The National Association of Corporate Directors announced the winners of the 2009 NACD “Director of the Year” awards in four categories, honoring Marilyn Carlson Nelson, director of ExxonMobil Corporation, for public company director; Keith L. Alm, director of Follett Corporation, for private company director; J. Shan Mullin, partner with Perkins Coie LLP for nonprofit director; and Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, with the B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award.
“It is my honor to recognize four illustrious directors for their immense achievements, guidance and leadership in corporate governance,” said Kenneth Daly, President and CEO of NACD. “Augustine, Carlson Nelson, Alm, and Mullin have all demonstrated an extraordinary ability to provide boardroom leadership in challenging and complex times and are respected by their peers as personal models of courage, candor and integrity, to which all corporate directors can aspire.”
Marilyn Carlson Nelson, NACD’s 2009 Public Company Director of the Year honoree, is the longestserving director of the ExxonMobil Corporation. Carlson Nelson has demonstrated strength and leadership throughout her career on public company boards, taking positions in the name of good governance when necessary and pioneering service by women on boards of top American corporations when female leadership was extremely rare.
Carlson Nelson also serves as chairwoman of one of the largest privately-held companies in America, Carlson, as well as a member of the board of directors for the Mayo Clinic, Foreign Policy Association, Harvard Women Leaders Board, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, Newman’s Own Foundation, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Keith L. Alm, NACD’s Private Company Director of the Year honoree, is recognized for his service on the board of the Follett Corporation. As director, he has been a driving force for ensuring that the best of public company governance rigor is implemented in this private company’s board processes, including fostering more rigorous internal reporting and committee process. He balanced the development of a professional, accountable and highly valuable structure that is also sensitive to the needs of a family-run organization.
Alm also serves on the board of the McKee Foods Corporation and International Relations Council and chairs the board of directors of the O-Sage Power Equipment, LLC.
J. Shan Mullin, partner with Perkins Coie LLP, was selected for the 2009 Nonprofit Director of the Year for his decades of dedicated leadership of major nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest. During the past 10 years, he has focused on biomedical research and health care by serving on the planning committee for the formation of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and was the SCCA’s board chair for three years. He was also co-chair of the state-wide committee that planned for the formation of the Life Science Discovery Fund for the State of Washington. During this time, he has also served as board chair for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and as a board member and Chair of Compliance for UW Medicine (the University of Washington health system).
Mullin has also served as the board chair for other nonprofits, including United Way of King County, Leadership Tomorrow, Alliance for Education, Municipal League of King County and the Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation. Earlier this year he was awarded the regional Nonprofit Director of the Year award by the NACD Seattle-Northwest Chapter.
Norman R. Augustine, retired Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, is the 2009 winner of the B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award. Established in 2006, the B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award was created in the name of a former NACD chairman who was instrumental in bringing management, boards and investors together to find common ground on issues of transparency, director independence and corporate responsibility.
Augustine’s career in the aerospace industry represents a lifetime of leadership and commitment to ethical business conduct in both his service to the industry and the public. He has demonstrated these qualities in the boardroom both as a CEO and independent director, serving as an inspiration to peers and colleagues alike. He received the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States, the Joint Chief of Staff Distinguished Public Service Award and has five times received the Department of Defense’s highest civilian decoration – the Distinguished Service Medal.
NACD Director of the Year winners are nominated by NACD members and chapters and are selected based upon stringent criteria reviewed by a NACD independent selection committee. Each of the four awards honors an individual board member who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in promoting the principles and best practices of good corporate governance.