BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — July 11, 2024 — Merritt Janow, chairman of the board of directors at Mastercard, was today named “Independent Director of the Year” by Corporate Directors as part of the magazine’s sixth annual Board Leadership Awards, presented in collaboration with AlixPartners.
Ms. Janow was recognized by a distinguished panel of public company board members for her work leading Mastercard's CEO transition and her key role in Mastercard's cybersecurity leadership to combat quantum and AI computing fraud, which are critical to the company's success. She also serves on the boards of directors of The New Economy Fund, Aptiv PLC, American Family Funds, Inc., American Funds Insurance Series, Inc. and Capital Income Builder.
Janow is one of three recipients of this year's committee award for their work. The other recipients are:
Dale Wolf, Chairman of Molina Healthcare He was awarded the “Courage in the Boardroom” honor for the challenging task of revitalizing the family-owned company, installing new leadership and growing the enterprise value nearly tenfold from approximately $2 billion in 2017 to more than $20 billion by 2023.
Ram Charan is a bestselling author and advisor to boards of directors and CEOs. Charan has been recognized as the person with the greatest influence on boards of directors for his decades of work in improving corporate governance around the world. During his career spanning more than 40 years, Charan has advised officers and directors of many Fortune 500 companies, served as a professor at numerous business schools, and written more than 30 books that have sold more than 4 million copies, including the classic, “The Future of Corporate Governance.” A Board of Directors that Demonstrates Leadershipis considered essential reading for new directors worldwide.
The board will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to TK Kerstetter. Co-founder of Corporate Board Member and founder of Inside America's Boardrooms, he has served and helped shape the corporate governance community for over 25 years, and founded the Boardroom Summit 20 years ago, serving as this year's co-chair.
The awards ceremony will take place at Corporate Board Member's 20th Annual Board Meeting and Peer Exchange at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square on September 16th, followed by a panel discussion with Janow, Wolf, Charan and Kerstetter. For more information about the event or to register, visit https://boardmember.com/boardroomsummit/.
“It is fitting that we recognize such expert leaders in the board governance community on our 20th anniversary.Number “Our Anniversary Board Summit was an incredible success,” said Company Executive and Publisher Jamie Tassa. “In a time of so much change, uncertainty and challenges, the Summit once again demonstrated that high-quality, engaged directors are essential to the survival and success of public companies.”
Joe Shalleck, a managing director at AlixPartners who served as special advisor to the judges, added: “Faced with so many truly strategic challenges, from technology to geopolitics to talent, this year's winners are a testament to the essential and arduous work of directors of great public companies. Never before have they played such a central role in driving the performance of truly great companies.”
About the Selection Committee
What's unique about the Board Leadership Awards is that they are selected by a peer group of outstanding and experienced public company directors. The 2024 selection committee includes veteran director Larry Kellner, winner of the Courage In The Boardroom award at Marriott in 2023; Ellen Kullman, chairman of the board of directors at Carbon, a director at Goldman, Amgen and Dell and 2020 Director of the Year; John Lundgren, chairman of Visa, director of Callaway Golf and 2023 Director of the Year; Lionel Nowell, lead independent director at Bank of America and 2022 Director of the Year; Mike O'Neill, former chairman of Citigroup and 2019 Director of the Year; Maria Sastre, director of General Mills and O'Reilly Autoparts; Mike White, former chairman of the board of directors at Dunkin' Brands and chairman of Abercrombie & Fitch and Advance Autoparts; director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, former director of Whirlpool, former chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark and DIRECTV.
