THREE CRITICAL SECURITY TRENDS EVERY CEO NEEDS TO KNOW By Theresa Schwab Recently a manufacturing company came to me wanting assistance with their network. Apparently, the company who sold the network equipment was only good at installation, but not as good with supporting the equipment. Installing security equipment without properly configuring it is like driving a [...]

WHETHER BY SUCCESSION OR SEARCH, BOARDS NEED TO BE READY FOR A CEO CHANGE By Jamie Ferguson One of the most commonly overlooked responsibilities by Boards of Directors is a strategically planned and executed succession plan. Surprisingly, as governance is one of the board’s most crucial responsibilities, 60 percent of large U.S. companies’ HR Directors [...]

6 “RIGHTS” TO DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE EARLY-STAGE BOARD By Hal Shear After the money’s in – be it angel, VC or self-funding – and the dust settles, early-stage companies can create a path to success by establishing winning governance practices. Best practices in corporate governance represent not only those practices that comply with the letter [...]

MAKING EDUCATION EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS By Julián Castro I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to have attended and graduated from a great college and law school. But the most enduring memory of my scholastic career dates back to when I was 11 or 12 years old.  My brother and I were sitting with our mother [...]

By David J. Lineman One of the growing business risks facing companies today is the possibility of a damaging data breach or cyber attack. Since 2005, over 3200 reported breaches have exposed over 500 million records, generating millions in fines and hundreds of embarrassing headlines. So how can board members know if their management team [...]

By Peggy A. Heeg If asked to identify the most significant provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Consumer Protection Act, few executives would identify the Act’s whistleblower provisions. Yet the whistleblower provisions – by creating incentives for employees to circumvent internal reporting mechanisms and raise issues directly with the government – may prove to [...]

By Lois Melbourne High-profile companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Sarah Lee have made headlines lately as top executives have stepped down amid scandals, product faux pas and health issues, respectively. What do these high-profile departures have in common? They were all quick and unexpected. If each of these companies had the foresight to build [...]

Now more than ever, though, directors, shareholders, politicians, regulators and the general public expect those at the helm of Corporate America to eliminate the risk of adverse events.