Mastering Private to Public Board Excellence

Heather Spilsbury is CEO of 50/50 Women on Boards, a leading global nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in the pipeline to corporate boards. A marketing and operations executive with over 20 years of experience in developing and executing multi-year strategies for leading global brands across various industries, Heather has successfully digitalized, rebranded, and restructured 50/50 Women on Boards, resulting in a 30% growth in our audiences, revenue, and capital assets. She has a proven track record of increasing revenue, profitability, and customer loyalty through creative and experiential marketing, new business development, and digital transformation, and extensive expertise in consumer engagement, digital strategies, and communications to drive growth and innovation. A first-generation Latina, Heather is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Joe Hurd is Managing Partner at Pay Governance and public company director. A globally experienced technology executive, venture advisor, and public company board director, Joe's career spans Silicon Valley innovation, global digital platforms, and international public policy. An Operating Partner at venture fund SOSV and a seasoned board member of companies including Lloyd’s of London, Hays PLC, and Trustpilot, Joe brings deep expertise in scaling technology businesses, corporate governance, and go-to-market strategy. Earlier in his career he held leadership roles at Facebook and on the founding teams of several internet companies, and served in the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Obama Administration. Drawing on decades of experience at the intersection of technology, markets, and policy, Joe advises founders, executives, and boards on navigating innovation, growth, and global transformation. 

James D. White is a transformational leader with more than 30 years experience as an operating executive in the Consumer Products, Retail, and Restaurant industries. He is the former Chair, President and CEO of Jamba Juice, where he led the successful turnaround and transformation of the company from a made-to-order smoothie shop to a global, healthy active lifestyle brand. In his experience at Jamba Juice and at companies including Gillette, Safeway Stores, Nestlé-Purina PetCare, and Coca Cola, James has gained invaluable experience that has enabled him to become a coveted board member currently serving on three public boards - The Honest Company, Simply Good Foods and CAVA and two private boards - Schnucks Supermarkets, and Bay Club.

In 2020, James co-founded Culture Design Lab to develop and guide CEOs and executive leaders to design organizations with purpose. His 30+ years of operational experience, 20+ years of public and private board service and CEO consulting has led him to write his second book. CULTURE DESIGN: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose, authored by James D. White and Krista White will be published by Harvard Business Review Press in November, 2025. This book is a practical framework for CEOs and their executive teams to evaluate culture, learn from dozens of CEO’s and companies who are all-in on intentional culture shifts and then apply the framework to enhance vision and strategies to better align with an intentionally designed culture. It is available to preorder on Amazon.

Lisa Spadafora Thompson has served on six corporate boards and multiple nonprofit boards (including higher ed.) Her board experience ranges from owner/operator to ESOP to private-equity boards. She has sat on several committees, and served as committee chair, for Nominating & Governance, Finance & Audit, Human Capital & Compensation, Risk Management, and Succession Planning.

Lisa is Founder & CEO of Sturbridge Growth Partners, Inc., a boutique consultancy developing and implementing pricing strategies in business-to-business markets including technology, industrial and process manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, and B2B services. She founded Sturbridge after taking an early retirement from Deloitte LLC where she served as a Senior Partner in the Strategy & Operations practice. Her nonprofit board experience has led to hands-on work with Boston's homeless population and a commitment to addressing poverty and unemployment in the inner city.

Aubrey Bout is Managing Partner at Pay Governance and a recognized authority on executive compensation and corporate governance with over 30 years of global experience. He advises boards and compensation committees on designing pay programs that align with business strategy, performance, and shareholder value, guiding S&P 500 companies and high-growth firms through IPOs, spin-offs, and complex transformations. His clients span the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia across biotech, energy, finance, and technology sectors. Previously, Aubrey led the New England Executive Compensation Practice at Willis Towers Watson and served as VP of Human Resources at Covad Communications. A frequent NACD contributor and published thought leader, he has written extensively on pay governance, incentive design, and board effectiveness.

Amy Rojik is a National Assurance Partner at BDO USA and the Founder of BDO’s Center for Corporate Governance, where she leads board education and thought leadership for directors of public and private companies. With over 30 years in public accounting—including 19 years at BDO and 11 years at Big Four firms—she has advanced governance practices in areas such as cybersecurity, fraud, ESG, and succession planning. Amy serves on BDO’s ESG Executive Leadership Team and as the firm’s Policy Lead to the Center for Audit Quality, contributing to national initiatives on audit committee communication and audit quality indicators. A champion of inclusive leadership, she supports BDO’s Women’s Inclusion Initiative and the firm’s “Audit of the Future” vision while advising clients across manufacturing, biotech, and technology sectors on financial reporting and strategic governance.

Carla Vernón is the CEO and Board Director of The Honest Company (NASDAQ: HNST) a personal care company dedicated to creating clean and sustainably designed products. In her role as the Chief Executive Officer, Carla became one of the first Afro-Latine/o/a CEOs of a U.S. publicly traded company. 

In her role as CEO of Honest, Carla brings her legacy of business transformation and growth along with experiences that reflect the diversity of Honest’s consumers. Carla is responsible for defining the enterprise growth strategy and driving a financial and business transformation that delivers value for Honest's many stakeholders. 

Prior to joining Honest, Carla was Vice President of Consumables Categories at Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), where she had P&L, Supply Chain, and Technology responsibility for Everyday Essentials categories including: Household Products, Beauty, Baby, Wellness, Food and Beverage categories. Before joining Amazon, Carla was a Corporate Officer at General Mills (NYSE: GIS) where in her most recent as Operating Unit President of The Natural and Organic portfolio she led General Mills to become the second largest manufacturer of organic food and initiated the food industries largest ever commitment to advancing regenerative agriculture. 

Carla holds a bachelors degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University and an MBA from The University of Texas, McCombs School. Carla serves on the Board of Trustees for The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, is a founding CEO Advisory Board Member of Harvard Business Review Executive and recently completed her tenure as a Trustee of Princeton University.

Anthony O'Reilly is a financial expert that became a leading voice on business ethics and conduct, audit and change governance in regulated businesses under duress. With a deep foundation in financial accounting and controls, including as a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit Partner, Anthony was selected by two major global organizations to help rebuild their legal and public reputations, first at Siemens, AG in the wake of their bribery settlement and then as the first Chief Ethics Officer for State Street Corporation.  

In his roles at PwC, Siemens and State Street, Anthony increasingly worked on driving sustained business and organizational performance through the mechanics that manage culture in organizations under the stress of merger assimilation, regulatory pressure and generational change.

Anthony has lived and worked under different corporate governance cultures in the UK, Hong Kong, Germany and the US.  Anthony is a member of the Audit Committee for a private asset management Firm and an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.