12 Oct 2021

Director & Officer Summit Preview

Now in its 21st year, Summit D&O Conference is a world-class director and officer training and leadership conference dedicated to helping the boards of public, pre-IPO, and private companies improve corporate governance and best practices. Summit provides an opportunity for directors and officers to hear valuable information from nationally recognized experts and thought leaders on best practices and strategies to improve boardroom performance. Join your peers from around the country at the Summit Conference and discuss the challenges facing boards today. Hear from nationally recognized experts on how to most effectively deal with the challenges and complexities of new federal regulations and governance reforms.

Additional benefits include: CPE/CLE credits (9.5 hours awarded in past years) as well as NACD Fellowship Hours (6 hours.)

All the pieces are in place for another successful Summit D&O Training Conference. We are holding this year’s conference in-person at the Montage Deer Valley with a lineup of presenters that brings back favorites (Jeremy Andrus – Traeger CEO, Suzanne Vautrinot, Retired Air Force Major General ) as well as some strong new speakers (Brett Keller – Priceline CEO, Gary Crittenden – Executive Director HGGC, Paul Godfrey – Author & Marriott School Professor.)

This year we have an impressive catalog of speakers from all over the country. You can get more information about registration here.

director & officer summit preview at montage deer valley

Brett Keller, CEO of Priceline: LinkedIn

Brett Keller is Chief Executive Officer of Priceline, a subsidiary business of Booking Holdings. Brett reports to Glenn Fogel, Booking Holdings’ CEO. A veteran executive of Priceline, Brett most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of the business, and prior to that, as Chief Marketing Officer. He joined Priceline in 1999 and over the past 20 years has played a central role in growing the business and evolving the brand’s product and go-to-market strategies for its diverse set digital offerings.

Prior to joining Priceline, Brett managed Cendant’s online travel businesses as a Director of Online Travel. Brett holds an MBA from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and an undergraduate degree in Japanese from Brigham Young University. He also serves on the board of directors for Broadridge Financial Solutions.

Michael Hartnett, Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research: LinkedIn

Hartnett has been at Lynch & Associates since 2004. Responsible for BOLI / COLI product design and structuring, pricing and counterparty negotiations, investment and risk analytics, stable value considerations, regulatory compliance activities, institutional client services, account management, and business development.

Gary Crittenden, Executive Director HGGC: LinkedIn

Gary is an executive director of HGGC, a middle-market private equity firm. He is on the Fund I and II Policy and Investment Committees and was formerly the Chairman and CEO of HGGC. Gary serves as Chairman of the Board of the HGGC portfolio company, Pearl Holding Group. Outside of HGGC, he serves on the public company boards of Extra Space Storage, Primerica, and Zions Bancorp and has previously served on the boards of Staples, Ryerson Tull, and the TJX Companies.
Prior to joining HGGC, Gary was the Chief Financial Officer of Citigroup from 2007 to 2009, where he was responsible for the financial management of the firm during the financial crisis. He was also CFO of American Express Company from 2000 to 2007. Prior to American Express, he was the CFO of Monsanto, Sears Roebuck and Company, Melville Corporation, and Filene’s Basement. On three separate occasions, the readers of Institutional Investor Magazine named Gary one of the “Best CFOs in America.”
Gary spent the first twelve years of his career at Bain & Company, an international management consulting firm, where he became a partner. He began his work at Bain in Boston, and then co-founded the Munich, Germany office, where he worked for five years. He eventually headed the firm’s retail practice area.
He graduated with a B.S from Brigham Young University in 1976 and with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1979.

Herman Bulls Vice Chairman, Americas of JLL: LinkedIn

Board member of the following boards USAA, Comfort Systems USA, The American Red Cross, The West Point Association of Graduates, the Real Estate Advisory Committee for New York Teachers’ Retirement System, and The Military Bowl. Retired Colonel, U.S. Army Reserves. As a Vice Chairman at JLL, Bulls is an experienced real estate, finance, marketing, and operations executive. He also has extensive Fortune 500 Board experience. Specialties include Real Estate, strategy, leadership, public speaking, privatization, university real estate, government real estate, real estate finance, and corporate boards.

Channing Hancock, Head of Global Business Marketing, WhatsApp: LinkedIn

A graduate of Brigham Young University in Bioinformatics, she then continued on to Harvard Business School where she earned her MBA. Before coming to WhatsApp, she was the Business Lead for Asia Pacific at Facebook.

Spencer Christensen, Platform Partnerships, Stripe: LinkedIn

A graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard Business School. He now works with platforms interested in Stripe to configure and build a payments stack and go-to-market strategy that will drive revenue and delight their customers.

Whitney Johnson, CEO, Disruption Advisors: LinkedIn

Whitney Johnson is the CEO of human capital consultancy Disruption Advisors, an Inc. 5000 2020 fastest-growing private company in America. One of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world (#14) as named by Thinkers50, Whitney is an expert at smart growth leadership.

Whitney was the co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund, involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy, with Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen. They invested and led the $8 million seed round for South Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at more than $60 billion.

Suzanne M. Vautrinot, President, Kilovolt Consulting, Inc.

Major General and Commander United States Air Force (retired); Board Member of the following boards: Wells Fargo, Symantec, Ecolab, Parsons Corporation and the Battelle Memorial Institute

Ms. Vautrinot is currently President of Kilovolt Consulting, Inc., a cyber security strategy and technology consulting firm. She retired from the United States Air Force in October 2013 after 31 years of distinguished service, including as Major General and Commander, 24th Air Force, Air Forces Cyber and Air Force Network Operations from April 2011 to October 2013 where she oversaw a multi-billion dollar cyber enterprise responsible for operating, extending, maintaining, and defending the Air Force portion of the Department of Defense global network.

Clif Smith, Global Mindfulness Leader, EY: LinkedIn

Clif Smith, EY’s Americas Mindfulness Leader and Global EY Mindfulness Network Leader, is a US Army veteran and former diplomat and intelligence officer with over 25 years of experience successfully tackling defense, intelligence, and business-related challenges. Following his passion for developing and serving others through coaching, leadership, and mindfulness training, he began building EY’s Americas Mindfulness Network and Mindful Leadership program. Clif has developed and personally delivered practical mindfulness training to over 65,000 people with measurable impact on employee leadership, performance and well-being.

Jeremy Andrus, CEO, Traeger Grills, Former CEO at Skullcandy: LinkedIn

Jeremy Andrus is President & CEO of Traeger Grills, the original wood pellet grill brand that has taken the outdoor cooking world by storm. He and a financial partner acquired the company in 2014, transforming it from a small, regional, 26-year-old business into a multi-hundred-million-dollar brand that owns over 50% of the global wood pellet grill market.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the 2021 Director & Officer Summit. If you would like more information about Diversified, go here.