Executive Director of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics, RANE

Rodger Baker

Rodger Baker is the Executive Director of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, a global center of excellence for geopolitical intelligence and analysis. The Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics identifies, develops, and strengthens best practices in geopolitical analysis and offers tools, methods, and training to organizations and individuals as they integrate geopolitical factors into their business practices. Mr. Baker is one of the world’s leading experts on North Korea and has dedicated extended periods of time living and working in and around the Korean peninsula. His core emphasis is the multidisciplinary approach to geopolitics and the evolution of international relations to develop mid- and long-term forecasts to assist companies, governments and other globally engaged organizations make informed decisions.

Independent Board Member and Chair, Governance Committee, StoneAge Holdings, Inc.; Director, Games Global Limited; Board Advisor, Paloma Health; Venture Partner, Springtide Ventures

Sheila Bangalore

Sheila Bangalore is a board member and public company C-level executive with global business experience spanning public and private multinational technology (B2B/C), healthcare and specialty materials businesses over 20+ years. Presently, Ms. Bangalore serves as an independent board member and Chair of the Governance Committee for StoneAge Holdings, Inc., an ESOP company pioneering innovation for the mining, oil/gas and specialty materials sectors.  Ms. Bangalore also serves as an independent board member for Games Global Limited, a global gaming technology company which recently disclosed its intention to go public on the NYSE.  At Games Global, Ms. Bangalore serves as Chair of the Risk & Compliance Committee and as a member of the Nominations/Governance, Compensation and Audit Committees. Ms. Bangalore also serves as an active member of the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence Insights Council, a collective of global board members and executive leaders at the forefront of corporate governance.  In addition, Ms. Bangalore serves as a Venture Partner for Springtide Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investment in cutting-edge healthcare technology businesses.

Previously, Ms. Bangalore served as Chief Strategy Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of MP Materials (NYSE: MP), a regulated specialty materials company she helped take public in 2020. MP’s IPO raised $545 million in capital. At MP, Ms. Bangalore promoted business sustainability and optimization strategies while overseeing legal, compliance and corporate governance on behalf of the company. Prior to MP, spent close to 15 years in senior legal and business roles at Zappos.com, Aristocrat Technologies, and Bally Technologies. Ms. Bangalore received her MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; her Juris Doctorate from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis; and her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Tufts University.

Senior Advisor, KPMG Board Leadership Center, KPMG US

Annalisa Barrett

Annalisa Barrett is a Senior Advisor with the KPMG Board Leadership Center, where she advises directors on emerging corporate governance issues and conducts research to develop thought leadership on board composition and governance practices. She frequently speaks at conferences around the country addressing issues important to corporate directors, governance professionals, and investors. Annalisa has been quoted on corporate governance and board practices in the New York Times, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times, and her research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Prior to joining KPMG, Annalisa was CEO of Board Governance Research LLC. She was also a Senior Advisor for ValueEdge Advisors and Vice President and Senior Research Associate at The Corporate Library (now MSCI ESG Research). She previously was a Research Consultant in the Executive Compensation practice at Towers Perrin and a Tax Consultant in the Family Wealth Planning practice of Arthur Andersen.

Annalisa currently serves on the Women on Boards Advisory Council of the California Partners Project and the California Insurance Diversity Task Force. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Business, where she teaches graduate courses in corporate governance.

For over a decade, Annalisa has served on the board of the Corporate Directors Forum (CDF), which provides governance education and peer networking for corporate directors. In 2019, she was selected by her fellow directors to receive the C. Hugh Friedman CDF Board Member of the Year award. In 2008, she was named a Millstein Rising Star in Corporate Governance by the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School. She is a Scott M. Johnson Fellow of the US-Japan Leadership Program, a member of the International Corporate Governance Network, the Society for Corporate Governance, and the 30% Coalition. She holds an MBA with distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. She resides in San Diego, California with her husband and two children.

President, CEO & Board Member, WD-40 Company

Steve Brass

As president and chief executive officer of WD-40 Company, Steve is responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies, all operations, and the oversight of all relationships and partnerships for the company.

