As a follow-up to our two recent Adobe (tkr: ADBE) articles that were highly critical of Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen as it relates to the Figma acquisition, we highlight for you Adobe’s Board of Directors who signed off on the Figma deal and its outrageous 50x forward ARR valuation. Here is Adobe’s “go along to get along” Board of Directors (we have excluded ADBE founder John Warnock and CEO Narayen from the below): https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/leaders/board-directors.html
Amy Banse
Partner, Mastry, Inc.
Ms. Banse is currently a partner at Mastry, Inc., an early stage venture capital firm. Previously, she held several roles at Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company, including Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation, and Managing Director and Head of Funds, Comcast Ventures. Prior to that role, Ms. Banse was President of Comcast Interactive Media (CIM), a division of Comcast responsible for developing Comcast’s online strategy and operating Comcast’s digital properties, including Fandango, Xfinity.com and Xfinitytv.com. She joined Comcast in 1991 and spent the early part of her career at Comcast overseeing the development of Comcast’s cable network portfolio. She received a B.A. from Harvard and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law.
As the former Managing Director and Head of Funds for Comcast Ventures and Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation, as well as her prior executive positions, including President of CIM, Ms. Banse has extensive executive leadership experience and extensive knowledge of financial and strategic issues. She also brings to the Board a deep expertise in global media and technology organizations in online business.
Brett Biggs
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Walmart
Mr. Biggs is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Walmart. He is responsible for all finance functions as well as Global Procurement. Brett and his team work to deliver on Walmart’s commitment to everyday low cost in an effort to pass savings on to customers. Prior to his current role, Brett has held the roles of chief financial officer for Walmart International, Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club. He has also served as senior vice president of international strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and as senior vice president of corporate finance. Brett was also the senior vice president of operations for Sam’s Club. Prior to joining Walmart in 2000, Brett held various M&A and corporate finance positions with Leggett & Platt, Phillips Petroleum Co. and Price Waterhouse.
Brett is involved in various civic functions including serving on the American Red Cross Board of Governors and on the Walton Arts Center Board. Brett also serves on the Board of Regents at Pepperdine University and is Walmart’s corporate representative on the McCombs School of Business Advisory Council at the University of Texas. Within Walmart, he serves on the Walmart Foundation Board as well as being an executive sponsor for the Hispanic/Latino Resource Group.
Brett holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Harding University and received a MBA with Honors from Oklahoma State University. With his current role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Walmart, as well as his prior executive positions, Mr. Biggs brings to the Board extensive executive experience and financial expertise, including in-depth knowledge of the complex financial and operational issues facing large global companies and understanding of accounting principles and financial reporting rules and regulations.
Melanie Boulden
Chief Marketing Officer, Coca-Cola North America
Ms. Boulden currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer of the Coca-Cola North America Operating Unit (NAOU) responsible for a multibillion dollar brand portfolio consisting of 20+ brands including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Smartwater, Minute Maid and Simply. Prior to her role as Chief Marketing Officer of NAOU, Ms. Boulden was President of the Stills Business Unit and led NAOU’s water, active hydration, tea and coffee businesses. Before joining Coca-Cola in 2019, Ms. Boulden was the global head of Marketing and Brand Management at Reebok, where she reignited Reebok’s connection to pop culture, entertainment, fitness and fashion. She also served as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at Crayola and spent several years at Kraft Foods and Henkel Consumer Goods in various marketing and general management positions. She has been recognized as one of Ad Age’s 2019 U.S. Women to Watch. Ms. Boulden holds a B.S. from Iowa State University and an MBA from The University of Iowa.
With her current role as Chief Marketing Officer of NAOU, together with her previous roles managing some of the world’s most well-known brands, Ms. Boulden brings to the Board extensive experience and deep expertise in global marketing and brand management.
