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: Â 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:Â 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 board governance and audit chair for
public and private companies and is skilled in board refreshment, strategic
alternatives and M&A. Following an IPO and after nomination to board chair
of Hamilton Bank, she led the board through acquisitions that doubled its
size, followed by a merger with a larger public bank. A qualified financial
expert, she is an accomplished CFO with a track record of achieving
profitability through growth, highly successful turnarounds and M&A. She is
known as a strategic, energetic and collaborative, and as evidenced by her
career and board accomplishments, has the intellectual capacity and
temperament to add value immediately and in a variety of situations.
Carol currently serves as director of Hopebridge Autism Therapy Centers
(Audit Chair), Health Drive (Audit Chair), University of Maryland Medical
Center (Former Finance Chair; current member: Executive, Governance and
Finance Committees), and GoodCap Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Audit Chair). In
addition to consulting with private company CEOs and CFOs on sustainable
and profitable growth, she has participated in a number of board diversity
initiatives, including with the Athena Alliance and the Governor of Maryland’s
Appointment’s Office for Boards and Commissions. She has developed and
hosted a number of Finance Acumen Salons for the Athena Alliance and is a
member of its advisory board.
During her career as a CFO, Carol was instrumental in developing and
executing the financial strategies to facilitate profitable growth in three
companies. Johns Hopkins Health Plan grew from $10MM to $250MM in
revenues and became profitable prior to the sale to Prudential Insurance.
Carol also collaborated on two highly successful turnarounds, including Rush
Prudential Health Plans, which recorded an annualized gain of $18MM from
an annualized loss of $30MM on revenues of $500MM before the sale to
Wellpoint, Inc. While as CFO for Harmony Health Plan, revenues grew from
$10MM to $125MM prior to the sale of the company to Wellcare, Inc. In
every acquisition, Carol was a key leader on the integration teams.
In 2006, Carol launched BottomLine Growth Strategies, Inc., working with
private company CEOs to transform enterprise value through best practice
finance and operations strategies.
Carol is a certified public accountant, and a graduate of Loyola University
Maryland (MBA/Finance), Towson University (BS/Accounting), and a Board
Leadership Fellow (NACD).
Katrinka McCallum is a public company board director, qualified financial expert, and strategic leader who bridges business and technology to scale enterprises toward billion-dollar expansion. She has served on the boards of five public companies or subsidiaries, including two current director roles. Katrinka is a member of the Board of Directors at ACI Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACIW), where she serves on the Audit & Risk Committee and Nominating & Governance Committee. Additionally, Katrinka also serves on the Board of Directors and chairs the Audit Committee and is a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee for Intrusion, Inc. (Nasdaq: INTZ). Previously, Katrinka served on the board of Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI) where she was the chairperson of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee as well as the boards of Micromuse, Inc., Round Pond, Ltd., NC Tech and NC Board of Science Technology and Innovation. Katrinka has more than two decades of operating experience scaling enterprise software companies and products from millions to billions. Her responsibilities have spanned serving as the general manager of business units as well as leading sales, marketing, product development, operations teams. Katrinka leverages her investor relations and M&A experience along with her foundation as a certified public accountant (inactive) with Deloitte in Boston to serve as a qualified financial expert. Most recently, Katrinka spent 13 years at Red Hat, Inc. (acquired by IBM) across a variety of senior executive positions including head of customer and product experience, head of products and technologies operations, vice president of the Platform Business Unit and vice president and general manager for the Management Solutions Business Unit and vice president of Investor Relations. Katrinka holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wellesley College. She lives in Durham, NC with her husband and their sweet mini-goldendoodle or is traveling to visit one of her two college-aged sons that are exploring the world.
Cata is the Manager of Community Learning at Athena Alliance. From her philanthropic work with female communities in Central America to the work she does at Athena, creating community is what she does best. Cata leads Athena Peer Groups and Learning Circles pulling together her experience developing events, supporting Athena members as a Member Success Manager and her passion for learning and community to deliver an exceptional member experience.
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.
A Look Inside Athena
Salon
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Meetup
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Meetup
Salon
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Meetup
Salon
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Meetup
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Orientation
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Meetup
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Salon
Peer Group
Orientation
Salon
Peer Group
Salon
Peer Group
Peer Group
Salon
A Look Inside Athena
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Peer Group
Orientation
Salon
Salon
Salon
Salon
Salon