Steve is passionate about the power of learning, building a global business, and leveraging culture as a competitive advantage. Steve has been with the company since 1991 and most recently held the role of president and chief operating officer. Prior to that role, he held various management positions with the company, including division president (Americas) and chief brand officer, European commercial director, European sales director, director of continental Europe, country manager Germany and international area manager.

Steve is a native of the United Kingdom. He has a bachelor’s degree in French and German, and an executive MBA from the London Business School. Steve holds a certificate of excellence for attending the Chief Executive Officer program at UC Berkeley. In 2018, he was certified by Marshall Goldsmith as a Stakeholder Centered Coach.

Chief Executive Officer, Lynx Technology; Director, City First Bank; Director, Vital Energy Inc.; Trustee, Fleet Science Center

John Driver

John Driver is a Chief Executive, Independent Director, business strategist, and change agent with broad and diversified experience in large global, mid-market, and early- stage software companies. He has a foundation in software marketing and sales for matrixes and entrepreneurial organizations and direct experience in new product launches for first-to-market categories. In these roles, he held P&L accountability for established and pre-revenue businesses. Navigating complexity, delivering innovation through technology, creating new opportunities, and motivating international organizations to exceed business and operational objectives are hallmarks of his career.

Mr. Driver is an Independent Director at Broadway Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BYFC) and its subsidiary City First Bank, N.A., and Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE: VTLE). He is a member of the Audit, Nomination & Governance, Finance and Risk & Compliance Committees, is NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) Directorship Certified, and NACD Cybersecurity Oversight Certified. He has been a guest speaker on entrepreneurship and corporate directorship at Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley, and various corporate director events and seminars. Mr. Driver is a Mentor for the Black Corporate Board Readiness Program at Santa Clara University, a member of the 2024 Selection Committee for the 50 Women to Watch for Boards Campaign, a Board Member at 50/50 Women on Boards and a Board Member of the NACD Pacific Southwest chapter.

Currently, he leads Lynx Technology a Smart Home IoT and digital media technology firm powering a range of consumer electronics products. Mr. Driver’s specific expertise in international acquisitions and divestitures, allowed him to successfully execute a management buyout of the North American, European, and Japanese Connected Home business operations, including the transfer of the market leading Twonky™ media connectivity technology, from PacketVideo, a subsidiary of Japanese public company, NTT DOCOMO. Mr. Driver successfully completed the asset purchase agreement, which was approved by the PacketVideo Board of Directors due to his knowledge of and commitment to the business. His strong business and financial acumen enabled Lynx Technology to grow profitably. As a change agent, he outsourced the entire business operation, reducing overhead and increasing profitability. While continuing to develop the pioneering Twonky™ software platform, embedded in tens of millions of consumer electronics devices worldwide, he generated revenues to fund research and invest in new innovations.

Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of PacketVideo, a subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO, a global leader delivering innovative, digital media solutions to the world’s largest service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers. He led the company’s Connected Home business operations with full P&L responsibility across North America, Europe, Japan, and India while also driving global marketing strategy and its execution, which grew the division’s profitability.

Mr. Driver was the Senior Director of Global Field Marketing for Serena Software, a private equity-backed provider of SaaS enterprise software and services. He built and managed a new field marketing organization, with 8 global teams harnessing SEO, SEM, and other strategies to generate sales pipeline for new software license opportunities. At Sun Microsystems, he was the Corporate Leader of Sun’s Global Mid-Market Strategy targeting companies with $100M to $1B in revenues, which significantly increased market share.

Mr. Driver is a Trustee and former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fleet Science Center, former Chair of the Stanford Associates Board of Governors, and Board Member and Marketing Chair of the San Diego YMCA Overnight Camps. He is a recipient of a Director of the Year Award (2024) from the Corporate Directors Forum and a Stanford University Governor’s Award for exemplary and long-standing volunteer service. Mr. Driver earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He and his wife have three adult children and reside in greater San Diego, California.

Chief Executive Officer

Jessica N. Grounds

Jessica N. Grounds is an internationally recognized leadership expert and a visionary executive who has spurred movements of change across business and politics by developing the next generation of leaders.

Over her two-decade career, she has advised Fortune 500 executives, trained political candidates and governments worldwide, and conducted original research on leadership, all through the lens of gender diversity as a proven strategy for innovation and impact.

