Boyden's Keith D. Dorsey and Beverly Cole join as speakers for The Private Company Governance Summit

The Private Company Governance Summit 2023 will wrestle with the various types of board/CEO relationships, and focus on tools and approaches that will strengthen the effectiveness of both directors and the C-suite.

MASTERING THE BOARD/CEO RELATIONSHIP

The most critical factor in the success of a private company board is the relationship between the CEO and board members. In a publicly owned company, the principal roles of the board are to hire and fire the CEO.

But this is not usually the case in a private company. So much can be in play:

• Is the CEO an owner (or the owner)?
• Is the board advisory or fiduciary?
• Is the board composed of only “insiders,” or is it balanced with independent directors?
• Do the shareholders want the board to be active or passive?

Learn more or register here. 

Join for a powerful discussion with Keith D. Dorsey, EdD, Managing Partner, Boyden for Concurrent Session: Board Composition and Board Evaluation. 

Board composition and board evaluation go hand in hand. A board can not be successful without having the right personnel. That means diverse directors — in background and experience — who can offer varying and valuable points of view. That means directors in emerging risk areas, such as geopolitical risk, cybersecurity and talent. But getting the right directors is only half the battle. Once you have the right personnel, you have to determine if you are using them correctly. The days of asking your directors for a show of hands on whether you had a decent meeting are long gone. These days, gauging the effectiveness of the board means evaluating on board-to-CEO, CEO-to-board and peer-to-peer points of view.

As well, Beverly Cole, Partner, Boyden joins Concurrent Session: What Are the Best Questions for a Director to Ask During the Board Meeting?

It is the responsibility of every director to be informed on the issues that most affect the companies they serve. Does that mean being an expert on cybersecurity or the intricacies of geopolitical risk? Not necessarily. But a director must be well-versed enough to “know what they don’t know”…and ask the questions of management that can bring them closer to fluency in those areas. Here are the best queries for directors to bring to the table at their board meetings.

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Dr. Keith D. Dorsey is a managing partner at Boyden and an NACD-certified director and is a director of Vimly Benefit Solutions, Pepperdine University’s Graziado Business School, the City of La Quinta’s Financial Advisory Commission and Pacific Crest Trail Association. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a graduate of Santa Clara University’s Black Corporate Board Readiness program. An accomplished author, Dorsey currently serves as managing partner and U.S. practice leader of CEO and board services at Boyden. His educational background includes a doctor of education in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Pepperdine University. He is also a military veteran, having served his country for five years in the U.S. Air Force. Read more here.

Beverly Cole is a partner at Boyden, former director of Bank OZK and a former board member and investment committee chair of Founders First Capital Partners LLC. She serves on the economic advisory council and as a member of the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence in association with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Nasdaq. Her varied past experience includes terms as a liquidation specialist of small business investment corporations for the U.S. Small Business Administration, a bank regulator for the FDIC and a strategic sourcing manager for The Walt Disney Company. A holder of Stanford University’s corporate board certification, Cole is a graduate from Boston University, with an MBA in finance, marketing and real estate from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Fordham University School of Law. Read more here. 

PCGS OFFERS

The tools to develop roadmaps for high-performing fiduciary and advisory boards.

• Speakers who are private company owners and shareholders or serving directors, sharing practical, real-world experience.
• Immediately usable takeaways
• Expertly facilitated peer group discussions on key governance issues.
• Sessions aimed at newer boards and more mature boards
• Networking and relationships with other owners, shareholders and directors.
• A powerful conference app for quick access to program details, attendee information, resource center materials and session speakers. App powered by Govenda.

ABOUT PCGS

The Private Company Governance Summit, now in its 11th year, is the only national conference focused exclusively on governance excellence for privately held, family-owned and private-equity invested companies. More than 750 middle-market private companies have participated in PCGS to develop new governance strategies and benchmark their own board progress against best-in-class private company boards.