You’re almost registered.
Have you ever felt the need for a supportive space to discuss your audit committee work? Are you interested in learning about best practices and gaining insights from other experienced corporate board audit committee members? We invite you to join us for a peer discussion exclusively for Audit Committee members within our Athena Alliance membership.
During the session, we encourage you to bring a best practice from your own audit committee work and reflect on your goals for participating in this quarterly peer group. Our primary aim is to create a safe and confidential environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas.
Chatham House Rule: What is said in this group, stays in this group. Sessions are not recorded and will not be part of the library.
What to expect: -A topical theme each meeting with guided questions -10 - 15 minutes introductory remarks, 50 minutes of discussion with the whole group or in smaller break-out groups, depending on number of attendees and topic -We may invite some expert guests selectively -Loosely-structured dialogue and occasionally a few slides may be included in a brief presentation or to guide the discussion
Insightful conversations for topics such as: -Best practices for Audit Committee members -The use of technology to improve the quality of audits (for example, in-depth analysis of the use of AI-driven technology and new legal efforts and frameworks to try to control it) -Current trends in the Audit Committee (such as compliance with new SEC rules focusing on environmental impact, climate change, cybersecurity, and cyber response) -Audit Committee effectiveness in the current environment
Date and time: 1 hour meeting five times a year at 9am PT/ 12pm ET
Peer Group Host: Gaby Aneas
Peer Group Experts: Carol Coughlin and Katrinka McCallum
Carol Coughlin is an experienced public and PEG company board leader, board and audit committee chair, and is highly skilled in corporate governance, including board refreshment, strategic alternatives and M&A for growth and highly regulated companies. She is a Board Leadership Fellow (NACD) and sits on the boards of the University of MD Medical Center, Hopebridge, GoodCap Pharmaceuticals and Trusty Care. Following an IPO and after nomination to board chair of a public community bank, she led the board through acquisitions that doubled the size of the company, followed by a merger with a larger company. A qualified “financial expert”, she is an accomplished healthcare CFO with a track record of achieving profitability through growth, highly successful turnarounds and M&A. She is known as an energetic, collaborative leader and a quick learner in both organizational and board settings. In 2006, Carol launched BottomLine Growth Strategies, Inc., a growth advisory firm helping CEOs of privately held companies to transform enterprise value through best practice financial and operations strategies. Carol is a graduate of Loyola University in MD (MBA) and Towson University (BS Business), is a Board Leadership Fellow (NACD), and a Certified Public Accountant.
Katrinka McCallum bridges business and technology to scale enterprises toward billion-dollar expansion. As a key executive leader of Red Hat, Inc., she drove business unit, customer experience and product operations teams, helping the company scale from $400MM to over $3.5B and setting the stage for its blockbuster $34B acquisition by IBM in 2019—one of the largest tech deals in history. Katrinka’s software career has spanned roles as general manager of business units as well as leading sales, marketing, product development, operations and finance teams. An inquisitive, lateral thinker, she is widely recognized for delivering deep business insights, technological savvy and financial acumen honed as a CPA and Big 4 auditor, envisioning and driving cross-functional strategies that transform teams for peak performance and consistently delivering on the bigger business picture.
She is an active board member with recent appointments to board of directors and audit committee for INTRUSION Inc. (Nasdaq: INTZ) and by Governor Roy Cooper to the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology & Innovation. Her prior board director roles include the North Carolina Technology Association, Round Pond, a Red Hat, Inc. subsidiary board, Micromuse, Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) and advisory board member to start-up tech companies. Katrinka is exploring opportunities to further contribute her experience and insights to a diverse portfolio of corporate boards.
Known for her high integrity, exceptional EQ and deep interpersonal skills, Katrinka is a technologically savvy executive with broad management experience who fluently speaks both “business” and “tech.” She has demonstrated particular strength in rallying and fostering teams to deliver customer value and drive substantial, sustainable growth. In her roles as vice president of operations at Red Hat, first overseeing its Platform business unit, the company’s largest business unit, ramping to $1B revenue and then doubling again, to a larger role across Products & Technologies, she scaled operations, systems and leadership capabilities. She transformed a 200+ Engineering Operations team to increase productivity and modernize software delivery. Knowing the complexity of the portfolio and markets served, she led data analytics adoption and enterprise planning to align resource investments and catalyzed automation to reduce customers effort to try, buy and renew subscriptions.
