15 Influential Tech Board Members
The board of directors' primary responsibility is to protect the assets of shareholders, trying to ensure they receive a strong return on their investments. In some cases, directors include venture capitalists or angel investors who have invested in a technology business. In others, directors are selected from outside the IT industry, perhaps because of their connections or success in complementary businesses. A board of directors can be a big asset. After all, the board gives a business the opp
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In addition to steering the helm of Intel, company CEO and president Paul Otellini helps to guide other technology businesses. Since April 2004, Otellini has been a board member at Google, as well as a member of the executive council and executive committee at TechNet. Previously, he sat on the board of Autodesk.
In late 2009, Otellini accepted the invitation of the Task Force on American Innovation to serve as its chair, occasionally going to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials to highlight the importance of federal funding of basic research and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
No matter their full-time role, board members must commit to attend a pre-determined number of board meetings. Payment may include an annual salary, compensation for each meeting attended, stock options, and other benefits. Businesses are not the only ones turning to successful or high profile executives for advice. Colleges and universities also have asked IT and economic professionals to share some of their lessons and thoughts. And presidents, including Barack Obama, have tapped leading technology executives for recommendations and ideas.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, Opsware, co-founder and chairman of Ning, and the former CTO of AOL, continues to help shape today's IT and consumer markets by sitting on the boards of both old-school and newer technology businesses. In 2009, the general partner of Andreessen Horowitz joined the board of HP, about a year after joining the board of social media giant Facebook.
Despite some printed speculation about competitive concerns due to Andreessen's continued role at Ning, the longtime technology guru is perceived as a mentor to Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg, according to published reports. Since Mark Hurd's forced resignation came soon after Andreessen had joined HP's board, there was some speculation that Andreessen, who headed the search committee for Hurd's replacement, was the force behind the move. Andreessen declined to comment.
In addition, Andreessen sits on the boards of eBay; Twelve Entrepreneuring; Octopus; Kno, and Skype Sarl.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
As both CEO and chairman of Google, until his recent ceding of the CEO role to co-founder Larry Page, Eric Schmidt held the company's reins in both hands. Yet, his sphere of influence once extended beyond the search giant's colorful campus, into neighboring Apple's complex, where he sat on the board of Steve Jobs' empire until his resignation in August 2009 amid intensifying regulatory scrutiny due to the two companies' increasing competition.
Schmidt is chairman of the board for the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.
In addition, in 2009 President Obama appointed Schmidt to the Presidential Commission on Advancements in Science and Technology.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
John Doerr, a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, did not stand for re-election at Amazon's annual shareholders' meeting, but that does not mean the venture capitalist is slowing his board-membership activities. Doerr remains busy on a number of boards, although he appears to be moving some of his focus from technology toward alternative energy businesses.
Despite some failures, most notably Go, Doerr's Midas touch and ability to discern winning technologies, business plans, and executives makes him in-demand as a board member or adviser to both start-ups and well-established companies. His participation in a board imparts validity and establishes credibility. Doerr is a member of the board at Google, Intuit, Zazzle, Move, and Bloom Energy.
In February 2009, President Obama named Doerr, along with former Oracle CEO Charles Phillips, to the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. In addition to Amazon, Doerr served on Sun's board.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Reid Hoffman, a partner at Greylock as well as the executive chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn, wears several other hats. His financial acumen, coupled with LinkedIn's steadily growing reputation as the business social networking site, has made him a vaunted addition to several companies' boards. He melds both interests as a board member of Kiva.org, an entrepreneur's marketplace for social micro lending.
In addition, Hoffman is on the board of Tagged, Mozilla, and Zynga. He also is chair of the Westcoast Advisory Board of QuestBridge, a revenue-generating non-profit that places talented low-income youth into 28 top colleges, and a member of the provost council of College Eight of UCSC.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
As one of the world's wealthiest individuals, Warren Buffet's wallet alone would wield power. But Buffet also sits on the boards of businesses that include Borsheims Jewelry Co., the Gillette Co., MidAmerican Energy Holdings, Geico, Citigroup Global Markets Holdings, the Washington Post Co., the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Urban Institute (as a life trustee), and serves as a Trustee of Grinnell College. Buffet also is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He believes in a hands-on board.
