Corporate Board Service

By Bob Gariano

Sometimes we seek to avoid jury duty because it requires us to be away from our jobs and personal obligations. Jury duty is never accompanied by suitable compensation or appreciation. Nevertheless, like voting, serving on a jury is one of the two most profound responsibilities that any citizen holds. Our system of government could not function without informed citizens who vote for their representatives and our system of jurisprudence could not function without citizens willing to serve on juries. It is fundamental to our legal system that the accused has a right to be judged by a jury of his peers. The jury system requires citizens to volunteer for that service.

The analog in the corporate world involves service on a corporate board. Fundamental to our capitalist system is the idea that people from various locations and backgrounds can invest their hard earned savings in enterprises of their choice. To access this source of invested capital, companies must ensure that this money is treated with due care and vigilance. The members of the board of a company have the responsibility, as elected representatives of the shareholders, to make sure that this stewardship is maintained.  Like voting or serving on a jury, being a director of a company is a solemn responsibility and such duty requires knowledge, effort, and stubborn commitment to the shareholders’ welfare.

Like jurors, the best directors go about their roles quietly and unappreciated. One such corporate director is Bill Hall. Bill lives in Winnetka and works out of a modest office suite in Skokie. Bill’s professional background includes running businesses at Cummins, Farley, and Eagle Industries. An incurable entrepreneur, Bill later founded Falcon Products, a building products company. He now is Chairman of Procyon Technologies, an aerospace and defense components company that he founded.  Bill earned his degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan and his Masters degree in statistics from Michigan. He would later add an MBA and a PhD in business strategy from the same school.

Beyond running businesses, Hall has represented shareholders as a director of some of the best managed companies in this area. He has served as a director on the boards of some fifteen companies. Currently he is an independent director of Grainger, Stericycle, Actuant, and CellTrak. He volunteers as a trustee for the Rush University Medical Center, the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Association, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Hall also is a trustee with the Northwestern Settlement Association, an inner city youth education and social services foundation.

Hall commented recently, “A board’s most important role in being a steward of the shareholders’ investment. The directors make sure that the enterprise has the right strategy, the right operational intensity and the right CEO. Leadership is what makes companies successful.” One can add that great boards develop great enterprise leadership.

Anyone with Hall’s schedule and record of accomplishment could be excused for taking the weekends off. Instead, Bill Hall has elected to take up one other challenge, to pass his wisdom and expertise on to the next generation of business leaders. Hall teaches entrepreneurial leadership and the management of biotechnology to students at the University of Michigan. He divides his teaching time between Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering. As a member of the advisory committee for the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Zell-Lurie Institute at the University, Hall helps new companies become established. His work at Michigan was recognized recently when he received the Bert F. Wertman Distinguished Service Awarded from the Ross School of Business.

Bill Hall’s work as an executive, entrepreneur, and director has been rewarding to investors for decades. His expertise in running both large established businesses and smaller startups is now being transferred to a new generation of commercial leaders who can observe the kind of service and shareholder stewardship through the experiences of this accomplished executive. It is the kind of commitment and responsibility that makes our capitalist system successful.

Bob Gariano is President of RGA, an executive search firm that recruits senior executives and board members for public and private companies. Bob can be reached at rgariano@robertgariano.com