BoardBench Companies Executives and Directors
Nancy May is President and CEO of The Board
Bench Companies the parent company of Board Bench™, WGBA, and Peer
Counsel®. Board Bench is a strategic board and executive services provider that builds
qualified and diverse succession and recruiting pipelines of board
members; the Women’s Global Business Alliance, which delivers
executive diversity consulting; and Peer Counsel®, which provides
sophisticated global roundtable programs for senior corporate
executives and connects them with world business leaders to address
new ways to improve business performance. Each company’s services
are focused towards giving corporations the advantages needed to
build and maintain their competitive lead in their industries.
Ms. May has more than 20 years experience as a strategic advisor to
CEOs and executive management in evaluating, designing, developing,
and implementing strategic and marketing opportunities. Utilizing new and trusted methodologies and technologies, she
has worked in a broad variety of industries including: automotive, energy/utility,
technology, healthcare, consumer goods/services, education,
financial services, industrial manufacturing, media, communications
and others. Clients have included such companies as, Niagara Mohawk
Power Company, Chase Manhattan Bank, Hoechst Celanese, Ford Motor,
Electroteck, Citibank among others.
She is a member of the Economic Club of New York, the World Affairs Forum, and the International Women's Forum. She served on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scout Council of Connecticut where she served on the Executive Committee and chaired the Nominating Committee, and on the Board of the Connecticut Venture Capital Group -Stamford. She has also served on the advisory boards of emerging high growth consumer goods and technology companies. Ms. May has been honored by government and industry organizations for her work and support of women and was invited to meet President Clinton as one of the Nation’s top business leaders. Ms. May has been a guest lecturer for business and professional organizations, The Conference Board, National Geographic Films, and numerous college and university graduate schools.
Robert Antonion SVP, COO
Robert Antonion is well known for his work and expertise in Operational Audit, Corporate Governance, and Internal Control Education. His industry experience ranges from financial services to federal, state and local government, and the transportation industry.Prior to joining BoardBench he worked with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York, the worlds’ largest transportation organization, where he was responsible for operational audits and oversight of the organization’s seven agencies and subsidiaries. His work included administration of the consolidated Audit Services Department as well as coordination and oversight of the agency’s corporate governance functions. Mr. Antonion was instrumental in developing the managerial internal control evaluation and reporting systems for each of the MTA’s Agencies (NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Railroad, MTA Bridges and Tunnels, MTA Bus, and MTA Capital Construction). He also developed management education programs and tools for internal control enhancements used by the MTA and numerous New York State Agencies. In addition, he managed all staff support for MTA’s Audit Committee, and provided research and guidance on corporate governance issues to the Board and Executive Management.Throughout his career, Mr. Antonion has been involved in developing concepts that evolved into today’s understandings of corporate governance, board responsibilities, and management’s evaluation, improvement, and reporting on internal controls. He is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Control Self Assessment Facilitator, with an MBA in Financial Management from Iona College.
Leslie Carter, the President and Founder of Carter Stone and Company, has been involved with the management consulting and executive search for over thirty five years. Through the premiere search firm of Carter Stone, he has daily contact with many of the world’s largest financial firms and maintains far reaching international and domestic contacts as they conduct business both in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Carter is also Chairman of the Board of SystemForward America, the franchisor for the Pop-A-Lock brand, the world’s largest locksmith company. In addition, he has served as a director on a number of banking institutions.
Mr. Carter is also a highly respected board member of several professional and philanthropic organizations including the Economic Club of New York, where he sits on the Membership Council, the Board of Directors of Boy Scouts of America, and the Gomez |Historical Society. He is a former Board Member of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine in Washington, D. C., and the SLE Foundation (Lupus). Les has helped to raise millions of dollars for these worthy causes.
Mr. Carter has been a guest speaker and lecturer for various management seminars and college programs, including New York University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the City College of New York. In addition, he has been actively involved with a variety of MBA programs where he has taught new “management skills” to emerging leaders.
