Get on Board: Inside the Board of Directors

#WESTboard

If you would like to serve on a board, are already on a board, or work with a board, join us for Get on Board! The panelists are directors of both for-profit and nonprofit organization boards, and will address issues relating to service as directors, including the combinations of skills and experiences that boards are seeking, how to best position yourself for nonprofit or for-profit board candidacy, resources available to help you identify and take advantage of both paid and volunteer board opportunities, what it’s like to serve as a director on a board, and issues particular to women on boards.

Panel Discussion and Networking with the following women:

D’Anne Hurd is an SEC financial expert, risk mitigation authority and governance architect with two decades of board experience leading companies in diverse industries through complex M&A, regulatory/legal, and strategic direction challenges to realize full shareholder value. She leverages her corporate CFO and Fortune 500 financial management background to put companies’ financial and governance houses in order. She has served on three public and four private corporate boards—including as Lead Independent Director and Chair of Governance, Audit, Finance and Compensation committees—in the defense electronics, communications technology, pharmaceutical, biotech, medical devices, software and travel technology industries. She currently serves as a governance consultant, advising boards for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Ms. Hurd is currently on the board of Hiperos, LLC, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) supply chain risk management provider, on the Industry Advisory Board of Myomo, Inc., a medical technology company, and on the board of Tripzon, Inc., an innovative early-stage travel technology platform. She also serves as board chair for Monzite Corporation, a contract manufacturer of high-value, low-volume microelectronic systems for demanding, regulated markets.

Alison Lawton is currently COO of OvaScience. She has more than 28 years of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience, including 21 years at Genzyme Corporation and seven years in the U.K. at Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis. Prior to OvaScience, she was Senior Vice President and General Manager at Sanofi Biosurgery (formerly Genzyme Biosurgery), where she was responsible for three separate franchises, including surgical, cell therapy and regenerative medicine, and orthopedics. Prior to Genzyme Biosurgery, Ms. Lawton was Senior Vice President of Global Market Access for Genzyme, which involved leadership across several of Genzyme's global functional organizations including regulatory affairs and corporate quality systems, policy programs, health outcomes and strategic pricing, patient safety and risk management, and biomedical process excellence and training. She served two terms as the industry representative on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Cell & Gene Therapy Advisory Panel, and was past President and Chair of Board of RAPS (Regulatory Affairs Professional Society). Ms. Lawton is currently a Board member of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Verastem, Inc.

Ellen Richstone is a former CEO of a private company and CFO of both public and private companies including a Fortune 500 company (Rohr Aerospace), Honeywell Bull, Augat, Brooks Automation and Luminus Devices and was Corporate Treasurer of Data General earlier in her career. From a Board perspective, she has sat on boards for the last 15 years including both private- small startup ventures all the way up to S&P 500 companies (American Power Conversion- APC- until its sale). Her industry backgrounds span: Computer-Software/Hardware; Communications; Clean Tech, Medical Devices, industrial products, lighting and Semi-Conductors with some experience in Consumer Products, automotive, aerospace, Life Science Tools and financial services. Ellen currently sits on several corporate boards (OPEX Engine-Software, ProTeck- Financial Services, and a soon-to-be-press-released Medical Device Company). In addition, Ellen was named to the Board of the National Association of Corporate Directors (in New England) where she chairs the Program Committee. In 2013, Ellen received the Distinguished Director Award from the Corporate Directors Group, an organization made up of 1400 public company directors nationwide. Ellen was also named by Agenda to the Top 100 Board Diversity Candidates in the US.

Sophie Vandebroek has been Xerox’s Chief Technology Officer and the President of the Xerox Innovation Group since 2006. She is responsible for overseeing Xerox’s research centers in Europe, Asia, Canada and US as well as the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC Inc.). Previously, Dr. Vandebroek was Chief Engineer of Xerox Corporation and Vice President of the Xerox Engineering Center, technical advisor to Xerox's chief operating officer and Director of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. Dr. Vandebroek is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, a Fulbright Fellow and a Fellow of the Belgian-American Educational Foundation. She holds 14 US patents. Dr. Vandebroek has received awards from Xerox, IBM, HP, Monsanto, the Belgium National Science Foundation, Semiconductor Research Corporation, IEEE, and Cornell University. Dr. Vandebroek was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and elected into the Royal Flemish Academy for Arts & Sciences. Dr. Vandebroek is a member of the Board of Directors of Analogic Corporation and IDEXX Laboratories. She also serves on the advisory council of the dean of Engineering at MIT.

Date and Time:
January 22, 2014
6:00 - 9:00 PM

Location:

Microsoft, One Cambridge Center, 4th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142

Map and Parking Information

We appreciate Microsoft donating the use of their event space.