According to IBM President Jim Whitehurst, who was Red Hat CEO prior to their IBM acquisition, “Katrinka will be a great board member for a technology company or a company where technology is becoming a major part of the business. She has a great perspective on the impact of technology on businesses. She knows how to optimize a business for both innovation and efficiency, and for a changing world. Her background in investor relations gives her a perspective on how businesses create value, and an ability to translate that into messaging Wall Street will understand.”
Leveraging her CPA foundation along with being grounded in M&A, investor relations and risk management throughout her career, Katrinka could be particularly impactful serving on an Audit Committee. She earned an MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, a BA in Economics from Wellesley College, and a Certificate in Accounting from Northeastern University. Katrinka was the founding leader of her collegiate rugby team, recognized as a leading woman in the tech sector, and particularly honored receiving the Service Member Patriot Award.
Gabriela is deeply motivated by the concept of crafting meaningful experiences that surpass the delivery of high-quality products and services. With a Master's degree in Customer Experience and Innovation, coupled with a background in Industrial Engineering and Art Direction, she has amassed over 5 years of expertise in redesigning and creating products, services, and interactions with a focus on Human Centricity. Gabriela's approach is fueled by a passion for innovation and driven by a commitment to good design principles.
Join us for a Salon or Meetup to get a peek inside our community! Peer Groups and Learning Circles are exclusively for members - log in here
A Look Inside Athena is held monthly for prospect members to come and understand how Athena works. They will learn more about the backstory of Athena, see a tour of our platform, and have the opportunity to discuss more of what they are interested in and ask questions about joining our community.
Learn about the most pressing topics facing executives today in an intimate, yet casual, virtual setting. Hosted by board directors and leaders from the world's top brands.
Gather with Athena members in your area for a casual, in-person Meetup. These are planned by request and hosted by Athena members in various cities. If you're interested in hosting and/or joining a meetup in the future, reach out to the Member Success Team and let them know.
We have an incredible community of female leaders at Athena and we want to bring you closer together! Join a Peer Group and build a network of peers you can engage with for guidance, lessons learned and insights around a shared interest. Choose a topic that most interests you or drop in and out of multiple peer groups as it suits you best. You’ll find at least one peer group available to join every week. Each live session goes for one hour, no preparation is needed, just show up as you are. We look forward to seeing you there!
A Learning Circle is an opportunity to connect with a small group of other Athena members in a focused yet casual setting, creating accountability around targeted learning to assist you in achieving your goals. Over the course of 6 sessions, club members will meet every 2 weeks to participate in an organic, peer-led discussion of the session's "chapters" consisting of 1-2 Athena salons which are to be reviewed on your own prior to the group session. When joining, members are committing to completing all 6 sessions.
Typically led by one of Athena's coaches, networking events provide members an opportunity to meet one another in a smaller intimate and virtual setting.
These are typically in-person events led by Coco and our partnering companies on topics that are relevant to the industry and audience of our business partners.
A workshop is an interactive session for members to actively practice something, such as their pitch. These sessions typically involve breakout rooms, member to member feedback and are not recorded.
For members new to Athena looking for ways to engage, these bi-weekly orientations led by an Athena Member Success Manager, provide a live tour of Athena, member success insights, and a chance to get questions answered.
Athena customizes virtual learning events with expert business leaders tailored to a unique company’s needs. These events cultivate cross-functional community, development, and learning across the partner organization.
Athena listens and we're always adding new event types and opportunities for members to engage. See what new events we are currently offering members.
No Upcoming Events Found.
Meetup
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Orientation
Peer Group
Meetup
Meetup
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Peer Group
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Orientation
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Meetup
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Orientation
Meetup
Salon
Salon
Meetup
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Salon
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Orientation
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Orientation
Salon
Salon