The Middle-Market Series: The Family
and Private CEO Board Advantage
What CEOs and Directors Should Know About
1. Preparation
2. Metrics & Commitment
3. Process
4. Advice & Action
The panel's discussion will initially focus on an overview of the entire board processes involved in building value.
This discussion will be followed by a more in-depth analysis of the preparation and characteristics needed for one
to be qualified to be a board member. Our panel will then move on to the preparation needed by each of Board
Members, Board Lead (if one), CEO and board involved company leaders in advance of each meeting. Finally,
they will conclude with a discussion of the effects that such prior preparation can produce on the building of
sustainable value. Preceding the panel discussion will be a short (5-7 minute) economic update to set the stage
for how the current and future economic conditions are likely to affect board preparation in the years to come.
Presented by: Private Directors Association
Sponsored by: Hubbard Business S.A.E. (in Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Conference Room)
INTRODUCTORY INTERVIEW: BOARD MEMBER FINANCIAL PREPARATION
Betty Latson, Senior Vice President, U.S. Bank
FEATURED SPEAKERS PANEL:
Lyell Clarke, President & CEO, Clarke Companies
Ed Carney, President,CEO and Board Member, Superior Graphite
MODERATOR:
Bill Hubbard, Hubbard Business S.A.E.
When:
Where:
Fees:
Thursday, April 23, 2015
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Hubbard Business S.A.E.
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Conference Room
222 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 300
Chicago, Illinois 60601
$30.00 Founding Member Ticket
$30.00 Regular Member Ticket
$45.00 Guest Ticket
To register please email Jennifer Hendrickson: [email protected]
Please note similar events have sold out!
Panel Speakers
Lyell Clarke
President and CEO
Clarke Companies
Mosquitoes have always been a scourge of mankind. Who better, then, to lead a
middle-market company focused on sustainable, environmentally friendly mosquito
control than a person with both a Bachelors of Science in Entomology from the
University of Kentucky and a PhD in Entomology from Iowa State University?
Nineteen years ago he was elected President and seven years ago he took the
initiative to re-focus Clarke on a sustainability platform— from new product and
service development to internal processes, work environments and social outreach.
To further this focus, he led his company’s setting and achieving of metrics essential
to sustainability, and resulting in four sustainability reports prepared under Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) criteria and review. This type of leadership and vision are
behind Clarke expansion that will benefit far more than its current reach of over 600
million people worldwide.
Ed Carney
President, CEO, and Board Member
Superior Graphite
Graphite, the most stable form of carbon, has a multitude of uses: from lubrication, to
electrodes, to steel making, to name several. Ed, Superior Graphite’s 4th generation
CEO, leads a business encompassing 7 separate manufacturing factories, 3 of which
house separate research centers, located in 3 states and 1 foreign country
(maintaining sales and service centers in each of Europe, China, and the US). At a
time when Chicago’s manufacturing base has eroded by over 1/3rd since 2002, Ed’s
leadership has proved instrumental to Superior’s growth and sustainability (with over
100 of its 300+ employees in Illinois). Ed’s credit, finance, and sales background with
Denver’s Norwest (now Wells Fargo) and Copenhagen’s Danske Securities, followed
by roles leading a Superior greenfield start-up in Denmark and Sweden and, later,
U.S. responsibilities (including spearheading Superior’s 2006 ESOP implementation
and minority ownership), not to mention (much) keeping sharp by playing in weekly
hockey games at Johnny’s Ice House and coaching his children’s academic and sports
development, have all proved critical to his focus on Superior Graphite’s continued
ability to compete globally through adaptation and taking the initiative. Ed’s outside
board service (including Lake Forest School of Management Board of Directors and
Advisory Council, Swedish American Chamber of Commerce) and Superior Graphite
leadership has provided his board, and company, with a leader well prepared to lead
Superior Graphite’s success into its next century. He is a graduate of Colorado
College (BA) and the Lake Forest School of Management (MBA)
Betty Latson
Senior Vice President
U.S. Bank
Introductory Interview: Board Financial Preparation — Betty Latson, Senior Vice
President/Team Lead, U.S. Bank. Betty brings 30 years of invaluable commercial
banking experience working with, and advising, CEOs and owners of middle market
companies. Prior to her current role with U.S. Bank, Betty held similar roles with each
of Wells Fargo and LaSalle Bank/Bank of America. She is a Board Member for LISC
Chicago, a member of the Chicago Finance Exchange, and a Board Member and
Treasurer of Carl Sandburg Village Number 7 Association. Betty graduated with a B.S.
in finance from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, and a MBA in finance and
accounting from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. When not
acting as senior banker, leader, and trusted advisor, she fits in travel, golf,
photography, and an interest in the arts.
Panel Moderator
Bill Hubbard
HUBBARD BUSINESS S.A.E.
Bill, one of the many founders of the Private Directors Association, chairs (along with
several co-chairs) the PDA middle-market network. Though maintaining his law
practice, he has recently, after completing a review of hundreds of studies on the
effectiveness of directors and boards culled from several thousands of business
school studies on the subject from around the world published over the past 25 years,
founded a firm to design, implement and lead advisory boards for CEOs and owners
of middle-market companies. He has been a business and corporate transactional
attorney for over 30 years (having been a partner in two major Chicago law firms).
Through the years he has advised boards of small and middle-market companies,
represented CEOs, boards and board members, developed board agendas and
chaired meetings, and put on programs for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal
Education, Illinois CPA Society, Chicago Bar Association, AMAA, and other organizations on subjects including LLC and corporate management and leadership structures, mergers and acquisitions, exit planning, and fiduciary duties. He is a past
president and board member of the West Point Society of Chicago, has a bachelor of
science from West Point, and law degree from IIT/Chicago-Kent, and is a registered
CPA.