Getting Smarter Sooner: Director and Officer Education Events for Q4 2017 and for 2018

Retailers in America are already telling me that the holiday season (starting with Halloween) is here. Before we all get lost in the holiday shuffle, directors and officers can benefit from planning their continuing education for the rest of 2017 and into 2018.

You can get a jump-start on your planning with a useful board education guide we release annually here at Woodruff Sawyer. In addition, in this post I am also featuring two excellent education events: the EY Strategic Growth Forum and the Summit D&O Conference. Here are a few highlights.

The Board Education Guide

Woodruff Sawyer is proud to bring you the 2018 “Board Education Resource Guide” that bookmarks the must-attend events for directors in the coming year.

In the guide, readers will find the following highlights for 2018:

• Board-level multiday events
• Committee-level events
• New events centered on trending board-level issues
• Short, no-cost or low-cost events in convenient locations
• Online learning resources like webinars, podcasts and blogs
• Customized learning experiences

To access the guide, click on the image below.

EY Strategic Growth Forum

The EY Strategic Growth Forum is an all-star event that doesn’t disappoint. Starting on November 15 in Palm Desert, California, this invitation-only, four-day event geared towards CEOs brings together thousands of top executives, entrepreneurs, advisors, investors and other business leaders.

Some of the issues covered will include:

• IPOs and exits: insights from the C-suite
• Family enterprise leadership
• Entrepreneurial winning women
• Cyber and digital: the critical pairing
• Geopolitics in 2018 and beyond

Notable speakers include CEOs and celebrities like:

• Bernard Tyson, CEO, Kaiser Permanente
• Robert Craft, CEO, Craft Group
• Peyton Manning, former NFL quarterback
• Viola Davis, actress

On November 15, I’ll be speaking at a breakfast session on the topic of managing D&O and transitional risk. It’s one of the top-ranked sessions each year. Surprising? You betcha. Then again, when a management team has built something very valuable, they tend to take seriously the idea of insuring against downside risk.

The glitzy forum wraps up with a private concert with Steven Tyler and the Loving Mary Band, and an awards gala that honors the entrepreneur of the year, among others. The gala is hosted by Seth Meyers of the TV show, “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

To request an invitation, go here.

Summit D&O Conference

Now in its 17^th year, the Summit Director and Officer Training Conference is an exciting training and leadership event to help boards of “public, pre-IPO, and private companies improve corporate governance and best practices.”

Skiers and attendees alike will enjoy the setting at the Montage Deer Valley Resort at the Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah on November 30 to December 1. The event features a wide variety of top-notch speakers, including from the US Senate Committee on Finance; a best-selling author on Generations Y and Z; Intuit; Bank of America; and more.
Some of the issues covered will be:

• Leading and growing companies with Millennials
• Sustainability – competitive strategy in a disruptor’s world
• The courage to make tough decisions as a board member
• M&A trends and opportunities
• Culture and governance – the recipe for an IPO

On the agenda for November 30 is Woodruff Sawyer partner, Lauri Floresca, moderating a panel on the topic of “Cyber Risk – Balancing Convenience with Security.” Susan Miner, partner at Woodruff Sawyer, will be speaking on a panel on December 1 on the issue of “Culture and Governance – The Recipe for the Perfect IPO.”

There will be plenty of networking opportunities and a ski afternoon planned at the end of the event. This is one conference that directors and officers are sure to mark their calendars for each year.

To join this Woodruff Sawyer-sponsored event, register here.