"In my view, a board of directors of a huge financial institution is derelict if it does not insist that its CEO bear full responsibility for risk control," Buffett wrote in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders this year. "If he's incapable of handling that job, he should look for other employment. And if he fails at it -- with the government thereupon required to step in with funds or guarantees -- the financial consequences for him and his board should be severe."
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Being on the board at a large multinational corporation is not new to Oracle board member Michael Boskin. After all, Boskin also is on the board of Exxon Mobil, and has sat on the boards of Vodafone and Shinsei Bank.
Boskin, the T.M. Friedman professor of economics and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, has helped guide the oil giant since 1996 and joined Oracle's board in April 1994. In addition to his professorship, he is president and CEO of consulting firm Boskin & Co. Tapping Boskin's financial acumen, he has been a member of Oracle's Finance and Audit Committee since July 1994, and vice chair of the Finance and Audit Committee since August 2005.
He has been a member of the Nomination and Governance Committee since July 1994. President George H. Bush named Boskin chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from February 1989 until January 1993.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Andrea Jung has helped reshape Avon into a trendy cosmetic and perfume brand and, in the process, become a choice for a diverse group of businesses' boards. In addition to being appointed chair of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations and a four-year term as chair of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association from 2001 to 2005, Jung currently serves on the boards of General Electric and Apple.
She also is a member of the New York Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees and the Catalyst board of directors. Jung received the 2010 Clinton Global Citizen Award for the corporate sector, which recognizes visionary leadership in solving pressing global challenges.
Jung, who joined Apple's board in January 2008, was named co-lead in February 2010, replacing board veteran Bill Campbell and sharing the top spot with former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson. The news came with little fanfare, though Apple watchers said at the time Jung's position could help allay fears of what some have called Jobs' over-reaching influence on the board.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Sanford Robertson, principal at Francisco Partners, has played a key role in financing many of today's leading technology companies, such as 3Com, AOL, Dell, Siebel, and Sun. Before founding Francisco Partners, Robertson in 1978 created Robertson, Stephens & Co., a technology investment bank that was sold to BankAmerica in 1998.
He also founded Robertson, Coleman, Siebel & Weisel, later renamed Montgomery Securities. Robertson continues to play an active role, sitting on the boards of several technology and non-tech organizations, including Salesforce.com, Dolby Laboratories, Pain Therapeutics, and the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving, as well as on the President's Board at the University of Michigan.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Following the drama of Mark Hurd's exit, HP's board elected newly crowned CEO and president Leo Apotheker to its membership. While the soap opera goings-on at HP may be a novelty, the responsibilities of the boardroom are not to Apotheker, who previously was CEO and a board member at SAP.
Apotheker also serves as vice chairman of the supervisory board of Schneider Electric SA and is a member of the board of GT Nexus and the board of PlaNet Finance, a not-for-profit organization.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Charles Noski, who in May was named executive vice president and CFO at Bank of America, is a director of Microsoft, a position he has held since November 2003. Until recently, Noski also was on the board of Air Products & Chemicals, Automatic Data Processing (ADP), and the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. Noski also has been a director at Morgan Stanley, AT&T, and Northrop Grumman.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Unlike some venture capitalists who sit on the boards of larger start-ups or well-established companies, Esther Dyson appears to prefer guiding smaller or newer entities. Dyson, who spearheads EDventures, participates on a number of boards, including consumer genetics firm 23andMe, Airship Ventures, Boxbe, Eventful.com, Evernote, Meetup, NewspaperDirect, Voxiva, WPP Group, and Yandex. In addition, Dyson -- who spent about six months training to become a cosmonaut -- sits on the Russian government's commission to establish a Russian Silicon Valley.
