Message From The Chair, Richard Munro

The NACD Pacific Southwest (“NACD PSW”) Chapter continued its tradition of shining brightly in the NACD Chapter network in 2025 from continuing innovation and excellence in corporate director, programming and community outreach, in Arizona, Nevada and SoCal. Since we began our strategic partnerships initiative 4 years ago, the NACD PSW Chapter has built strong partnerships and long term relationships with leading academic institutions (UCLA Anderson Business School and ASU New Governance Lab) and relationships with industry advocacy organizations representing hundreds of companies in our region at every stage of life cycle from startup to unicorns. Our concept of the strategic board has been resonating positively across our chapter at local events. 

Effective board governance and oversight is at the heart of regional economic development. Phoenix, Arizona, in our Chapter region, is now the 5^th largest city in the US and the fastest growing with almost 300 billion dollars of new investment pouring into semiconductor manufacturing, education, medicine and life sciences, real estate, and mineral exploration. The fast pace of growth will create demand for board directors and NACD PSW stands ready to support this growth with experienced qualified directors, director education and peer director networking opportunities in our region. This is part of our strategic plan to stay relevant as an organization and support economic development regionally.

Our Chapter board continued to support NACD PSW’s high level of activity in 2025 delivering 35 NACD credit granting programs, overachieving our 2025 goals with NACD, and new initiatives to expand our reach and awareness in the business communities of Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California. I want to warmly thank and acknowledge all of our board members for their contributions to our success.

With respect and gratitude for her leadership, we announce that Karen Bogart has recently resigned as President during her term for personal and business reasons. I am glad that Karen is remaining on our board and want to acknowledge and thank her for her leadership in several NACD PSW roles including programs committee, Programs Chair, SoCal Advisory Board Co-Chair, and President.

Fortunately, our Chapter has robust succession planning and John Driver had already been identified as a future President candidate to succeed Karen. John has agreed to step in as President earlier than anticipated from January 01, 2026 and provide leadership continuity and succession. I look forward to working closely with John leading the development of the NACD PSW Chapter over the next 3 years.  

We couldn’t accomplish any of our activities without the wonderful support and operational excellence from our administration team – Executive Director, Alexis Santucci, and Operations Manager, Kelly Colvard. Their member service and operational excellence shine every day and make our Chapter very proud. I also want to record our appreciation for all of our family of partners highlighted in this newsletter. We couldn’t deliver all of our member programs and events without their support. In 2025, we welcomed Egon Zehnder, Meridian Compensation Partners, and BMO as new partners and thank them for their support.

The annual Holiday Season is a time when we remember what we are grateful for and the significant contributions from past and present leadership and NACD members to our ongoing NACD PSW Chapter success since 1978. In 2028, we will celebrate 50 years of service to corporate board members and will plan an appropriate celebration at that time. I thank all of our current and past Chapter leaders, Chapter board members, regional Advisory Board members, Chapter Ambassadors, and NACD members who have created our Chapter success together.

Finally, I wish everyone a happy and safe Holiday Season, very best wishes for every success in 2026, and thank you for your continuing support. We always enjoy receiving your feedback on how we can do better.