According to the Wall Street Journal, SurveyMonkey announced on May 8th, 2015, one week after the sudden death of its CEO, David Golberg, that Zander Lurie, a GoPro Executive, would step in as its interim Executive Chair for the board for three months while the company searches for a new CEO, inside and outside the […]
CEO Succession Planning: The Elephant in the Boardroom
As I shared in my article “Succession Planning: A Strategic Imperative,” proactively and thoughtfully addressing succession planning minimizes chaos when confronted with the unpredictable and the uncontrollable, and it enables a smoother leadership transition for the organization overall. While succession planning for all leaders of the Pivotal Leadership TrioTM (PLT-Board, CEO/Executive Director, Executive Team) needs […]
Board Governance Education & Certification
Until few years ago many corporate, private and non-profit boards lacked a formal board education program. To this day, many non-profit boards underestimate the need for board members to understand how their type of board should be optimally governed and what their individual roles entail vis-à-vis ensuring good governance. Many private boards, particularly the boards […]
What Makes Great Boards?
Great boards deliver on their core mission of providing strong oversight and strategic support for management’s efforts to create long-term value for the organization. To do so, the members of the board, the directors that are recruited, must be independent thinkers who can collaborate with their peers and provide a value-add with relevant experience and […]
Critical Guidelines for A Strategic Approach to Board Composition (Part 2 of 2)
Just like a football team lays out its strategy for a game, you need to have a total picture of who needs to be around the board table. In my previous post, “Critical Guidelines for A Strategic Approach to Board Composition (Part 1 of 2),” I addressed the reasons behind this and some considerations to […]