As an avid outdoorsman Mr. Carter enjoys fly-fishing, golf, skeet, trap and sporting clays. He is a member of Princeton Club of New York, Birchwood Country Club of Westport, Connecticut, Sandanona Sporting Club of Millbrook, New York, Anglers Club of New York, Fairfield County Fish and Game and Governor’s Club of Palm Beach, Florida and the Boca Raton Country Club.
Mr. Carter has been married for over 34 years to his wife Anne and together they have a daughter and a son. Mr. Carter and his wife reside in Westport, Connecticut and Boca Raton, Florida.
Michael J. Critelli has had a long and distinguished career as a company, industry, and community leader. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of both EatonCorporation and Wyeth. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Pitney Bowes Inc. from 1997 to 2007 and served on the board until the end of 2008. As Executive Chairman, he led the company's focus on the emerging opportunities in the external environment, including postal reform and transformation in the U. S. and globally, and market opportunities arising from the company's innovation and leadership in areas such as health care, government services and corporate social responsibility. He also concentrated on building upon the company's already strong positions in corporate governance. Under his leadership as CEO, the company transformed from a collection of diverse businesses into a focused Mailstream industry leader, while increasing revenue by 50%.
Mr. Critelli has been instrumental in leading the
$900 billion mailing industry's efforts to articulate and promote its
interests. He co-chairs the Mailing Industry Task force with the Deputy
Postmaster General, and is also the Chairman of the Mailing Industry CEO
Council that provided industry input and advice to the U.S. House of
Representatives and the U.S. Senate on Postal Reform, the President's
Commission on the Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Service
Transformation Plan. He has also been a driver of technological
innovation in the mailing industry, and has been awarded four U.S.
patents for mailing technology.
His leadership also extends to health care,
sustainable economic development, diversity, corporate governance and
ethics, talent development and transportation. Mr.Critelli's passion and
expertise in these areas have led to both personal and company awards
and recognition.
He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of
four non-profit organizations: the National Urban League Board of
Trustees, the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century, a
public policy think tank, the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease
Advisory Board, and most recently, The Dossia Founders Group, an
organization funding an independent non-profit institute to develop a
web-based framework through which U.S. employees, dependents and
retirees can maintain private, personal and portable health records.
He serves on the Board of Trustees of Catalyst, which promotes the advancement of women in the workplace, and on the Board of Trustees for the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration, which supports scientific education and endeavors in the State. He previously served on the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board where he co-chaired the Board's Funding and Finance Working Group.
Evelyn Follit has been recognized as one of the
top 10 CIOs in the U.S. She has over 35 years experience in the Information Technology
industry, including eight years as SVP and Chief Information Officer
of RadioShack. While under her leadership, RadioShack’s I/T operations were listed as one
of the top 100 places to work. Prior employers have included AC
Nielsen, Dun & Bradstreet, ITT, and IBM. Her broad-ranging responsibilities have provided a rich
perspective on technology innovation, hardware design, software
development, and the pricing of hardware, software, consumer
electronics products and services.
Ms. Follit has served on the Board of Directors of Catalina Marketing Corporation (Audit Committee), People Business
Network, GETCONNECTEDinc.com, Linens-N-Things (Audit Committee) and
Nautilus, Inc. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Winn-Dixie Stores,
Inc., and the retail department store, Bealls, Inc. Ms. Follit has
also been a member of the Hewlett-Packard Cross Industries Board of
Advisors, the Compaq Computer Board of Advisors, the Sprint Advisory
Board and Microsoft's Retail Client Advisory Board, and RadioShack’s
Corporate Citizenship Council, which was developed to oversee the
company’s charitable activities.
A native of New York City, Evelyn has an MBA in
finance and information systems, a BA in mathematics, and completed
executive planning and technology programs at Cornell’s School of
Industrial and Labor Relations and MIT’s Sloan School.
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Dr. Gaudiani serves as a Professor at The George
H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York
University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Prior to accepting this position she was a Senior Research
Scholar at Yale Law School where she worked to complete a book
entitled The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save
Capitalism. She has also served for 13 years as President of Connecticut College.
