Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

(0:00) Introduction to the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit
(02:18) The Board’s Role in CEO Succession: why succession is about more than hiring and firing the CEO, and why boards should think about the entire executive management team
(04:57) Is the CEO You Have Today the CEO You Need Tomorrow? How rapid changes in markets, technology, and industry can change the leadership profile a company needs
(06:31) Why Succession Plans Fail: boards know succession is important, so why are so many still unprepared?
(07:54) Succession as an Ongoing Process: why the conversation should begin on the first day of a CEO’s tenure
(09:23) The Emotion of CEO Succession: ego, fear, trust, and why succession can become one of the most difficult conversations between a board and a CEO
(11:14) Who Owns CEO Succession? The role of the board chair, Nom/Gov Committee, Comp Committee, and other board leaders
(13:24) Developing Internal Candidates: how directors can build relationships with senior executives and assess whether they could realistically become CEO
(14:57) The P&L Test: if operating experience is essential for the next CEO, boards need to create those development opportunities years in advance
(17:53) Private Equity and CEO Succession: the influence of investment horizons, exit expectations, and the private equity sponsor
(19:24) Family-Owned Companies: long-term ownership, outside CEOs, independent boards, and succession across generations
(20:41) Venture-Backed Companies: what happens when investors have backed the founder but the founder may no longer be the right CEO to scale the company
(22:47) Founder Control and Dual-Class Shares: the limits of board influence when founders retain voting control
(24:56) Shareholder Activism: why activists often target CEO performance through the board and how directors should assess their own vulnerabilities
(28:00) AI and the Next Generation of CEOs: why intellectual curiosity, adaptability, and the willingness to learn may matter more than claiming to be an AI expert
(30:06) How AI, geopolitics, and accelerating change are reshaping the qualities boards should look for in CEOs
Karen Francis DeGolia is a board member at Vontier, CelLink, and NAUTO. Penny Herscher is a board member at Lumentum, Penguin Solutions, Forvia SA, and Modern Health.
This conversation was recorded at the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit in Healdsburg, California, on August 26–27, 2026.

You can follow Evan on social media at:
Website: boardroom-governance.com
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance
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To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

(0:00) Thank you to everyone who joined the inaugural Boardroom Governance Summit

(0:30) Intro

(1:51) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:38) Start of interview

(3:21) Raffaela Rein’s Origin Story

(4:44) Rocket Internet: the “copycat factory,” global expansion, execution, and leadership lessons

(8:36) Founding and selling CareerFoundry

(9:16) Raffaela’s Board Journey: Porsche and other boards: PE, tech unicorn, startups and non-profits.

(11:04) Why she founded BoardLens

(15:00) AI as a Strategic Sparring Partner for board members: better preparation, sharper questions, and challenging assumptions

(16:14) How BoardLens is different from a traditional board portal and why individual directors are adopting it

(18:37) Confidentiality, Privilege, and AI: the risks of using public AI tools for board work

(21:03) The AI models behind BoardLens: Anthropic, Gemini, and OpenAI

(23:25) Open vs. Closed AI Models and balancing performance, security, and confidentiality

(25:01) BoardLens users and the growing demand for AI in regulated industries

(26:37) The “private equitization” of the economy and the rise of private-company boards

(31:38) OpenAI, Anthropic, and New Governance Models: PBCs, nonprofits, trusts, and mission-driven governance

(35:15) The Sam Altman episode and the unusual balance of power among boards, employees, and investors

(36:34) Mission vs. Financial Interests in AI governance

(37:47) Founder Control and Dual-Class Shares: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and investor willingness to accept unconventional governance

(39:17) The Porsche IPO and other unconventional governance structures

(41:07) U.S. vs. German Boards: comparing the single-board and two-tier governance models

(44:00) Why the board meeting should be one of the most valuable meetings in the company, not simply a reporting exercise

(44:40) Why Raffaela believes the AI transformation may be bigger than the digital transformation

(45:36) AI Strategy and Governance education for directors

(46:00) Building a Directors Council to think about the future of board work in an AI-driven world

(47:44) Autonomous vehicles, disruption of the German and European auto industries, and global competition

(48:15) What happens if AI makes many goods and services dramatically cheaper, or even effectively free?

(49:04) Books that have greatly influenced her life:

Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss

The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz

(51:13) Her mentors and the people she admires for perseverance

(52:12) Quotes she thinks of often: Invictus and “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

(52:54) An unusual habit: going through different color phases

(53:56) The living person she most admires: Tony Robbins, and his ability to sustain a sense of purpose over decades

Raffaela Rein is the CEO and founder of BoardLens, an AI-powered intelligence platform built for board members. Her career spans BlackRock, Rocket Internet, entrepreneurship, and corporate boards.

