On May 23, NACD announced the election of Dr. Reatha Clark King to chairman of our board of directors. While Reatha’s role as chair is new, her relationship with NACD goes back many years. She has been a member of NACD since 1993, an NACD director since 2005, and chaired the governance committee in recent years.
An unconventional path
Reatha’s directorship experience is extensive; she has served on the boards of ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo & Co., H.B. Fuller Co., Minnesota Mutual Insurance Co., and The Lenox Group—in addition to several nonprofit organizations. She has followed, however, what I would call an unconventional path to the boardroom. After earning undergraduate degrees in chemistry and math and later a PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago, Reatha began her career in the sciences, working as a research chemist for the National Bureau of Standards, and then becoming a professor of chemistry and an academic dean at York College. After earning another degree—this time an MBA—she became the president of Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. Reatha was then tapped to head the General Mills Foundation, where she spent 14 years leading the company’s community initiatives. From there, she added the aforementioned board seats to her already impressive resume.
Preparing for 2020 and beyond
Looking ahead, Reatha’s experience in both the corporate arena and academia makes her particularly well-suited to guide NACD and its NACD Directorship 2020 initiative. NACD Directorship 2020 aims to help boards understand, define, and prepare for the emerging and evolving issues that will shape the future of directorship. It gives me great confidence that Reatha will be leading our organization as we prepare for 2020 and beyond.
I’m also honored that Barbara Franklin, who has led our board for the last four years, will continue to serve as a director until May 2014. Barbara has had a tremendous impact on NACD, overseeing our unprecedented membership growth during her tenure and helping us solidify our position as the authority on leading boardroom practices.
As I look at our excellent board of directors and management team, I am more confident than ever in NACD’s ability to deliver on our mission to advance exemplary board leadership.
