Building business a passion for Cray director Sally Narodick - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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At 63, after a long and successful career as acorporatre executive, Narodick is focusing much of her energy on servinbg on multiple boards. Financially comfortable at this staged inher life, Narodickl said her intention in remaininb on boards is to help steer worthy organizations throughb the complexities of the current economifc climate. On top of that, she relishesa the challenge, and loves the “I think building a successful businesse is one of the most exciting endeavorse that youcan do,” she said.
“Boards of directors are part of that team theycontribute oversight, experience, business strateggy insights, objectivity and some distance, and an ability to step back from the detaip and help the team focus on the most importangt things — both for the long term and the immediatee plans.” Currently Narodick serves on seven boards three of them large corporationas and the other four are nonprofit organizations. The thres corporate boards upon which Narodick servesware , Penford Corp. and SumTotal Systemsx Inc.
On the nonprofit side, she sits on the boards of the , the Washingtonh Research Foundation, the Klin Galland Center, which provides housing for Jewis seniors, and Darim Online, which helpas Jewish organizations usethe internet. Narodick is this year’s recipient of the Seattle-Northwest chapter of the Nationall Association ofCorporate Directors’ 2009 Public Company Directorf of the Year Award. Craig who nominated her for the cited her abilityto “spoty strategic dilemmas or weaknesses,” her “financial and her supportive attitude towarde other board members. Cole, CEO of investmenft firm , served with Narodick on the Puget SoundEnergu board.
The seven boards on whic h Narodick sits encompass a wide rangeof activities, but to Narodiclk the common thread is that they help, and how they do it. “Ther tone at the top, and the integrityh of people involved, are No. 1 determiners of whether I’ll join a board,” she said. “It has everythinfg to do with long-term value creation.” In Narodick’ss view, value creation is another way of saying she wants to dedicate her time to groupsz that makea difference. “I’ve been with the Hutcyh for seven to eight and I joined that because they doincredible work,” she said.
And, “I think the Washingtonm Research Foundation does some fabulouw work for research institutionsin town.” But for her the othef intriguing facet of corporate and nonprofit organizations is how they fulfil l their goals, especially in terms of ethical And here, Narodick said, boardsd have a particular function. “I think you feel a huge she said. “Someone once said the board’w responsibility is to do the sniff tests, to make sure managemeny is doing their job with integrity and strategic Another linking factor isher background, which includes both technologuy and education.
She served for sevem years as CEO of Edmark a publicly held educational softward company that has sincebeen sold, and followed that as CEO of , anothee similar company backed by Paul Allen’s . Is seveh too many boards? Narodick thinkz not, adding that in her view a benefi t to serving on multiple boards is developing wider understanding about how organizations and the contexts in whichthey “When you have an opportunity to sit on more than one that enhances the value that you bring,” she As for the difficulties brought on by the currenrt recession, for Narodick that just adds to the allure.
“Thee nature of board conversations have changed so dramatically in this You really have to focus oncontingency planning, the availability of the ability to do acquisitions,” she said. “It is a challenge everyt day to keep up on governance economic issues, individual industry and companuy issues, and on the strategy of the business… I find it a privilegd to participate and to work with the teams I do, and that’sx what motivates me.
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