You can follow Evan on social media at:
Website: boardroom-governance.com
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

(0:00) Thank you to all participants of the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026) 

(0:16) Intro *Boardroom Governance YouTube Channel launch.

(1:45) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

(2:31) Start of interview. 

(3:25) Origin Story of Marc Huffman

(6:26) About OnBoard

(10:35) AI Risks for SaaS and OnBoard

(12:46) Directors Using AI in Shadows. His ideal board books.

(17:05) Building a Better AI Policy

(20:44) Agentic AI for Boards. Semantics search inside the board portal.

(23:30) Recording Risks in Meetings

(27:34) Improving Board Effectiveness

(29:44) Public, Private, and Governance

(32:50) The Private Markets Shift

(37:37) AI and Board Dynamics. Empowering Independent Directors.

(41:40) Semantic Search and Governance IQ Breakthrough (institutional memory).

(44:15) Models, Costs, and Trust

(47:26) Book that has greatly influenced his life: Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts (2003)

(48:17) His mentors

(49:22) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by "I'm a product of my own expectations"

(49:43) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves. 

(50:35) The living person he most admires.

Marc Huffman is the CEO of OnBoard, a global leader in digital board governance solutions, serving over 6,000 boards worldwide.

You can follow Evan on social media at:
Website: boardroom-governance.com
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

(0:00) About the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026) 

(0:43) Intro

(2:08) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

(2:54) Start of interview. 

(3:56) Origin Story of Shannon Nash

(7:00) Her pivot from Law to Finance

(9:15) Her operating and finance career 

(12:55) Her experience in tech (subscription businesses) and current COO and CFO role at Vibrant Planet

(15:50) Her first board (UserTesting) and subsequent board career (Netscout, SoFi, Lazy Dog Restaurants, Silicon Valley Community Foundation) 

(22:04) Cybersecurity Meets AI

(28:47) Where are the Humans? The next wave in the agentic era

(31:44) Regulated Boards and Risk

(36:25) Private Board Experience (VC and PE). 

(41:13) About Alpha AI, focusing on AI Governance

(43:53) On her podcast No Boxes, Just Verses

(46:45) Her obsession with the Acquired podcast

(47:41) Her mentors

(49:40) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by.

(51:06) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. Beat Shazam show

(52:15) The living person she most admires.

Shannon Nash is a qualified financial expert, attorney, and CPA with over 30 years at the intersection of technology, finance, and governance. She serves as a board member in both public and private companies.

You can follow Evan on social media at:
Website: boardroom-governance.com
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

(0:00) About the Boardroom Governance Summit (Aug 26-27, 2026) 

(1:20) Intro

(2:45) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.

(3:31) Start of interview. 

(4:55) Origin Story of Sandra Gobert

(6:04) Sandra’s Career Path

(8:56) Guberna and Board Education. Member of EcoDa.

(12:00) Family Firms and Control in EU

(13:53) Relationship Agreements Explained (examples, Bpost and Proximus)

(19:05) State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and Government involvement on Boards

(19:58) The Board’s Emerging Fourth Role: advocacy and policymaking, alongside its traditional strategic, leadership, and oversight responsibilities.

(22:52) AI and Alternative Structures. PBCs, Foundations, and other European multi-stakeholder models.

(29:25) Employees on the Board ("unacceptable in Belgium").

(31:01) Toward European Harmonization ("We need more Europe, not less Europe")

(31:50) The EU Inc. Idea

(33:57) Principle-Based Governance ("Comply or Explain" framework)

(36:19) The Value of Board Evaluations

(41:05) Founder Control in Tech (dual class share structures)

(44:05) Europe’s Power Shift 

(46:34) China and Global Competition

(49:42) Europe’s Economic Pressures (reference to The Economist's interview with Elon Musk)

(52:23) Board Dynamics Matter

(53:19) Books that have greatly influenced her life:

Catherine de Médicis, ou, La reine noire, by Jean Orieux (1986)

Passion, by Jude Morgan (2005)

The Journey of Leadership by Hans-Werner Kaas, Dana Maor, Kurt Strovink, Ramesh Srinivasan (2024)

(54:59) Her mentors. 

(55:52) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by. 

(57:09) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. 

(58:05) The living person she most admires in governance: Christine Lagarde.

Sandra Gobert is the Executive Director of GUBERNA. Sandra also serves as an independent director of Fluxys Belgium, sits on the board of ecoDa, the European Confederation of Directors Associations, and is a member of the board of Belgium’s Corporate Governance Committee.

You can follow Evan on social media at:
Website: boardroom-governance.com
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoardroomGovernance
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License