Private Directors Association  Spring Town Hall Meeting

The PDA Town Hall Meeting is scheduled to take place virtually on Wednesday, May 1, at 5:30 pm ET via Zoom. All members are encouraged to attend. 

Join us for an insightful session at PDA's Spring Town Hall, where members will delve into key updates and milestones. Discover the latest developments as we unveil the State of the Association, featuring the Fiscal Year 2023 audit report and PDA's ambitious 3-year Strategic Plan. Additionally, anticipate exciting announcements regarding our upcoming 10-year Anniversary Celebration and the premiere of the Association's first-ever Annual Conference & Exhibition. A Q&A session will also be offered. We encourage to send your questions in prior to the Town Hall by emailing [email protected] 

We look forward to you joining us!

Register

This event is for Private Directors Association® members only.  

Thank you to our National Sponsors!

Featured Speakers

Elaine Eisenman, PhD Chair, Board Private Directors Association

Elaine Eisenman, PhD has served on public, private, PE, non-profit, start-up, family and advisory boards for over 20 years. She is an independent director of DBI (NYSE), a vertically integrated shoe manufacturer and retailer, chairs the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.

She is Managing Director of Saeje Advisors, providing strategic advisory services to private companies, and a faculty member at Entrepreneurship Policy Advisors, developing entrepreneurial ecosystems through growing and scaling companies. She was a senior executive for several global public companies and a Professor and Dean of Executive and Enterprise Education at Babson College.

She is the co-author of Betrayed: a survival guide to lying, cheating, and double-dealing, and of I Didn’t See it Coming: How to avoid being blind-sided in business. 

Catherine Nelson Chair, Audio & Finance Committee Private Directors Association

Catherine Nelson is a senior executive, board director, and investment strategist and advisor recognized for recommending the actions able to yield the most value within the elements of time, space, money, and reputation. She has extensive Board and Advisory Board leadership experience in start-up and non-profit organizations, and as a member of executive, audit (SEC defined Audit Committee Financial Expert), risk, and finance committees. Catherine’s global perspective, strong business judgment, and corporate finance expertise are hallmarks of her career.

As an Advisory and Board member, Catherine brings her strategic vision and creates environments where change is successful. She is a consensus builder able to unite boards and management around a common purpose. As business environments fluctuate, Catherine recognizes the breadth of business risk and financial issues requiring board level attention. She serves on the board of the Private Directors Association and is the Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee and as a trusted Advisory Board member to the founders of Foundera, an early-stage beauty start-up delivering an accurate and inclusive AI-driven foundation matching system. She is also a director of CMMB, a global provider of health solutions through the distribution of medicine. Previously, she was an Independent Director of the Rourke & Gunner Group, a private investment firm and served on the boards of Green Bronx Machine and Catholic Guardian Services as well as its Audit Committee. 

Currently, she leads Windmill Lane Advisors LLC, a strategy and financial advisory firm providing C-level and Board leadership of diverse enterprises and start-ups with advice on corporate strategy development, financial and risk scenario planning, capital structure optimization, and due diligence for M&As and IPOs. Previously, Catherine served as Senior Equity Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments and created the consumer sector model portfolio, which drove decision making across the firm’s institutional client-base. She was also a member of the Proxy Committee ensuring transparency and fairness in the voting process for the firm. She advised institutional investors and mutual funds on capital markets transactions from M&As to spinoffs and IPOs for 15+ years. Catherine’s appreciation for the complex issues that could generate activist interest was critical in advising C-suite executives and Board members on anticipating and addressing immediate activist shareholder proposals. She engaged the C-suite of Fortune 500 and Russell 3000 firms of premier brands in consumer facing industries including Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Diageo, General Mills, Mead Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. among others. 

Earlier, she was Vice President and Senior Equity Analyst for Cosmetics, Household & Personal Care at Morgan Stanley having started her finance career with Ark Asset Management Company. As a champion of women-led start-ups, Catherine is an alumnae of Golden Seeds, LLC and a former Managing Director; she is also an Advisor
at Astia Angels and a former angel investor. 

