Lori Dickerson Fouché started her career through an internship program for minorities that led to positions in insurance underwriting and management. She later attended Harvard Business School during the dot-com era and became a Management Consultant. Fouché was then asked to return to her former insurance company in a leadership role before rising up to become CEO. After that, she took executive positions at other major insurance companies before recently deciding to pursue her first corporate board seats.
Fouché took an inventory of her skills and considered what expertise boards would desire. She networked extensively, contacted executive search firms, and made herself available through various board candidate databases. Fouché believes excellence in your functional expertise combined with being the right strategic fit and diversity representation is key. She advises doing thorough due diligence on a board’s culture before joining. Fouché jumped into board service on companies in industries she didn’t directly work in before and believes different perspectives strengthen boards.
On boards, Fouché initially contributed more in committee meetings before bringing that expertise to the full board. She focuses on developing personal connections with fellow directors. Fouché applies many skills learned through competitive sports to the boardroom such as communication, strategy, leadership and mental toughness.
Looking ahead, Fouché is cautiously optimistic that Black board representation will remain steady but warns diversity could shift toward white women without intentional focus on racial minorities. She stresses tying diversity to excellence and thinks boards need to hold companies accountable through goals and metrics.