Applications for admission rose 40 percent over the last five years
of her leadership.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the
Southern New England Telephone Inc., (acquired by SBC
Communications/AT&T) and currently serves on the Board of Directors
of MBIA, Inc. In addition to her for-profit board service, Dr. Gaudiani has served on the Board
of many not-for-profit institutions including: The Henry Luce
Foundation, the Shubert Theatre, the Connecticut Center for School
Change, Public Radio International, and the National Council on
Economic Education. She is also a trustee of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the
Southern New England Telephone Inc., and currently serves on the Board of Directors
of MBIA, Inc. In addition to her for-profit board service, Dr. Gaudiani has served on the Board
of many not-for-profit institutions including: The Henry Luce
Foundation, the Shubert Theatre, the Connecticut Center for School
Change, Public Radio International, and the National Council on
Economic Education. She is also a trustee of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Gaudiani has received many honors and distinctions. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the Century Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and is a fellow
of the PBK Society. She received the John Templeton Foundation award as one of the 50 top
college presidents in 1999. In 2005 she received the Henry Rosso Medal for Outstanding Ethics in
Philanthropy from the IU Philanthropy Center. She holds a Ph.D. and Master’s Degree in French literature
from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s Degree, also in French,
from Connecticut College.
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Prior to founding
Management Counsel, Ms. Hall established her reputation in the fields of strategic management and business development
with service to General Electric, AT&T, Royal Dutch Shell
Shell Canada, Arthur Andersen (CD) and Andersen Consulting (EU).
As Managing Director of Management Counsel, Ms. Hall advises academic, corporate, philanthropic, and multilateral organizations
as well as private investors on the creation, protection, and
extraction of maximum value from intellectual capital; identifying and evaluating
foreign and domestic risk; negotiating cross-border alliances, joint
ventures and partnerships; and mediating commercial disputes in
North, Central, and South America as well as East, Central, and West
Europe.
Ms. Hall currently serves on the board of directors of the
BoardBench Group of Companies; EthicScan Canada, Ltd. and on the international
editorial board of the Corporate Ethics Monitor; and was
recently elected to the board of directors of TALMAR. In addition, Ms. Hall
has served on the board of governors of United Way of America; the advisory board to the Faculty
of Management, University of Toronto; and on the board of directors of Canadian Tire Corporation where she
chaired the Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Educated at Harvard Business and Law Schools, Yale Law School,
London School of Economics, and INSEAD, Ms. Hall, a Fulbright
Fellow, was the first woman appointed as Executive-in-Residence at
the Graduate School of Business Administration, Queens University,
Kingston, Ontario; was the recipient of a George C. Marshall prize;
was appointed Visiting Fellow at the European Institute for Advanced
Studies in Management in Brussels, Belgium and has also served as a
Visiting Fellow at the Escuela de Administracion de Negocios para
Graduados in Lima, Peru.
Frances Hesselbein is the
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Leader-to-Leader Institute
(formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation). She serves on many
nonprofit and private sector corporate boards, including the Board
of Directors of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, The
Veterans Corporation Advisory Board, The Boards of the Center for
Social Initiative at the Harvard Business School, and the Hauser
Center for Nonprofit Management at the Kennedy School.
In 1998, Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the United States of America’s highest civilian honor, for
her leadership as Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of the
USA, as well as for her role as the Founding President of the
Drucker Foundation. Her contributions were also recognized by former
President George H. Bush, who appointed her to two Presidential
Commissions on national and community service.
In 2001, Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the Henry A. Rosso Medal for
Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fund Raising from the Center on
Philanthropy at Indiana university and the International ATHENA
Award. In 2002, Mrs. Hesselbein was the first recipient of the
Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Series Award for her
outstanding contributions to America’s national security.
Mrs. Hesselbein is also the recipient of sixteen honorary doctoral
degrees.
Nathan Kantor is President and CEO of the ITC
Group, Inc., which develops and/or restructures competitive
telecommunications service providers and enterprise clients. As part of the
ITC Group, Mr. Kantor provided the original team that built Winstar
Communications into the fixed wireless broadband industry leader and
later became the President and Chief Operating Officer, as well as a
member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Kantor and the ITC Group also helped make Unitel the
first competitive long-distance company in Canada and negotiated the
strategic partnership that led to the creation of AT&T Canada.
Other ITC Group assignments included Energis in the UK, and
Dacom Corporation in Korea.
