2024 Board-Ready Women’s Event

Name: 2024 Board-Ready Women’s Event
Start: 2024-05-09T09:00:00-07:00
End: 2024-05-09T15:30:00-07:00
Location: Tetra Hotel

Sponsored by Egon Zehnder and Morgan Stanley

View Event Recap Document

Women who have achieved great success in their corporate leadership role often look for other ways to expand their careers and experience and finding a great fit on a public board of directors may be one opportunity. But finding the first public board is often a daunting task. We will bring together some of the most successful female directors to learn how they navigated this career path and are contributing to public boards.

Speakers

Jon Carter

Egon Zehnder

Jon Carter

Jon Carter guides recruitment for global technology and communications clients and has particular expertise in the semiconductor, systems, enterprise software and networking sectors. He was a founding member of Egon Zehnder’s Palo Alto office and is active in the Technology and Communications and Board Consulting practices. Jon specializes in board director search and board effectiveness reviews, as well as CEO succession planning.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Jon was Director of Europe for SuperMac, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of computer graphics peripherals. Previously, he was a Senior Associate with Broadview, a leading technology investment bank. Jon began his career at Scicon, a global provider of IT services and software, where he held engineering and project management roles while based in London, Palo Alto, and Washington, D.C.

Jon has an MA in computer science from Cambridge University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is an avid traveler and has ridden his motorcycle across deserts and mountains on six continents.

Rachel Williams

Egon Zehnder

Rachel Williams

Based in Dallas, Rachel Williams is active in Egon Zehnder’s Semiconductors and Technology Practices, applying her extensive leadership experience to help midsized and large companies in this fast-paced industry grow and advance while serving clients worldwide and improving people’s lives. In addition to working with CEOs and business leaders, she has a unique ability to help CFOs and Supply Chain Executive unlock their full potential for reshaping and driving their organizations. Rachel also has considerable experience and insights in investment banking, FinTech, and wealth management and is a sought-after advisor to executives in these industries.

Before joining Egon Zehnder, Rachel held the posts of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Avantax Wealth Management in Dallas. Before that she served as Senior Director of Finance and Operations at Texas Instruments, working in Dallas, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Rachel began her career as an investment banking analyst at Bear Stearns in New York.

Rachel earned a BS in finance and accounting from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. She has also completed the Leadership Women America and Leadership Women Texas programs. Outside her work, Rachel is passionate about promoting confidence, leadership, and STEM education in young girls; this includes leading the Girl Scout troop that one of her two daughters belongs to and previously sat on the board of High Tech High Heels, a nonprofit organization devoted to closing the gender gap in STEM careers. To stay active, she enjoys running in marathons and exploring the great outdoors.

Mark Edelstone

Morgan Stanley

Mark Edelstone

Chairman of Global Semiconductor Investment Banking
Morgan Stanley

Mark Edelstone is a Managing Director and Chairman of Global Semiconductor Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley. During his career, he has worked as a portfolio manager, equity research analyst and investment banker, and has specialized in the semiconductor and technology sectors since 1989. Since then, he has helped many clients meet their strategic objectives and address their challenges.

During his investment banking career, Mark has advised dozens of companies on M&A transactions valued at more than $500 billion, including Xilinx’s $50Bn sale to AMD, Freescale’s $12Bn sale to NXP, Cypress Semiconductor’s $10Bn sale to Infineon and Analog Device’s $21Bn acquisition of Maxim. Beyond M&A, he has led 30 IPOs and helped dozens of companies raise more than $250 billion in the debt and equity capital markets. In 2020, Mark was ranked as the second leading M&A banker on the street by Business Insider.

As a research analyst, Mark was selected as an all-star analyst by Institutional Investor magazine for his research coverage of the semiconductor industry for 11 consecutive years. In addition, he was selected five times for the Wall Street Journal’s Stock Picking Award within “The Best on the Street Survey”. During 1999 and 2001, Mark was listed by First Call Corp. as the most-read securities analyst in the world. Prior to his career as a research analyst, Mark founded a money management company that specialized in asset allocation in 1986.

Mark received his undergraduate degree in Political Economics from the University of California and holds an MBA in Finance, with a concentration in Investments from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He is a co-founder of the dual-degree Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology Program at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, he is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Market Technician.

Melissa Knox

Morgan Stanley

Melissa Knox

Managing Director, Head of Global Software Investment Banking Morgan Stanley Melissa brings over 18 years of investment banking experience and has advised on some of the largest and most transformative transactions in Technology.

