Leadership

The Society’s Board of Directors is composed exclusively of Society members, who are elected at the Society’s annual meeting of members. The Board is the ultimate decision-making body of the Society and oversees the business and performance of the Society. 

 

The Board’s Officers include the Chair, who leads the Board; the Chair-Elect or Past Chair; a Secretary; Assistant Secretaries; and a Compliance Officer. The Directors and Board Officers serve on a voluntary basis without compensation.

 

The Board appoints the President & CEO who manages the Society and the national office staff. In addition to the Society’s President & CEO, the Society’s national office staff includes other officers, including a Chief Financial & Administrative Officer, a General Counsel & Chief Knowledge Officer, and a Chief Membership & Marketing Officer.

 

In addition to the Society’s leadership at the national level, the Society has 21 Chapters that are led by Society members serving as local officers in a volunteer capacity. The Chapters typically have a President, a Vice President, and a Secretary. These individuals are elected by their respective Chapter membership and are not officers of the Society itself.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors is composed of twenty-two members. This includes two ex officio Directors who are full voting members of the Board: the Chair and either a Chair-Elect or Past Chair. The Chair is elected annually by the Board and serves a term of up to two years; the Chair-Elect and Past Chair each serve a term of one year. The other twenty Directors are elected by the Society’s members and divided into four classes and serve four-year terms.

EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS

Stacy Ingram

(BOARD CHAIR)

SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Floor & Decor

Keir D. Gumbs

(PAST BOARD CHAIR)

General Counsel
Edward Jones

CLASS OF 2026

Ning S. Chiu

Partner
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Richard Fields

Head of the Board Effectiveness Practice
Russell Reynolds Associates

William J. Horton, Jr.

Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Verizon Communications

Eileen McCarthy

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
JetBlue

Scott Siamas

Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel – Corporate, Securities & Global Governance
Salesforce, Inc.

CLASS OF 2027

Jeff DeBruin

General Counsel
HF Group

Christina Ibrahim

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
Select Water Solutions, LLC

Krista Jones McAninley

Vice President & Deputy General Counsel – Corporate
Ferguson

Hope Mehlman

Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer
Ally Financial

Scott Thayer

Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Dawn Food Products, Inc.

CLASS OF 2028

Mary Francis

Corporate Secretary and Chief Governance Officer
Chevron Corporation

Maia Gez

Partner
White & Case

Jacob Jenkelowitz

Corporate Secretary
Brighthouse Financial, Inc.

Rich Reich

Senior Vice President & General Counsel
New Jersey Resources

Tony Richelieu

Vice President, Corporate Secretary & Associate General Counsel
KB Home

CLASS OF 2029

Lisa Atkins

Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Corporate Secretary, Corporate Governance, Securities & Finance Law
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

Ben Backberg

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Corporate Secretary
General Mills, Inc.

Jacob Bernstein

Deputy General Counsel & Secretary
Booz Allen Hamilton

Alana Griffin

Vice President, Securities & Corporate Law and Assistant Secretary
FedEx Corporation

Allison Handy

Partner, Corporate & Securities Practice
Perkins Coie

OFFICERS

The Board of Directors is responsible for appointing the Society’s Officers. The Board of Directors appoints the Chair, the Chair-Elect, the President; Secretary, and Assistant Secretaries, and may appoint other officers from time to time.

Stacy Ingram

(BOARD CHAIR)

SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Floor & Décor

Keir D. Gumbs

(PAST BOARD CHAIR)

General Counsel
Edward Jones

Paul F. Washington

(PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Society Staff

Nikole TenBrink

(CHIEF MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING OFFICER)

Society Staff

Randi Val Morrison

(GENERAL COUNSEL & CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER)

Society Staff

Iké Adeyemi

(SECRETARY TO THE BOARD)

Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Eastman

Andrea Beck

(ASSISTANT SECRETARY)

Specialist, Public Company Governance & Assistant Corporate Secretary
Newmont Corporation

Steph Bignon

(ASSISTANT SECRETARY)

Associate General Counsel and Deputy Corporate Secretary
The Home Depot

Dana Pierre-Louis

(ASSISTANT SECRETARY)

Managing Counsel, Securities, Governance and Acquisitions
Oracle Corporation

Jennifer Woods

(ASSISTANT SECRETARY)

VP, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary
Front Door, Inc.

Gale Chang

(COMPLIANCE OFFICER)

Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary
Bank of America

Staff

Headquartered in New York City, the Society’s staff is responsible for managing and operating the Society on a day-to-day basis. Importantly, the staff supports the activities of the Board, the Board’s Committees, National Committees and Communities, Chapters, and other working groups of Society members who play an essential role in the Society’s success.  

The staff is broadly organized in three areas: delivering value to the Society’s members through its programs, content, benchmarking, policy advocacy, and Chapters; generating revenue for the Society through membership, sponsorship, and marketing; and managing the operations of the Society including its finances, technology, and workforce.