Frank Calderoni
Lead Director
Mr. Calderoni served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anaplan, a planning and performance management platform provider, until June 2022. Prior to joining Anaplan in January 2017, he served as Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Financial Officer at Red Hat from June 2015 to December 2016. Until June 2015, he was an Executive Advisor at Cisco, a designer, manufacturer and seller of IP-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry. From 2008 to January 2015, Mr. Calderoni served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Cisco, managing the company’s financial strategy and operations. He joined Cisco in 2004 from QLogic Corporation, a storage networking company, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Cisco, he was Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer for SanDisk Corporation, a flash data storage company. Before joining SanDisk, Mr. Calderoni spent 21 years at IBM, a global services, software and systems company, where he became Vice President and held controller responsibilities for several divisions within the company. Mr. Calderoni holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Fordham University and an MBA in Finance from Pace University.
As a result of his senior executive leadership positions as a chief executive officer and chief financial officer of publicly traded global technology companies, Mr. Calderoni brings to the Board abundant financial expertise that includes extensive knowledge of the complex financial and operational issues facing large global companies, and a deep understanding of accounting principles and financial reporting rules and regulations. He provides the Board with significant insight into the preparation of financial statements and knowledge of audit procedures. Through his senior executive positions, Mr. Calderoni has demonstrated his global leadership and business acumen.
Laura Desmond
Founder and CEO, Eagle Vista Partners
Ms. Desmond is currently Founder and CEO of Eagle Vista Partners, a strategic advisory and investment firm focused on marketing and digital technology, and an Operating Partner in the Media & Technology Practice at Providence Equity Partners, a private equity investment firm. Prior to this, she was the Chief Revenue Officer of Publicis Groupe, a group of global marketing, communication and business transformation companies from December 2016 to December 2017. From 2008 to December 2016 she was the Global Chief Executive Officer of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), a global marketing and media services company which is part of the Publicis Groupe. Prior to her appointment as Global Chief Executive Officer in 2008, Ms. Desmond was Chief Executive Officer of SMG – The Americas from 2007 to 2008 where she managed a network spanning the United States, Canada and Latin America. She was Chief Executive Officer of MediaVest, based in New York, from 2003 to 2007, and from 2000 to 2002 she was Chief Executive Officer of SMG’s Latin America group. She holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Iowa.
With her extensive experience as a strategist, consultant and investor working with global marketers, media companies and brands, including serving as Chief Revenue Officer of Publicis Groupe and Global Chief Executive Officer of SMG, Ms. Desmond brings to the Board a deep expertise in global media and marketing technology organizations, leadership capabilities and business acumen. In addition, her present and past service on other boards gives her valuable knowledge and perspective. As an expert in the marketing space, Ms. Desmond speaks frequently with Adobe’s management outside of scheduled board meetings to provide specific insight regarding Adobe’s Digital Experience business.
Spencer Neumann
Chief Financial Officer, Netflix
Mr. Neumann currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Netflix, a role he has held since January 2019. Before joining Netflix, Neumann served as Activision Blizzard’s Chief Financial Officer and previously held several senior positions at The Walt Disney Company, including CFO and executive vice president of Global Guest Experience of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Prior to that, he worked at private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and Summit Partners. Neumann is a member of the national board of directors and audit committee of Make-A-Wish America. He holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard University.
As a result of his position at Netflix, as well as his previous executive positions, Mr. Neumann brings to the Board extensive experience and financial expertise, including an in-depth knowledge of the complex financial and operational issues facing large global companies and a deep understanding of accounting principles and financial reporting rules and regulations.
Leeny Oberg
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Business Operations, Marriott International
Ms. Oberg currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Business Operations for Marriott International, Inc. Beginning in 2013 and until January 2016, Ms. Oberg served as Chief Financial Officer for Ritz-Carlton. From 2008 until she joined Ritz-Carlton in 2013, Ms. Oberg served as Marriott’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Development Finance and from 2006 to 2008, she served as Marriott’s Senior Vice President, International Project Finance and Asset Management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and as the senior finance executive for the region. Ms. Oberg’s career with Marriott began in 1999 where she served as a member of its Investor Relations group. Prior to initially joining Marriott in 1999, Ms. Oberg held various financial leadership positions with Sodexo, Sallie Mae, Goldman Sachs and Chase Manhattan Bank. Ms. Oberg holds a B.S. in Commerce with concentrations in Finance/Management Information Systems from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
As a result of her position at Marriott and her past service in financial leadership positions, Ms. Oberg brings to the Board financial expertise, including an in-depth knowledge of financial reporting rules and regulations, and accounting principles. Her deep understanding of the multifaceted financial and operational issues affecting large global organizations and leadership experience with development projects and merger and acquisition opportunities brings the Board and Audit Committee valuable insight into preparing long-range plans, annual budgets, and capital allocation strategy.