Before forming ITC Group in 1990, he served on the management team that made MCI
Communications Corporation the nation’s second largest domestic
long-distance carrier.
During his 18 years with MCI, he oversaw marketing, sales,
operations, and customer service, as well as developing and
implementing its international business strategy. Between 1982 and
1984, he was the founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer of
MCI International. This unit became the first US rival to AT&T in
the international long-distance market. As President of MCI”s
Northeast division, he grew the unit’s revenue from $150 million to
$1.5 billion in five years.
Mr. Kantor supports a number of associations, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. As part
of the Fund’s Corporate Council, he helped create the Virtual Wall,
a web site that enables visitors to contribute personal reflections
about the Vietnam War and tributes to the individuals who served in the war. The Virtual Wall is also part of an Internet-based curriculum in over 30,000 US high schools that
is used to educate students about the Vietnam War.
Mr. Kantor also serves on the board of the USO. Mr. Kantor received a BS degree from the United States Military Academy
at West Point, and holds a MS degree in management from Florida
State University.
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Diane Woo’s expertise centers on China international relations and
development. Throughout her career, Ms. Woo has served as a consultant for Chinese and Hong
Kong businesses. She has served as Vice President of Beatrice China, Ltd. where she
established the first model joint-venture: Guang Mei Foods, Beatrice
- CITIC. Ms. Woo is also responsible for establishing the first holding company in
China, Beatrice-CITIC Development Company.
Mrs. Woo has managed instrumental positions and negotiations for
Reader’s Digest, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the Discovery Channel, Forbes
Publishing, Numar Corporation, Gannaway Entertainment Corporation,
and the Entergy Transportation Group among others.
She is a Board and Committee Member of the National Committee
on United States - China Relations and the Yale-China Association
(Ms. Woo’s family originated and funded the Yale-China Association
over 80 years ago).
A Chinese-American who has lived in New York City for the past 35
years, she speaks five Chinese dialects including Mandarin,
Cantonese and Shanghainese.
Mrs. Woo has managed instrumental positions and negotiations for
Reader’s Digest, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the Discovery Channel, Forbes
Publishing, Numar Corporation, Gannaway Entertainment Corporation,
and the Entergy Transportation Group among others.
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Carl Yankowski is President and CEO of Ambient Devices, Inc., a
consumer electronics company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a seasoned business executive who specializes in the
development and marketing of technology and consumer products. He
has held senior positions at Palm, Inc, Sony Electronics, Reebok ,
Polaroid and others.
Starting as a systems analyst and electrical engineer for Proctor &
Gamble, he instead preferred marketing, and helped develop promotional campaigns for Pringles and Duncan Hines mixes.
At General Electric, he helped develop the Spacemaker range with its “We Bring Good Things to Light” campaign.
He then moved to Memorex where he worked on the “Is It Live or Is It Memorex” campaign before working for PepsiCo on the
three-year Pepsi Challenge campaign. He joined Polaroid Corporation in 1988 with initial
responsibility for all business imaging, US consumer and industrial
marketing before moving to Hong Kong as Group Vice President for the corporation’s Asia/Pacific region. On returning to the US, he became the President and CEO of
Sony Electronics, growing revenue to over $10 billion. His teams led launches of the highly successful VAIO, Play
Station, and a Qualcomm CDMA joint venture.
In 1998, he became President and CEO of Reebok Brand where
he was credited with initiating a successful turnaround. Carl then headed 3Com’s Palm division, where, in his first
year, it was transformed into a public company with a market
capitalization of $30 billion.
He
has also served as CEO and Chairman of Majesco, a Director of
Novell, a non-executive director of Informatica Corporation, and
Chase Corporation. He also serves on the boards of several small firms and has held board
positions at Boston College, the MIT Sloan Business School and
several technology and consumer-product oriented companies.
Carl holds five current internet patents. He was on the Visiting
Committee of the MIT Media Lab and the Sloan School, and is on the
Board of the Boston College Carroll School of Business. He holds two BS degrees in electrical engineering and
management form MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also an active pilot and speaks extensively.
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Nancy A. May
Directors