Representative M&A transactions include:

Qualtrics sale to Silver Lake	Blue Coat sale to Symantec
Sumo Logic sale to Francisco Partners	EDS sale to HP
CDK Software sale to Brookfield	Twilio’s acquisition of Segment
Zipwhip sale to Twilio	Qualtrics’ acquisition of Clarabridge
Sendgrid sale to Twilio	Okta’s acquisition of Auth0
Pathwire (Mailgun/Mailjet) sale to Sinch	Splunk’s acquisitions of Phantom and Caspida
Vertafore sale to Roper	Vista’s acquisition of Pluralsight
Forescout sale to Advent and Crosspoint	Textura sale to Oracle
Navex sale to BC Partners	Mitchell sale to Stone Point

In addition, Melissa has led prominent IPOs for Software industry leaders, including Samsara, Smartsheet, Qualtrics, Instructure, Zscaler, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, Palo Alto Networks, SumoLogic, Domo, Cloudflare, Guidewire, Forescout; and led debt and equity offerings for Workday, ServiceNow, Okta, Splunk, Twilio, Palo Alto Networks, Atlassian, among other Tech leaders. Prior to her career in banking, Melissa worked in Corporate Finance at HP. Melissa holds a BA degree in business economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Melissa is on the Board of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Panel Discussion

Moderator

Glenda Dorchak

Board Member
Ansys, GlobalFoundries, Wolfspeed

CEO
GMD Enterprises

Glenda Dorchak

Board Member of Ansys, GF, Wolfspeed
CEO of GMD Enterprises

Glenda currently serves as an independent Director on the boards of Ansys, Global Foundries and Wolfspeed. Her board practice is focused on software and semiconductor companies that navigate complex global ecosystems, fierce competition and increasingly complex customer requirements through innovation, technological leadership, exceptional talent and outstanding execution. Glenda serves on committees for strategy, audit, nom-gov and people/compensation in member and chair roles. Prior boards included Mellanox (acquired by nVidia), Quantenna (acquired by On Semi), and Mirametrix (acquired by Lattice Semi). She has served on the industry boards of the Computing Technology Industry Association, Academy of Technology CEOs, Silicon Valley Leadership Group and been an advisor to OMERS private equity and BDC.

Starting at IBM Glenda gained a broad operating background that led to executive roles in global business and product functions and launched her general management career path. After IBM she become President of e-retailer Value America and after it’s IPO became Chairman and CEO launching a partnership with Intel which, after VA’s acquisition by Merisel, launched her semiconductor career. Glenda joined Intel as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Intel Communications Group which shepherded the launch of global Wifi and the communications fabric that powers today’s connected world. She became the first woman appointed Group General Manager at Intel and the first to helm an IDF keynote, leading business groups that produced ground-breaking products, central to the IOT and digital world ramp. Other operating roles included CEO of VirtualLogix Software (acquired by Red Bend Software) and EVP and Global GM of Spansion (acquired by Cypress Semiconductor)..

Glenda is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Silicon Valley Directors Xchange, and World 50 and regularly mentors new and aspiring directors. She also serves on the board of the San Jose Museum of Art, where she was board chair from 2020 to 2023.

Panelists

Maggie
Wilderotter

Board Chair
DocuSign

Board Member
Costco Wholesale Corporation,
Sana Biotechnology,
Tanium,
Sonoma Biotherapeutics

Maggie Wilderotter

Board Chair
DocuSign

Board Member
Costco Wholesale Corporation,
Sana Biotechnology,
Tanium,
Sonoma Biotherapeutics

Maggie Wilderotter is a seasoned executive who, as CEO, has led both Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in her career. In addition, she has extensive Board leadership serving on over 35 public company and 14 private company Boards of Directors.

Today, Maggie serves on the public boards of Costco Wholesale Corporation, Sana Biotechnology, and is Board Chair at DocuSign. She serves on the private boards of Tanium, and Sonoma Biotherapeutics. In addition, Maggie is also a Senior Advisor to a number of companies including Accenture, Okta, the Blackstone Group, Atairos Private Equity, Sixth Street Partners, American Century Investments, Celonis, Garden City, GEP, SHRM and she Co-Chairs the Bank of America Executive Mentor Program with CEO Brian Moynahan.
Maggie was Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Communications from November, 2004 to April, 2015, and then Executive Chairman of the company until April, 2016. During her tenure with Frontier, the company grew from a regional telephone company with customer revenues of less than $1 billion to a national broadband, voice and video provider with operations in 29 states and annualized revenues in excess of $10 billion.

Previously, her career included being the Senior Vice President of Global Business Strategy and ran the Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft. Before this, she was President and CEO of Wink Communications Inc., Executive Vice President of National Operations for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Chief Executive Officer of AT&T’s Aviation Communications Division, and a Senior Vice President of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.

Maggie previously served on the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) as both Vice Chairman and Chairman during her 4-year tenure ending in 2014. Mrs. Wilderotter also served until January, 2017 on the President’s special Commission responsible for a recommendation report to the new President of the United States on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.
Her educational credentials include a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross. She has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Rochester.

