FEATURED ARTICLE
McDonald's Veteran Relishes Private Boards

By Barbara Spector

Private companies shouldn’t just try to emulate public boards — they should be even better.

That’s advice from Andrew McKenna, the chairman emeritus of McDonald’s Corporation who served as the fast-food chain’s non-executive chairman from 2004 to 2016. He’s also chairman emeritus of Schwarz Supply Source, a printer, converter, producer and distributor of packaging and promotional materials. And over the years he’s served on many civic, community and philanthropic boards.

“If you have a capable board of solid independent directors with sufficient diversity, and the company is a well-run company, it’s going to just enhance the whole organization,” McKenna says.

BEST PRACTICES

Governance Success Recipe

By Allison Jacobs

Creating the best private company board comes down to making room for independent voices, innovative compensation ideas and a clear view to the future, says Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, CEO of Nia Enterprises, who sits on public and private boards.

“The first thing you have to ask yourself is do you believe in governance,” stresses McKissack, director for the Donnelley Foundation and Founders First Capital Partners, LLC.

“I think everyone wants to improve the business and be successful,” she notes, adding that good governance can get you there. “It’s hard sometimes to pull back and put in energy to set up a governance process,” she explains, so you have to think of it as a process.

GENDER DIVERSITY

Survey Monkey Adds Another Woman Director

By Barbara Wenger

SurveyMonkey continues its governance journey with yet another high-level women board appointment.

Susan Decker, who was Yahoo!’s president and serves on the boards of Berkshire Hathaway Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp., Vail Resorts and Vox Media, was appointed to the online polling company’s board of directors.

Earlier this year,  SurveyMonkey appointed Tennis star Serena Williams to its board. Williams has been vocal about her desire to promote diversity.