Jessica is the CEO of Corporate Directors Forum, which equips board directors, executives, and company decision-makers with training and tools designed to enhance their leadership effectiveness and corporate performance. She also serves on Nasdaq’s Center for Board Excellence Insights Council and recently served on UN Women’s We Empower G7 Programme.

Most recently, Jessica co-founded Mine The Gap, which partners with Fortune 500 companies, organizations, and government agencies to create more effective and inclusive workplaces. She also co-authored reports about the impact of SB 826, the first-in-the-nation legislation to require women board directors on publicly held companies headquartered in California, and served as an expert witness on related court cases.

Previously, she was the Executive Director of Running Start, an organization she co-founded that has trained thousands of young women to run for elected office. Jessica speaks regularly about the importance of advancing women and historically overlooked populations and the barriers to gender equity in leadership. She has trained women leaders from every region of the globe, including extensive work with women in Sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, and across Europe.

Jessica and her work have been profiled in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Roll Call, The Hill, NPR, ELLE, National Journal, Washington Post, San Diego Union Tribune, Politico, Marie Claire, and Forbes. She’s received awards including The New Guard: America’s 50 Most Influential Women by Marie Claire magazine, “40 Under 40” recipient by the American Association of Political Consultants, Outstanding Alumni Pepperdine University, and the 2022 Magis Award from Georgetown Business School.

Senior Director, Strategic Development, General Atomics

Zabrina Johal

Zabrina Johal is the Senior Director of Strategic Development at General Atomics, where she focuses on advancing national security and shaping the future of energy generation by driving intelligent, strategic decisions around the adoption of diverse energy sources. With over 20 years of experience leading high-impact projects in nuclear energy and cutting-edge technologies for military and commercial customers, Zabrina is passionate about leveraging innovation to enhance energy security. Her career began in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear engineering officer, where she led Tomahawk Strike Operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom and championed gender integration as the first female stationed on the USS Paul Hamilton. At General Atomics, she continues to apply her expertise to critical defense and energy initiatives. Zabrina holds multiple industry leadership positions and is committed to advancing nuclear science and sustainable energy solutions. She holds a Bachelor’s in Combined Sciences, multiple Master’s degrees, and is pursuing a doctorate in Leadership Studies, with a focus on policy decisions for California’s electricity grid.

Independent Director, The WD-40 Company, Liberty Safe, Rather Outdoors

Lara Lee

Lara Lee is an experienced independent director, board and committee chair, chief executive, and Fortune 50 officer, with extensive international experience and a focus on innovation and culture as drivers of growth. She is a recognized expert in strategic marketing, and an operator who has delivered P&L impact in high-growth, restructuring, and turnaround situations at Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and various private firms. Lee brings to the boardroom multi-industry experience dealing with channel, market, and digital disruption across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. She has been recognized as a “Director to Watch” by Directors & Boards, “Businesswoman of the Year” by The Silicon Valley Organization and “Master of Innovation” by Businessweek, and co-authored one of Harvard Business Review’s Top 10 Must Reads on Strategic Marketing. Lee has served on the boards of public and private company innovators, brand icons, and sustainability pioneers at all life stages, leading board oversight of ESG and chairing compensation and governance committees. She holds a B.A. in Chinese Language from Brown University, a Master’s in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton School, and is NACD Directorship Certified.

Chief People, Culture and Capability Officer, WD-40 Company

Jeff Lindeman

As chief people, culture and capability officer, Jeff is responsible for global oversight of the human resource function, and the coordination of strategy for global supply chain and quality functions.

Jeff has been with WD-40 Company since 2016 and has held various management positions including, director of human resources, information technology, supply chain and finance within the Company’s EIMEA segment. Prior to joining WD-40 Company, Jeff worked as the senior director of talent and engagement for San Diego International Airport from 2006 to 2016 and as a director of human resources at Pier 1 from 2000 to 2006.

Jeff received his Master of Science in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego and his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Walden University. He maintains a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential and serves on the SHRM Certification Commission, which oversees credentialing of human resources professionals around the world.

