Coco Brown is the Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance, a company helping to position top 10% of executive women for advancement and board opportunities. We discuss the origin story of Athena, its transition from non-profit to for-profit, and its focus on supporting women for boardroom placements and other executive roles. We also examine how board service varies in companies with differing capital structures (i.e. public, PE, VC, ESOPs and more), Athena's board readiness course, and the impact of AI in the board and economy generally. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing this podcast on social media. You can also contribute as a Patron on the link patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod or you can subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel.
(0:00) Intro.
(1:14) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.
(2:02) Start of interview.
(2:37) Coco's "origin story."
(4:32) Her professional background with HR, comp and IT.
(6:32) Her time at Taos, a professional services business in IT consulting (17yrs). Ultimately acquired by IBM in 2021.
(8:35) The origin story of her founding Athena Alliance (2016) as a non-profit.
(11:00) Three core issues with board placements: 1) access to opportunities, 2) positioning for the role, and 3) how to compete to win. *They have placed ~500 women to boards.
(13:52) On the business model of Athena Alliance.
(16:50) On transitioning from a non-profit to a for-profit model.
(20:56) Distinguishing board service between companies with different capital structures (ie. public, PE, VC, ESOPs, etc).
(22:18) The landscape for independent director board opportunities (~30,000 companies). On ESOP companies and closed corporations and/or family businesses.
(28:18) On Athena's Board Readiness Course.
(32:20) On in-person vs remote work, both on an executive and board level. "How do you scale intimacy?"
(36:14) On the impact of AI in the boardroom.
(39:48) Books that have greatly influenced her life:
(43:05) Her mentors. "Different people for different things" e.g. Ivonne Wassenar and Scott Maxwell.
(44:20) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by.
(44:41) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.
(45:12) The living person she most admires. Toni Townes-Whitley (CEO of SAIC)
Coco Brown is the Founder and CEO of Athena Alliance, a company helping to position top 10% of executive women for advancement and board opportunities.