XA Podcast 026 | Board Composition with Abby Adlerman and Sze Meng Soon | Governance Series

The XA Podcast: Fostering Inclusive Innovation in Southeast Asia

There’s a lot a Board of Directors can do for a company. Its efficacy and vision play a tremendous role in a company’s success. Needless to say, a lot of thought goes into who should be on the board in the first place. Abby Adlerman and Sze Meng Soon join guest host Reza Benham to discuss this in detail.

Our Speakers

Abby Adlerman is the CEO and founder of Boardspan, a leading cloud based software and advisory company that focuses exclusively on helping Boards of Directors succeed. Abby brings more than 25 years of governance and board experience to Boardspans clients. Previously, she was on the leadership team at Russell Reynolds in Singapore and San Francisco. Abby is an alumnus of Lafayette College and Yale University, where she's a member of the entrepreneurship advisory board.

Sze Meng has senior leadership roles at Temus, JD.com, SingTel, PayPal and Visa and was a consultant at McKinsey and Monitor Deloitte. He is also the Managing Director of SSM Global Advisory. He was a board member of Go Jek, Tiki, JD.ID and JDL Express Indonesia. He is currently a Board Member of the Singapore Institute of Technology and various social entreprises. He graduated from Stanford University and Kellogg School of Management. He is an angel investor and certified coach.

Discussion Points

• [03:05] Speaker introductions
• [06:21] Why does board compliance often goes wrong?
• [12:42] Why is board composition important?
• [18:13] What is a good framework to choose board members?
• [22:50] When is the right time for a startup to create a board of directors?
• [27:40] What are some best practices with regards to board culture?
• [32:43] How does a board achieve alignment of members and company goals?

Links

• Follow the show on Apple and Spotify
• View the transcript

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The XA Network (formerly Xoogler Angels) was founded in 2018 as an exclusive investment network comprising senior executives from leading global and regional technology companies. Our mission is to provide smart capital to early-stage companies across Southeast Asia. The XA podcast brings together voices from the ecosystem that powers early stage investing across this vibrant region. Our guests include entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists and of course XA Network investors.

Find us online: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

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