Barry Lawson Williams is a retired director who has served on the boards of 14 public companies. Since 2012, Barry has dedicated himself to promoting diversity in corporate boardrooms and mentoring Black professionals. Widely regarded as an icon in the Black corporate board community, he has led several impactful board-related projects. Our conversation explores his journey through corporate boards, his significant board-related projects, and his insights on board committee work. We also discuss the origin and evolution of the BCBR Program at Santa Clara University, the impact of California's board diversity laws, and the challenges of navigating the current political landscape. Ultimately, we address what he considers the most pressing issue in corporate governance today: board refreshment.
(0:00) Intro.
(1:26) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:13) Start of interview.
(3:03) Barry's origin story.
(7:00) Barry's board journey.
(9:39) On distinctions between serving on public and private company boards: "you have the same fiduciary duties."
(11:57) Evolution of boards in the last 30-40 years: "they have evolved for the better, but I don't think they've evolved enough." On board refreshment. On "non-traditional candidates" to boards.
(15:52) About his Bay area Black Directors Succession Project (2015-2016) *Reference to the Black Directors' Conference.
(18:40) About his Black Corporate Directors Time Capsule Project (2020)
(19:51) About his Black Directors Video Archive Project (Current)
(23:18) On board committee work. "As a new director, you ought to start in the audit committee."
(26:44) On the Black Corporate Board Readiness (BCBR) Program at SCU, and its endowment under his name.
(31:34) On the impact in California of SB-826 and AB-979. "I'm not a quota mandate person... but it worked." "I think we need to emphasize the business case for diversity."
(37:20) On the backlash against ESG and DEI. "Two requests for Silicon Valley: to create interactive databases 1) aggregating all diverse board candidates, and 2) Dates/schedule of openings of board seats." *Reference to VC-Backed Board Academy (VCBA) on Oct 29, 2024 at Nasdaq in NYC.
(45:54) Books that have greatly influenced his life
(49:12) His mentors.
(50:15) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by.
(50:58) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: "Win the Day List"
(52:08) The person he most admires.
Barry Lawson Williams is a retired director who has served on the boards of 14 public companies. Since 2012, Barry has dedicated himself to promoting diversity in corporate boardrooms and mentoring Black professionals. Widely regarded as an icon in the Black corporate board community, he has led several impactful board-related projects.