Penny
Herscher

Board Chair
Lumentum

Board Chair
SGH – Smart Global Holdings

Board Member
FORVIA, Modern Health

Penny Hirscher

Board Chair
Lumentum

Board Chair
SGH – Smart Global Holdings

Board Member
FORVIA, Modern Health

Penny is an experienced Silicon Valley technology executive, entrepreneur and public company board director. She chairs two public company boards here in Silcon Valley and serves on the board of a tier one French automotive company in Paris. With over 15 years as a high-tech CEO and over 18 years serving on public company boards, Penny’s experience includes building global advanced technology products, go-to-market teams and revenue. She took her first company, Simplex, public in 2001, sold it in 2002 and then led her second company, FirstRain, until 2015 when she stepped back from being a CEO. In addition to her board work she also volunteers as a coach to CEOs, executives, new board directors and entrepreneurs to help them achieve business and career growth. She has a BA Hons, MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University.

Alyssa
Henry

Board Member
Intel, Confluent.io

Alyssa Henry

Board Member
Intel corporation

Board Member
Confluent.io

Former CEO
Square

Former VP
Amazon Web Services Storage Services

Alyssa Henry serves on the board of directors of Intel corporation and Confluent.io. She is the former CEO of Square, a technology company that helps sellers more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce, staff, customer, and banking solutions. Prior to Square, she served in various leadership positions with Amazon.com, Inc. from 2006 to 2014, including as Vice President of Amazon Web Services Storage Services, where she led services including Amazon S3, Amazon EBS, and Amazon Lambda. Before Amazon, she spent 12 years at Microsoft Corporation working on databases and data access technologies in a variety of engineering, program management, and product unit management roles. She also served as a member of the board of directors of Unity Technologies from November 2018 to November 2022.

Sylvia
Acevedo

Board Member
Qualcomm, Credo Technologies, Ambri Battery Inc

Sylvia Acevedo

Board Member
Qualcomm Inc, Credo Technologies, Ambri Battery Inc

Sylvia Acevedo is an experienced independent board member, currently serving on two public boards, Qualcomm Inc, and Credo Technologies and a privately held company, Ambri Battery Inc. Previously she served on two private company boards, Dynamic Signal, a SaaS employee communications company and Synergis Education, a higher ed services company. Sylvia has a proven track record as a CEO and has been highly awarded for her success in a variety of industries, technology, education, federal government and national non-profits.

In 2020, Sylvia joined the Board of Directors of Qualcomm Inc, a leading Fortune 150 company, where she is a member of the governance committee. During this time, the board has overseen a CEO selection and transition, two major strategic acquisitions, critical global supply chain strategies and record levels of profitability.

In December 2021, Sylvia joined the board of Credo Technologies and serves as the Chair of the Governance Committee. In January 2022, Credo was the only tech company to successfully go public. In September 2022, Sylvia joined the board of Ambri Battery Inc, a non-Lithium liquid battery company for solar and wind energy storage.

Sylvia served on the board of Dynamic Signal, Inc., a privately held SaaS platform company that merged with Social Chorus through a private equity deal funded by Sumeru Equity in 2021. Sylvia played a key role in working with the lead VC and CEO on a negotiation strategy that increased the final acquisition price.

From 2014-17, Sylvia served on the board of Synergis Education, Inc., a higher education services company. During this time, the company successfully repositioned its services for the healthcare education licensure market. Sylvia has served on multiple nonprofit boards, including 8 years on the national board of the Girl Scouts of the USA where she served on the executive committee before becoming CEO. Sylvia was the Chair of the Austin Community Foundation, where she served on the board for 8 years.

Prior to becoming CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, Sylvia held executive roles at Apple, Dell, IBM and Autodesk and was a White House Commissioner in the Obama administration. Sylvia started her career as a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs where she worked on the Voyager 2 mission. A trailblazer in the tech industry, Sylvia was known to lead organizations to higher levels of performance through strategic planning, ability to break into new markets and profitable growth. An entrepreneur, she was a co-founder of REBA Technologies, a software company that was acquired.

Sylvia will earn her ESG certification in April 2023 through Competent Boards. Sylvia earned a Bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering with Honors from New Mexico State University and a Master’s in Industrial Engineering degree from Stanford University. Sylvia was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Duke University (2022) and an Honorary Doctorate from Washington College. (2020)

Robin
Abrams

Board Chair
FactSet

Board Member
Lattice Semiconductor, HCL Technologies, Ltd.

Interim Board Trustees Chair
Natcast

Robin Abrams

Board Chair
FactSet

Board Member
Lattice Semiconductor, HCL Technologies, Ltd.

Interim Board Trustees Chair
Natcast

Robin Abrams brings more than 30 years of experience in building and developing high tech companies to her work as a board member. Her experience includes executive positions at Norwest Banks (now Wells Fargo), Unisys, and Managing Director Apple Asia where she led teams to open the China and India Markets for Apple Computer. Robin has served as CEO of several companies including VeriFone, Palm Computing and Zilog. She has been a “hired gun” for investors and completing temporary executive assignments for to Chemdex (Kleiner Perkins), BlueKite (TPG) and Connection to eBay (Accenture). Robin currently serves on several public company boards: HCL Technologies, FactSet Research and Lattice Semiconductor. Robin was recently named to the Natcast, Inc. board one of the CHIPS Act companies. In addition to her public company board work, Robin focuses on two primary non-profit activities affordable housing and public school financing.