Paula Cholmondeley joined her first board through a recommendation from Bonnie Guiton, whom she met through the Tribute to Women in International Industry event. At the time, Cholmondeley was President and General Manager of the Miraflex division at Owens Corning. Her CEO Glen Hiner supported her pursuing the board opportunity with AK Steel as he wanted his direct reports to serve on boards. She later joined the Nationwide Mutual Fund board through another contact. She believes networking contacts referring candidates to search firms is a common route to board seats.
Cholmondeley says boards valued her competency in areas like finance and operations as well as her ability to contribute insights and ask thoughtful questions. She focused on industrial products boards where she had relevant expertise. She advises new minority directors not to shy away from raising diversity issues, but to frame them as business imperatives and recruit allies to also champion them. On handling imposter syndrome, she argues new directors should have confidence in their core area of expertise which is why they were selected.
Regarding term limits, she believes they can aid board refreshment if tailored to typical industry cycles. She argues today’s boards need a mix of retired directors with availability for crises and working directors with current insights. On diversity’s future progress, she worries without enough minorities reaching executive suites, the director candidate funnel may stagnate. She stresses that competency must not be compromised just to improve diversity numbers. The key priority for sitting minority directors should be ceaselessly articulating why diversity is a business necessity. Finally, she urges aspiring directors to rigorously study corporate governance as its own complex, rapidly evolving skillset.
