Balancing Act: Redefining Modern Boards through Diversity and Skills

Dennis Arriola

Mr. Arriola is an Operating Partner at Sandbrook Capital. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) from 2020 until 2022. He joined Avangrid from Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a publicly traded utility and energy infrastructure company, where he served as executive vice president and group president, and chief sustainability officer. Throughout his career, Mr. Arriola has served in a broad range of leadership positions in gas and electric utilities as well as renewables, including as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Southern California Gas Co., senior vice president and chief financial officer of both San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co., vice president of communications and investor relations for Sempra, and regional president and general manager of Sempra’s South American operations. Mr. Arriola also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) from 2008 until 2012.

Mr. Arriola serves on the board of directors of ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH) and the Automobile Club of Southern California. He previously served on the boards of Avangrid, Inc., the California Latino Economic Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the California Business Roundtable, the Edison Electric Institute, and the boards of several Sempra operating companies, including Infraestructura Energética Nova, a publicly traded company in Mexico, Luz del Sur SAA, a publicly traded company in Peru, and Chilquinta Energía in Chile.

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 matrixed and entrepreneurial organizations and direct experience in new product launches for first-to-market categories. In these roles he has held P&L accountability for established and pre-revenue businesses. Navigating complexity, delivering innovation, and creating new opportunities within the IoT (Internet of Things) market are hallmarks of his career.

Mr. Driver serves as Independent Director at Broadway Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: BYFC) and its wholly owned subsidiary City First Bank, N.A., and Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE: VTLE, formerly Laredo Petroleum, Inc. NYSE: LPI). He is a member of the Audit, Nomination & Governance, Finance and Risk & Compliance Committees for these boards. 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 have enabled Lynx Technology to grow profitably. As a change agent, he outsourced the entire business operation, reducing overhead and increasing profitability. In addition, continuing to develop the pioneering Twonky™ software platform, embedded in tens of millions of consumer electronics devices worldwide, generates revenues to fund research and invest in new innovations, ultimately expanding Lynx’s footprint in the IoT market.

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 $265M provider of SaaS and on-premises 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 a $36M pipeline in new license opportunities for global sales. Earlier, he advanced at Sun Microsystems in the Global Marketing organization. He was the Corporate Leader of Sun’s Global Mid-Market Strategy and team targeting companies with $100M to $1B in revenues, which significantly increased market share.

Community service has always been a priority for Mr. Driver. He is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fleet Science Center in San Diego. He is the former Chair of the Stanford Associates Board of Governors in Palo Alto, and Board Member and Marketing Chair of the San Diego YMCA Overnight Camps. Mr. Driver is a recipient of the Stanford Governor’s Award for exemplary and long-standing volunteer service to Stanford University. He is also a Guest Lecturer for the Stanford Department of Management Science & Engineering.

Mr. Driver holds an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. He is NACD Directorship Certified^TM, earned the NACD Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight, and is a member of the Central San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife have three grown children and reside in greater San Diego.

Dr. Becky Petitt

Dr. Becky Petitt joined UC San Diego in March 2015 and brings over 25 years of progressive administrative experience in equity, diversity, and inclusion work across the higher education community. Prior to UC San Diego, she served as the Associate Vice President and Chief of Staff for the Office of Diversity at Texas A&M University, and served as adjunct faculty in the College of Education and Human Development with scholarship focused on diversity in higher education, cultural competence, organizational development, and inclusive teaching and learning.

As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Petitt provided vision and leadership for Texas A&M University’s Diversity Plan, which is acknowledged as a national exemplar of sustainable institutional change.

She is a nationally recognized consultant, specializing in equity and diversity in higher education, organizational learning and organizational change. Her influence extends across the academy and well beyond.

She holds a bachelor of science in psychology and received both a master’s and doctorate in education from Texas A&M University.

Beth Sasfai

Beth’s practice focuses on advising public and private companies, investment funds and their boards in a broad range of corporate matters, with an emphasis on their ESG matters, including sustainability reporting, board oversight and disclosure controls, and shareholder and stakeholder engagement. She has extensive experience developing robust environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies and driving forward a wide range of ESG initiatives, from corporate governance and board affairs to ESG reporting and shareholder engagement issues – and more.

Before joining Cooley, Beth served as Verizon’s senior vice president, governance and chief ESG officer. While at Verizon, she was responsible for the company’s ESG strategy, disclosure and related stakeholder advocacy while leading a cross-functional team of lawyers and sustainability professionals responsible for corporate governance policy and board affairs; ESG commitments, reporting and engagement; business and human rights; digital trust and safety; compliance with corporate and securities laws; legal support to investor relations and external reporting; and advising on other general corporate matters. She also served as a management liaison to the Corporate Governance and Policy Committee of the Verizon board of directors, the committee charged with overseeing sustainability, governance, public policy and reputational risk.

Previously, Beth was vice president and associate general counsel, litigation for Verizon corporate. In that role, she was responsible for litigation and dispute resolution nationally for Verizon’s corporate, wireline, wireless, and enterprise and government businesses.

Beth has more than 20 years of experience, including a strong background in regulatory, governance, public policy and corporate litigation. Before joining Verizon, Beth also practiced in the corporate and litigation groups of prominent New York City law firms.