Director, PriceSmart; Professor of Management, Knauss School of Business, University of San Diego; Fmr. Dean, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace & Justice, University of San Diego

Patricia Márquez

Patricia Márquez has served as a director of PriceSmart since February 2021. From 2014 to 2023, Dr. Márquez was the Dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego (USD), where she also held the role of Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Innovation. She joined USD in 2007 as part of the Knauss School of Business, teaching courses such as “Business and Society,” “Business and Social Innovation,” and “Women in Management.” Her research primarily focuses on corporate social responsibility. Before joining USD, Dr. Márquez was a professor of management at IESA, a business school in Caracas, Venezuela, from 1995 to 2007, where she also served as dean from 2003 to 2005. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College and earned her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Board Member, Champion Homes Corporation; Board Member, Getaround Corp; Board Member, Data Axle

Nikul Patel

Mr. Nikul Patel (NACD.DC) is an experienced business operator and a board director. He is currently serving on the boards of Champion Homes (NYSE:SKY),  Getaround (GETR) and Data Axle, Inc. Mr. Patel also co-founded LoanGlide, Inc., an embedded financing platform for personal loans. Prior to that, he was Chief Strategy Officer of LendingTree, Inc. LendingTree operates an online consumer platform in the United States offering comparison shopping services for mortgage, credit card, personal loans, insurance and various other financing products. During his more than six-year tenure at LendingTree, he also held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer at various times. Prior to joining LendingTree, Mr. Patel held various other leadership positions in early stage start-ups and a variety of positions at Intel Corporation over a 12-year period. As an entrepreneur, he also co-founded Movoto.com, an online real estate search platform. Mr. Patel holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Florida Atlantic University.

Founder & Executive Director, Aspen Institute Business & Society Program

Judy Samuelson

Judy Samuelson is an author and executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, which she founded in 1998—with a plan to change how business schools prepare students for a new age in business.

Within three years, Enron had floundered on the failure of shareholder-first thinking, and Samuelson and her colleagues pivoted to engage hundreds of business executives and governance gurus in dialogue about public company priorities, shaping the provocative ideas captured in the Aspen Principles of Long-Term Value Creation (2007), and launching a ten year ten-year campaign to disrupt Milton Friedman’s narrative about corporate purpose. Other signature programs under Samuelson’s leadership include the Aspen Principles for Sensible and Effective Executive Pay, the First Mover Fellowship for change agents within business, and the Agenda for the Prepared Board (2023), which illuminates seven ideas designed to help directors refocus on what is needed now to create value for the future.

Samuelson previously worked in legislative affairs in California’s state capitol, banking in New York’s garment center, and as the director of impact investing for the Ford Foundation. She writes for Quartz@Work, is a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow, and a director of the Financial Health Network. A native Californian, she lives in New York City with her husband.

Managing Director, Pearl Meyer

Peter Thies

Peter Thies is a managing director with Pearl Meyer. Before joining Pearl Meyer, Peter was the co-founder and president of The River Group, a leadership and organization development firm. He has over 30 years of experience helping global companies implement strategic organizational changes. Present and past clients include public company CEOs and executives across numerous industries, including financial services, consumer products, healthcare, retail, industrial, professional services, telecommunications, and the nonprofit sector.

Peter was a senior client partner with Korn Ferry’s Leadership and Talent Consulting division and co-leader of the firm’s CEO succession practice. At Mercer Delta Consulting (now Oliver Wyman), Peter held several leadership positions during his 11-year tenure, including responsibility for consulting practice development, client relationship management, and client satisfaction processes. Peter also worked in Accenture’s change practice for several years.

Peter has published numerous articles in business journals and books on organizational change and is frequently quoted by the business media on CEO succession, executive development, and M&A integration.  He holds a PhD and an MBA in organizational behavior from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MS in educational psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in psychology from SUNY Albany.

CEO & Founder, Ingenuity; Board Member, Hut 8; Board Member, Innovate Corp.; Faculty, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Amy Wilkinson

Amy Wilkinson is founder and CEO of Ingenuity and a faculty member at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is a trailblazing innovation expert shaping new, technology-enabled business models that deliver growth at scale. Through her work at the highest levels of corporate, private equity, venture capital, and startups worldwide, she brings diverse stakeholders together to drive transformational change and deliver results. As a former White House trade advisor, Amy is also an expert on the increasingly turbulent impact of policymaking on companies’ global supply chains, profits, and competitiveness. Amy’s global perspective, strong financial acumen, and exceptional business judgement are hallmarks of her career.