Dheeraj Pandey
Chairman and CEO, DevRev, Inc.
Mr. Pandey is the Chairman and CEO of DevRev, Inc., a SaaS company that is focused on using AI and design to automate software and customer engineering workflows. Previously, he co-founded Nutanix, Inc. in 2009 and served as its Chief Executive Officer and as the Chairman of its board of directors until December 2020. Mr. Pandey also served as the President of Nutanix from September 2009 until February 2016. Between September 2007 and September 2009, he served as VP (and Director) of Engineering at Aster Data Systems, Inc. (later acquired by Teradata Corporation), a data warehousing company. Prior to Teradata, Mr. Pandey served in software engineering roles at Oracle Corporation, Zambeel, Inc., and Trilogy Software, Inc. Mr. Pandey holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a Graduate Fellow of Computer Science in the University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. program.
With his experience in the technology industry as a global executive leader and technologist, including co-founding and serving as CEO and Chairman of DevRev, Inc. and Nutanix, Inc. and as a software engineer at various companies over the course of nearly 20 years, Mr. Pandey brings to the Board engineering expertise, financial acumen, an in-depth understanding of the technology landscape, and valuable insight on growing a company from a start-up to a publicly traded company.
Dave Ricks
Chief Executive Officer of Eli Lilly and Company
Mr. Ricks currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Eli Lilly and Company and became Chairman of the Eli Lilly and Company board of directors in June 2017. Prior to January 2017, Mr. Ricks served as President of Lilly Bio-Medicines. From 2009 to 2012, he served as President of Lilly USA, the Eli Lilly and Company’s largest affiliate. Mr. Ricks served as President and General Manager of Lilly China, operating in one of the world’s fastest growing emerging markets, from 2008 to 2009. He was general manager of Lilly Canada from 2005 to 2008, after roles as Director of Pharmaceutical Marketing and National Sales Director in Canada. Mr. Ricks joined Eli Lilly and Company in 1996 as a Business Development Associate and held several management roles in U.S. marketing and sales before moving to Lilly Canada. Mr. Ricks earned a B.S. from Purdue University in 1990 and an M.B.A. from Indiana University in 1996.
As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of a large, innovation-focused, global company, Mr. Ricks brings to the Board executive leadership, marketing, sales and financial expertise, business acumen and relevant worldwide operational insight.
Dan Rosensweig
President and Chief Executive Officer of Chegg.com
Mr. Rosensweig is currently President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Chegg.com, an online textbook rental company. Prior to joining Chegg.com in February 2010, Mr. Rosensweig served as President and Chief Executive Officer of RedOctane, a business unit of Activision Publishing, a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Prior to joining RedOctane in March 2009, Mr. Rosensweig was an Operating Principal at the Quadrangle Group, a private investment firm. Prior to joining the Quadrangle Group in August 2007, Mr. Rosensweig served as Chief Operating Officer of Yahoo!, which he joined in April 2002. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Mr. Rosensweig was President of CNET Networks, Inc., an interactive media company, which he joined in October 2000. Mr. Rosensweig served for 18 years with Ziff-Davis, an integrated media and marketing services company, including roles as President and Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiary ZDNet, from 1997 until 2000 when ZDNet was acquired by CNET. Mr. Rosensweig holds a B.A. in Political Science from Hobart College.
As a result of his current executive position at Chegg.com, as well as his former positions as a senior executive at global media and technology organizations, Mr. Rosensweig provides the Board with extensive and relevant executive leadership, worldwide operations and technology industry experience.
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