Dyson also was founding chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international agency that sets policy for the Internet's technical standards and domain name system. She contributes money and time to emerging organizations such as the Santa Fe Institute, the Sunlight Foundation, StopBadware.org, and the Eurasia Foundation.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
M. Michele Burns, chair and CEO of Mercer Human Resource Consulting -- a subsidiary of insurance giant Marsh and McLennan -- must have an interesting perspective on life in America. After all, Burns, who previously worked at Delta and Mercer, sits on the boards of retailing behemoth Wal-Mart and networking communications giant Cisco. Burns joined both Cisco and Wal-Mart boards in 2003. She also has served on boards at Orbitz, WorldSpan, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
"Michele brings dynamic business leadership, financial expertise, and broad public enterprise experience to Cisco," said John Morgridge, chairman for Cisco Systems, at the time. "During the last four years, she's been instrumental in leading Delta through a period of significant industry transition. Her experience will be a valuable contribution to Cisco as it continues to position itself for future growth."
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Former Intel CEO and chairman Craig Barrett may no longer spend his days overseeing the direction of the world's largest chipmaker, but that doesn't mean he avoids meetings or conference rooms. Barrett was elected to Intel's board in 1992 and resigned as chairman in 2009, leaving a legacy in a fast-moving industry. Until June 2009, he was chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, which works to bring computers and other technology to developing parts of the world.
Barrett continues to co-chair Achieve Inc., is vice chairman of the National Forest Foundation and Science Foundation Arizona, president and chairman of the BASIS Schools' board, and a member of the board of K12 Inc., Society for Science and the Public, Dossia and Grameen Intel Social Business. In addition, Barrett serves on the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Arizona Commerce Authority Board, the faculty of Thunderbird School of Global Management, and is Honorary Chairman of the Irish Technology Leadership Group.
At least two governments have tapped Barrett for guidance: The Russian Federation's president named Barrett as the international co-chairman of the board of the Fund for Development of the Center for Elaboration and Commercialization of New Technologies, and Barrett chairs the president's STEM initiative, now known as Change The Equation.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Patricia Stonesifer has been a director at Amazon since 1997, helping the online retailer grow from an e-tail glimmer in Jeff Bezos' eye to the sales giant it has become. Stonesifer, who has served as chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution since January 2009, has been a senior advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since January 2008. Prior to that, she was CEO of the Gates Foundation from January 2006 to September 2008, and president and co-chair from June 1997 to January 2006.
In addition to being a private philanthropy adviser, Stonesifer was a director of Viacom. She previously worked at Microsoft in a variety of positions.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
Patricia Stonesifer has been a director at Amazon since 1997, helping the online retailer grow from an e-tail glimmer in Jeff Bezos' eye to the sales giant it has become. Stonesifer, who has served as chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution since January 2009, has been a senior advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since January 2008. Prior to that, she was CEO of the Gates Foundation from January 2006 to September 2008, and president and co-chair from June 1997 to January 2006.
In addition to being a private philanthropy adviser, Stonesifer was a director of Viacom. She previously worked at Microsoft in a variety of positions.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
In addition to steering the helm of Intel, company CEO and president Paul Otellini helps to guide other technology businesses. Since April 2004, Otellini has been a board member at Google, as well as a member of the executive council and executive committee at TechNet. Previously, he sat on the board of Autodesk.
In late 2009, Otellini accepted the invitation of the Task Force on American Innovation to serve as its chair, occasionally going to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials to highlight the importance of federal funding of basic research and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
No matter their full-time role, board members must commit to attend a pre-determined number of board meetings. Payment may include an annual salary, compensation for each meeting attended, stock options, and other benefits. Businesses are not the only ones turning to successful or high profile executives for advice. Colleges and universities also have asked IT and economic professionals to share some of their lessons and thoughts. And presidents, including Barack Obama, have tapped leading technology executives for recommendations and ideas.
SEE ALSO:
HP Board Reshuffles In Wake Of Hurd Dismissal
Sprint Directors Resign From Clearwire Board
Google Co-Founder Larry Page To Replace Schmidt As CEO
Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over
Global CIO: The HP CEO Dream Team: Andreessen & IBM's Rometty
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