As CEO of Ingenuity, Amy provides corporate C-suites with the tools to capture growth with start-up like agility. Ingenuity was launched in 2017 to help Fortune 500 companies identify growth opportunities and drive cutting edge results in the dynamic marketplace. Amy brings a wealth of experience to her clients that include Google, Salesforce, Cisco, Roche, Genentech, Edwards Lifesciences, Hearst, and Porsche, among others.

Based on her extensive experience with high growth ventures, Amy serves as an Independent Director of high-performance computing and digital assets company HUT8 (NASDAQ: HUT). She also serves as an Independent Director of Innovate (NYSE: VATE), a conglomerate of best-in-class assets in life sciences, infrastructure, and broadcast spectrum. Previously, Amy served as inaugural Board Chair of Europe’s fastest growing consumer tech company Grover, which provides an online platform for renting tech products through subscriptions. Amy has a unique ability to streamline complexity and quickly identify critical issues that require board level attention.

Amy’s business background is multipronged. She is the global best-selling author of The Creators Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs (Simon & Schuster, 2016).  Based on interviews with the top 200 entrepreneurs in the U.S., she distilled the mindset and skill set required to create and scale a breakout business. Previously, she served as a White House Fellow and Senior Trade Advisor to the Cabinet-ranked United States Trade Representative, and as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, and a mergers and acquisitions banker at J.P. Morgan. She also founded and led cross-border export business Alegre. Amy began her career as Chief of Protocol for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

In recognition of her leadership and expertise, Amy has been an ‘Expert on Innovation’ for the World Economic Forum since 2016, and an ‘Expert on Leadership and Small Business’ for the Wall Street Journal since 2015. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a sought-after keynote speaker and commentator, who is at the forefront of shaping national conversations on innovation, international business, and global economics.

Amy earned her BA, MA, and MBA from Stanford University and held a 5-year research appointment as a Senior Fellow at Harvard University from 2009 to 2015.

CEO & Founder of the Flex+Strategy Group

Cali Williams Yost

Cali Williams Yost is one of the world’s most trusted and experienced authorities on high performance work flexibility. A visionary workplace futurist, strategist, author, and keynote speaker, Yost is the Founder and CEO of the Flex+Strategy Group, a solutions company that helps organizations unlock high levels of performance and well-being by reimagining how, when, and where work is done.

Called “one of the most sophisticated thinkers” on the transformation of work by The New York Times, her commentary frequently appears in the media, including in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USA TODAY, NPR, CNN, and NBC Nightly News.

For nearly three decades, Yost has pioneered the exploration of the future of work and flexibility, predicting multiple workplace trends and designing a proprietary framework that drives operational change for impact.

She helps leaders build dynamic, high performing flexible organizations that attract and retain an engaged, diverse workforce; increase productivity and innovation; enhance employee well-being, and adapt rapidly to disruption.

Clients include: Columbia University, Stanford University, Sanofi, HSBC, the IMF, Con Edison, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Quest Diagnostics, BDO USA, UBS Americas, National Institutes of Health, Freddie Mac, the Singapore Government, the United Nations, Columbia University, and NYU.

A former commercial banker, who approaches flexible work transformation as a strategic business imperative, Yost graduated with honors from Columbia Business School, where she’s noted as an alumnus “Changing the World.” In 2018, Yost was named one of the global management thinkers “On the Radar” by Thinkers50, and she has been cited as one of Forbes’s 40 Women to Watch Over 40.

Yost’s work meets at the intersection of strategy, infrastructure, and a culture of shared leadership. It is rooted in original research on the skills individuals need to flexibly “fit” their work and life together to be their best on and off the job.

She coined and codified her concepts of finding success in the flexible future of work in the empowering book, Tweak It: Make What Matters to You Happen Every Day (Hachette, 2013) and the critically-acclaimed, Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2004).

In 2024, Yost was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices and awarded distinction as one of the world’s top future of work influencers by Remote.com. Yost lives in the NYC metro area with her husband, two Gen-Z daughters and sits on the Board of a local YMCA.