Becoming a Public Company Director

by Tracy E. Houston —

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT TASK to reach your goal of becoming a public company director is the creation of a focused plan. In this handbook, board advisory consultant Tracy E. Houston compiles a clear and compact roadmap for a board candidate that contains numerous practical ideas any executive can put to use immediately. Becoming a Public Company Director is a powerful resource for professionals who aspire to sit on a board, current director candidates, or sitting directors who wish to expand their role on an additional board.

Whether you are looking to enhance your executive skill level in the area of board-level competencies, expand your high-level network, create competitive advantage in the workplace, or continue your director-level education, you will find new ideas and direction. If you already sit on a board and wish to develop a focus for your next board seat, Becoming a Public Company Director provides guidance that will increase your ability to obtain another board seat.

The information provided in Becoming a Public Company Director can be used by board candidates to improve professional visibility in the highly competitive process to gain a public company directorship. Becoming a Public Company Director provides director candidates with detailed information with which to work toward serving on a board as a career stepping stone. Becoming a Public Company Director is a reference guide that provides the critical tools needed to become a public company director, including:

• Step-by-step instructions to develop a campaign to become a director;
• Top Ten List of Things To Do to Gain a Public Board Seat;
• Practical steps to position yourself for board service;
• Answers to frequently asked questions;
• Top Ten Corporate Governance Blogs;
• Director interviews that provide guidance to reach your goal of board service;

Tracy E. Houston, M.A. is the President of Board Resources Services, LLC. She is a refined specialist in board consulting and executive coaching with a heartfelt passion for rethinking performance, teams, and the boardroom.

Tracy’s “deep smarts” of the boardroom’s ecosystem are gained from first-hand participation as a former sitting director, consultant to boards and author of the Board Guru™ eBook Series With nine years of experience executing board search and governance based consulting engagements, her boardroom background, along with key insights of the politics of leadership and the competitive pressures of today's global marketplace, is embodied in a roll-up-your-sleeves style.

Tracy, with six years of experience as a sitting director, was one of the nation’s youngest women to sit on a board in the electric utility sector where she provided leadership during a period of industry change driven by deregulation, privatization, technology and globalization forces. She is the past chairman of the board of the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology. In 2008 she was inducted into one of Colorado's local women's hall of fame groups.

Extensively published, Tracy has written hundreds of blogs that are featured on several award- winning websites. Frequently quoted, Tracy has recently appeared in Corporate Counsel’s In-House Straight, Energy Wire and After Nines. Her articles have been seen in many publications from The Denver Business Journal, Financial Executives International Magazine and Computer Weekly.

Tracy’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science, Business Management from Metropolitan State College. Her graduate studies were completed at the University of Denver. She is a patron member of the Colorado Bar Association. Tracy is an avid hiker and recently backpacked in the Grand Canyon.