the time I joined ChroniSense Medical as CEO in the late winter of 2020, and when this opportunity came about, I wanted to make sure that I could tackle both my first board role and my first CEO role which were happening at the same time. Luckily, my main investors appreciated the value of their CEO having other responsibilities like this, building other networks, so they very much supported the opportunity for me to join the LeMaitre board.”
Fuqua School of Business
I was at Fuqua recently; I'd been asked to guest lecture the second-year students of the life science sector at Duke. The last question I was asked was: What were you most surprised about when you took on these two roles, as CEO of ChroniSense and joined the board at LeMaitre?
And I said, "…I was…surprised at how much fun it is to learn these two different things I'd never done before, how much I'm enjoying it, how much I'm looking at it as… another chapter, and how you can have so much joy in every chapter of your professional life - whether it's being a second year student as an MBA here at Fuqua School of Business at Duke, or whether it's… carrying a bag for the first time, managing people for the first time, moving to a bigger country or a bigger role or global role, leaving a company, going to another company. I guess what I found so amazing is how much I've learned and how much I've enjoyed the different opportunities I have been afforded."