News

• Date: 01 January 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30182
• Published date: 01 January 2021

JAN.–FEB. 2021 5

giant AT&T split the CEO-board chair

position, appointing company insider

and former president and COO John

Stankey as CEO on July 1, 2020 and

Edgar Whitacre as board chair.

Regardless of the approach, revo-

lutionary or evolutionary, it is time to

split the CEO-board chair for the sake

of good governance. Clearly, a system

of checks and balances overrides the

unity of command and single-pointed

accountability perspective and can

help avoid possible misconduct in the

C-suite. It makes sense for all corpo-

rate stakeholders.

Dr. Joseph C. Santora is a distinguished

professor of management and director

of the Executive Doctorate of Business

Administration (EDBA) degree, Ponts

Business School, Paris, France; and adjunct

visiting faculty at the American University of

Dubai. He has published extensively on lead-

ership and corporate governance issues; and

has served on ve nonprot boards.

WHEN WE SAY…

Board Leadership’s mission

is “to discover, explain and

discuss innovative approaches to

board governance with the goal

of helping organizations achieve

effective, meaningful and suc-

cessful leadership to fulfill their

missions.”

Board Leadership aims to ful-

fill this mission by engaging its

readers in a lively and illuminating

inquiry into how board govern-

ance can be made more effective.

This inquiry is based on three key

assumptions:

•Boards exist to lead

organizations, not merely

monitor them.

•Effective board governance

is not about either systems,

structures, processes,

theories, practices, culture,

or behaviors—it is about all

of them.

•Significant improvements are

likely to come only through

challenging the status quo

and trying out new ideas in

theory and in practice.

Uniquely among regular pub-

lications on board governance,

Board Leadership primarily

focuses on the job of board lead-

ership as a whole, rather than on

individual elements of practice

within the overall job.

Over time, Board Leadership

will provide a repository of dif-

ferent approaches to governance

created through its regular “One

Way to Govern” feature.

Here’s what a few of the key

terms we use mean to us:

•Innovative: Creating

significant positive change

•Approaches: Principles,

theories, ideas,

methodologies and practices.

•Board governance: The

job of governing whole

organizations.

Webinar explores inclusive

fundraising during crisis

Candid will host a webinar titled

Launching Inclusive Online Fundrais-

ing Campaigns During a Crisis Feb.

25 at 2:00 PM ET.

Attendees will learn how even

small fundraising teams can raise

money online from both grassroots

and major donors and bring support-

ers. They will also learn how to create

an inclusive and empathetic online

fundraising campaign and how their

boards can contribute to its success.

Registration fees for this event are

$25.

For more information, visit https://

bit.ly/3meTMdT.

New board appointments at

Bush Foundation for Family

Literacy, California Wellness

Foundation and others

Several leading foundations and

nonprofit organizations have made

changes to their boards of directors

in recent weeks, aiming to bring on

board fresh perspectives to help

guide their decision-making going

forward.

Here are some examples:

•The Barbara Bush Foundation

for Family Literacy has

announced several

appointments to its board of

directors, including:

º LaMar Bunts, CEO and

co-founder of the Beanstalk

Initiative.

º Lynn Hirshfield, senior vice

president of strategic alliances

at Participant Media.

º Rachel Mushawar, vice

president of Intel.

º Christine Pina, chief

advancement officer for Miss

Porter’s School.

º David Risher, CEO and

co-founder of Worldreader.

º Denine Torr, executive director

of the Dollar General Literacy

Foundation.

•The California Wellness

Foundation has appointed the

following new board members:

º Irma Cota, former CEO of the

North County Health Project.

º Virginia Hedrick, executive

director of the California

Consortium for Urban Indian

Health.

º Katherine Katcher, founder

and executive director of Root

& Rebound.

•The Colorado Trust has

announced the appointment

of the following to its board of

trustees:

º Christine Marquez-Hudson,

executive director of the

MSU Denver Foundation at

Metropolitan State University

of Denver.

º Brandy Reitter, town manager

of Eagle, Colo.

•The Howard Hughes Medical

Institute announced the election

of David Julius, PhD, to its

board of trustees. Julius is a

professor at the University of

California, San Francisco.

N E W S