A graduate of Boston College with a B.A. in Economics with Honors, she received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Catherine earned Directorship Certification® from the NACD and certificates in Cybersecurity Oversight from the NACD & CERT Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Corporate Governance from Wharton Executive Education, Private Company Governance from the Private Directors Association, Investment Foundations from the CFA Institute, and Climate Leadership Certification from Diligent. Catherine and her husband have two daughters and divide their time between New York City and Bridgehampton, NY

Tamara Gracon Chair, Conference Committee Private Directors Association

Tamara Gracon is the CEO/Founder of TBG Consulting, a strategy and change management consultancy. She is a board member or an advisor to several companies and board advocacy organizations such as the Private Directors Association and How Women Lead. She is a Founding Limited Partner in the venture fund, How Women Invest. She is a passionate advocate for cognitive diversity on corporate boards and in venture capital. 

Debra McGuire, FASAE, MBA, IOM, CAE President & CEO Private Directors Association

Debra N. McGuire, FASAE, MBA, IOM, CAE is President & CEO of the Private Directors Association®, the only national association dedicated to improving private companies' growth and sustainability through board governance. 

Previously, Debra served as Executive Director for the International Association of Assessing Officers; President & CEO of the American Fire Sprinkler Association and Center for Life Safety Education; and CEO for the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians and Family Medicine Foundation of Michigan. Earlier in her career, she held executive positions at the Michigan Townships Association, Michigan Manufacturers Association, and Michigan Pharmacists Association. 

Originally from Chicago, Debra earned an MBA from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University (MSU). An Honors College graduate, Debra—a former internationally-ranked athlete—was part of MSU’s 1982 Women’s Track & Field Big Ten Conference Championship Team. She completed the Institute of Organizational Management (IOM) program at the University of Notre Dame and achieved the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). In April 2023, she was named an ASAE Fellow (FASAE)—an honor bestowed to less than 1% of association executives who are recognized for “making a significant impact on the association community through exemplary volunteer service, leadership, and extraordinary accomplishments.”

A dedicated volunteer leader, Debra has served on the Honors College Alumni Board at Michigan State University as well as numerous committees for the Michigan Society of Association Executives (MSAE). In 2004-2005, she chaired ASAE’s Communication Section Council, and in 2007-2008, was appointed chair of the CAE Item-Writing Committee, after serving on the committee for three years. Debra was later selected as a member of the CAE Examination Committee as well as the 2009 and 2019 Job Analysis Task Forces to recommend domain content and weighting for the CAE exam. In 2009, she was appointed to the CAE Commission, then elected as its chair in 2012-2013. She was also appointed to serve as a member of the CAE Professional Conduct Committee (2015) and CAE Appeals Committee (2016). 

As an ASAE Political Action Committee (APAC) member, Debra has participated in numerous legislative fly-ins and raised funds in support of ASAE's advocacy efforts. In the healthcare community, she was a director for three years on the Medical Advantage Group Advisory Board, and she served on the Board for the Michigan Primary Care Consortium for four years. In 2019, she was appointed to the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Board of Directors, where she served as secretary. Debra also served on the Congressional Fire Services Institute National Advisory Committee, headquartered in Washington, DC.

Her innovative leadership style and entrepreneurial spirit were recognized by her peers when a new non-dues revenue program—Allied Service Providers—won top honors in MSAE's 2006 Diamond Awards. In 2009, Debra was named "Emerging Leader" by MSAE for her passion and contributions to advancing the value of associations. She served as founding President of MSC, a for-profit subsidiary of MSAE to assist non-profit organizations with business operations, where she continued her Board leadership through 2018. In 2017, after serving on the ASAE Research Foundation's Development Committee, Debra was appointed to the ASAE Research Committee, and completed her service as its Immediate Past Chair in August 2023. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Certification Board for the International Association for Strategy Professionals.   

Register

This event is for Private Directors Association® members only.