Theme: "Making Your Board Visionary: Going from Insight to Foresight"

NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 — (PRNewswire) —  As corporate boards challenge themselves to be more visionary around the complexities of risk and globalization, the WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation will host its 7^th annual invitation-only Global Institute this May, convening more than 250 top women board chairs, directors, and CEOs from all over the world. The Institute – "Making Your Board Visionary: Going from Insight to Foresight" – will explore the ways boards are grappling with everything from the Internet of Things to creating a corporate culture that attracts top talent to the effects of an aging population in key global markets. The WCD Foundation is the largest organization of women board directors globally, with 72 chapters and more than 3,500 members serving on 8,500 boards.

"As we have seen in our most recent global board survey with Spencer Stuart and researchers at Harvard, which surveyed more than 4,000 directors, women board members have a more heightened concern about potential risks to their companies than their male colleagues," says Susan Stautberg, CEO of the WCD Foundation. "At the Global Institute, directors can enhance their ability to anticipate the real threats to their organization and have a forum for sharing best practices in dealing with these threats."

The Global Institute will also include:

• Visionary Awards Dinner – The evening of May 4^th, the WCD Foundation will honor companies and CEOs that have distinguished themselves in corporate governance: Publix,The Santander Group,Ulta Beauty, Frontier Communications Executive Chairman Maggie Wilderotter, and Izumi Kobayashi, director at ANA Holdings, Suntory, and Mitsui & Co.
• Launch of the WCD Thought Leadership Commission (TLC) whitepaper "Seeing Far and Seeing Wide: Moving Toward a Visionary Board" – Created in conjunction with KPMG, WCD's third annual TLC report will be launched with a panel at the Institute moderated by Susan Angele, Senior Advisor, Board Governance, KPMG Board Leadership Center. This report on visionary boards provides practical guidance on moving a board toward a more forward-thinking approach – from the board meeting agenda to board composition to bringing in fresh insight and knowledge from the outside directors around the table.
• Family Business Governance Institute – In its second year, this full day of programming will be held on May 3^rd. Sponsored and hosted by KPMG, it will address the particular challenges and opportunities associated with governing family-run businesses and spotlight strategies to ensure their long-term success.

Featured speakers
The Global Institute will feature speakers and panelists from around the world, including, among many others:

• Maggie Wilderotter (United States), Executive Chairman, Frontier Communications Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors of Juno Therapeutics, Inc., Costco Wholesale, and DreamWorks Animation; Member of WCD's Advisory Board
• Ana Paula Machado Pessoa (Brazil), Chief Financial Officer, Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Independent Director and Member of Audit Committee, News Corp; Independent Director and Member of Strategy and Investment Committee, Vinci; Member of the Consulting Board for TNC Brasil (The Nature Conservancy)
• Mary Dillon (United States), Chief Executive Officer, Ulta Beauty; Director, Starbucks, World Business Chicago, and Executive's Club of Chicago; former Director, Target Corporation and U.S. Cellular
• Izumi Kobayashi (Japan), Director, Member of the Board, ANA Holdings, Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Suntory Holdings Ltd.; Member of the Risk Committee, Mizuho Financial Group; WCD Chapter Chair
• Connie Collingsworth (United States), General Counsel of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Board Member, Banner Corporation and Premera Blue Cross
• Elaine La Roche (China and United States), Director, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., China Construction Bank, Harsco Corporation; Senior Advisor, China International Capital Corporation
• Laura Laybourn (United States), Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Cyber Infrastructure Resilience for Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Jyoti Narang (India) Director, Au Financiers, Ltd. (India), and Calderys India Refractories, Ltd.; former Chief Operating Officer, Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces India; WCD Chapter Chair
• Anka Wittenburg (Germany), Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, SAP; Supervisory Board Member, Westfalen AG; Executive board of the World Childhood Foundation
• Nina Henderson (United States and United Kingdom), Director, CNO Financial Group, Walter Energy, and Regus plc; former Director, Royal Dutch Shell Group, Del Monte Foods Company, The Equitable Companies, AXA Financial, Pactiv Corporation, and the Hunt Corporation
• Henrietta Fore (United States), Director, Exxon Mobil Corporation, General Mills, and Theravance Biopharma, Inc.; Global Co-Chair, Asia Society; former Co-Chair, and Honorary Chair of Institutes, the WCD Foundation

To apply for media credentials to cover the WCD Global Institute, please contact Suzanne Oaks Brownstein or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or Email Contact.  

About the WCD Foundation Global Institute
The WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) Foundation 2016 Global Institute is an unprecedented opportunity for global board directors to share corporate governance and business strategies and to build partnerships with a purpose, in a private, invitation-only setting.

The Institute is a two-day, high-powered idea forum exploring compelling issues on the minds of today's board directors and their companies. The program includes keynotes, panels, and discussion groups – as well as the Visionary Awards Dinner – that facilitate informal peer exchanges.

About WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation, Inc. 
The WomenCorporateDirectors Education and Development Foundation, Inc. (The WCD Foundation) is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors, with more than 3,500 members serving on more than 8,500 boards. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the WCD Foundation has 72 chapters around the world, with seven more to launch over the next year. The aggregate market capitalization of public companies on whose boards WCD Foundation members serve is over $8 trillion. In addition, WCD Foundation members serve on numerous boards of large private and family-run companies globally.

WCD Foundation membership provides a unique platform for learning from the intellectual capital of accomplished women from around the world, and the WCD Foundation's mission is to increase courage, candor, inclusion, and cohesion in the boardroom.

The WCD Foundation has chapters in Arizona, Atlanta, Austin, Beijing, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Chile, Cleveland, Colombia, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth, Delhi, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greater Colorado, Greater New Mexico, Guatemala, Gulf Cooperation Council, Hanoi, Hawaii, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan , Kansas City , Kenya , London , Los Angeles / Orange County , Malaysia , Melbourne , Mexico , Milan, Minnesota , Mongolia , Morocco , Mumbai , Netherlands , New York , New Zealand , Nigeria , Northern California , North Florida / South Georgia , Panama , Peru , Philadelphia , Philippines , Quebec , Rio de Janeiro , Rome , San Diego , Sao Paulo , Seattle , Shanghai , Singapore , South Africa , South Florida , Spain , Switzerland , Sydney , Tampa , Tennessee , Toronto , Turkey , Uruguay , Washington, D.C. , and Western Canada.