Paul F. Washington

President & Chief Executive Officer
(212) 681-2004
pwashington@societycorpgov.org

Paul Washington is the President and CEO of the Society for Corporate Governance (the “Society”). Founded in 1946, the Society is a not-for-profit organization with over 3,700 members dedicated to enhancing corporate governance through education, collaboration, and advocacy.

Prior to becoming the Society’s President in April 2024, Paul led The Conference Board ESG Center, the premier US-based nonprofit think tank addressing corporate governance, sustainability, and citizenship. During his five-year tenure, the Center significantly increased its membership, programming, publications, prominence, and public impact.

Before joining the ESG Center, Paul served for two decades as an executive at Time Warner Inc., including as Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. He was responsible not only for the company’s corporate governance, but also for an array of legal areas including antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory and international law. Prior to Time Warner, Paul practiced law at Sidley & Austin and served as Vice President and Corporate Secretary of The Dime Savings Bank of New York.

Paul also has had a career in public service, including working at the federal, state, and local levels -- and in all three branches -- of government. Among other roles, he served as a law clerk for former Supreme Court Associate Justice William Brennan and Associate Justice David Souter, and for Circuit Court Judge David Tatel. Paul also worked on the staff of former Congressman Stanley Lundine and, later, as his principal speechwriter when Lundine served as New York’s Lieutenant Governor.

Paul is a former Chair of the Board of the Society and President of its New York Chapter. He has served on over two dozen other boards of cultural, civic, and professional nonprofit organizations. For more than a decade, he was an adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School where he taught corporate governance and later served as a Resident Fellow. Paul also continues to serve in a volunteer capacity as an ESG Center Fellow at The Conference Board.

Paul graduated magna cum laude from both Yale College and Fordham University School of Law.

Randi Val Morrison

General Counsel & Chief Knowledge Officer
(212) 681-2001
rmorrison@societycorpgov.org

Since joining the Society for Corporate Governance in 2013, Randi Val Morrison has served in various reporting, policy, and member engagement positions, while also assuming the General Counsel role beginning in 2021. As SVP and General Counsel, Randi is responsible for developing member content and programming; fostering member engagement; supporting the Society’s policy and advocacy efforts; and advising the organization on its legal rights and obligations.

Before joining the Society, Randi served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at two publicly traded companies and in various in-house counsel roles leading up to those positions with publicly traded companies in the restaurant, automotive parts and accessories, general merchandise retail, and home building industries. She also worked as Associate Editor with Executive Press and as a consultant with LRN Corporation before joining the Society full time.  

Randi obtained a BA in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 1986 and a JD from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis in 1989. She is licensed to practice law in Arizona and the District of Columbia.

Nikole TenBrink

Chief Membership & Marketing Officer
(212) 681-2014
ntenbrink@societycorpgov.org

Nikole TenBrink is the Chief Membership and Marketing Officer at the Society for Corporate Governance, where she leads strategic initiatives to expand membership, enhance partnership and sponsorship opportunities, and elevate the Society’s brand and communications—all with the goal of fostering engagement and driving revenue. With extensive experience in marketing, membership, and business development, she is well-positioned to advance the organization’s mission and outcomes.

As Vice President of Marketing and Membership at RIMS (the Risk Management Society) for nearly ten years, Nikole played a pivotal role in broadening the organization’s impact by expanding its programs, engagement opportunities, and global reach. She spearheaded the launch of new membership categories, executed a successful organizational rebrand, directed the marketing and communications efforts annually for a citywide event, and consistently led the achievement of revenue targets across advertising, membership, and events. At the Illuminating Engineering Society, Nikole was responsible for driving membership and sponsorship growth, building relationships with key volunteers and stakeholders, and implementing strategies that increased year-over-year sponsorship revenue for key events. Most recently, as Vice President of Marketing at the Advertising Research Foundation, Nikole led the marketing team to implement new digital platforms, launching a social media ambassador program, and enhancing content marketing strategies. 

Nikole is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and holds a Master of Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami. She is an active industry leader and serves on the Leadership Advisory Board for PAR, Professionals for Association Revenue. 

Shanna Akoko

Chapter Engagement Manager
(212) 681-2017
sakoko@societycorpgov.org

Michael Austerlitz

Senior Manager, Membership
(212) 681-2010
mausterlitz@societycorpgov.org

Jessica Cocuzza

Senior Manager, Partnerships
(212) 681-2019
jcocuzza@societycorpgov.org

Danielle Colelli

Manager, Programming & Content
(212) 681-2006
dcolelli@societycorpgov.org

Dionne Downs

Head of Events
(212) 681-2013
ddowns@societycorpgov.org

Emerald Greywoode

Vice President, Policy Engagement & Advocacy
(212) 681-2012
egreywoode@societycorpgov.org

Margaret Nick

Senior Manager, Marketing
& Assistant Director, CCGP
(212) 681-2016
mnick@societycorpgov.org

Scott Porter

EA to CEO & Board Governance Administrator
(212) 681-2002
sporter@societycorpgov.org

Merel Spierings

Vice President, Programming & Content
(212) 681-2003
mspierings@societycorpgov.org