Board Biography and CV Templates
Use this worksheet to build a first draft of your own board biography. Of course, some sections may need to be modified or removed to fit your purposes. And you may choose to add sections as needed. Your career, skills, experience, and expertise are unique, and your board biography will be as well. Once you have this worksheet completed, feel free to format and edit as you wish. As you can see from Appendix E, there is no one “right” way for a board biography to look. Overall, focus on conveying your unique value as a prospective director. Finally, this appendix also includes a list of jargon words to avoid for board papers and recommends better words to use instead.
Written in narrative
[NAME]
City, LinkedIn, phone, email, professional @twitter, professional website
Tagline that highlights your wheelhouse
[INSERT NAME] begins with a paragraph or two that includes your profile statement (see samples). Include a theme to your overall leadership career accomplishments including key high-level executive titles and for-profit board service. Explain industries (e.g., consumer electronics,) where you have expertise. Types or stages of companies where your experiences have been earned (e.g., (B2B, SaaS) public companies, startups, rapid growth, turnaround). What is your reputation for successful accomplishments (e.g., she grows, she turns around, and she launches)? What kind of boards will your experiences be helpful for (e.g., she is well suited to bring her public company CFO experience into a small public or pre-IPO tech company)?
Paragraphs related to your for-profit board experiences are excellent to add. These can be both positions as a board member and your interactions with a corporate board in your executive roles.
Paragraph(s) outlining executive positions. Focus on explaining transitions from position to position. Highlight skills gained from experiences and how you have used them in subsequent experiences. Also highlight quantifiable accomplishments (e.g., revenue, number of employees, number of offices, products, and regulatory challenges).
Highlight specific examples of strategic, operational, and/or financial expertise. This is where you will emphasize the value you can bring to a board.
Brief highlight of nonprofit board services should include positions such as audit committee or a major governance issues you have addressed. Include honors that you have received and how you might be classified as a thought leader by noting where you speak or are seen as an expert.
[INSERT NAME] earned a BA in [Major and any honors] from [University name] and has earned a [higher degree name] from [University name]. She has also earned the [list certificates such as CIPP/US]
An optional addition can be a short sentence that shows something interesting about you personally, such as you run marathons, enjoy flying glider planes, or have a low golf handicap.
[NAME]
City, LinkedIn, phone, email, professional @twitter, professional website
Tagline that highlights your wheelhouse (same as bio)
Paragraphs detailing your value proposition with key titles, key companies, key wheelhouse expertise with overall approach on how you have been a steward of the companies for whom you have held leadership positions. Summarizes the bio.
- Expertise 1—accomplishment which moved the needle for Company X with an outcome with key metrics
- Expertise 2—accomplishment which moved the needle for Company X with an outcome with key metrics
- Expertise 3—accomplishment which moved the needle for Company X with an outcome with key metrics
- Expertise 4—accomplishment which moved the needle for Company X with an outcome with key metrics
- Expertise 5—accomplishment which moved the needle for Company X with an outcome with key metrics
Expertise that Delivers Business and Board Value
NAME’s expertise will benefit companies .... target the types of companies most likely to benefit from your expertise—if possible, without narrowing too much.
MATRIX of Skills/Expertise—8 max
Skill 1 (e.g., Talent Management) Skill 2! Skill 3
Expertise 1 (e.g., M&A) Expertise 2! Expertise 3
Professional Experience
Inc., San Francisco, CA Dates XXXXX
Overview of company and key scope of areas under your leadership.
- Accomplishment
- Accomplishment
- Accomplishment
Inc.2, San Francisco, CA Dates XXXXX
TITLE
Overview of company and key scope of areas under your leadership.
- Accomplishment
- Accomplishment
- Accomplishment
Board Experience (in this order)
Company name, type of company (public, private), size, years of service. Key accomplishments, committee assignments
Corporate Boards
Advisory Boards
Nonprofit boards
Board Training and Certification
Presentations in corporate boardroom
Awards and Honors
Key examples
Thought Leadership
Key examples of speaking, writing, and books
Education
MBA—University of ZZZ, Date M.A. with Honors, University of XXX, Date
B.A., Economics—X College, Date
2 lines of personal memorable items
Words For Board Documents
“I’ve seen so many board documents that have trite words that don’t show the impact the person had on a company’s bottom or top line. As a senior executive, your goal in your board documents is to have statements that display leadership and end-results. Words do matter!”
—Nancy Sheppard, Board Candidate Consultant, Women2Boards and the Athena Alliance
Worst Jargon Words
- Best of breed
- Go-getter
- Responsible for (what you accomplished instead)
- Thinks outside the box
- Synergy
- Go-to-person
- Thought leadership (unless very specific and proven by examples)
- Value add
- Results-driven
- Team player
- Hard worker
- Strategic thinker
- Dynamic
- Self-motivated
- Detail oriented
- Proactive
- Track record
- Achieves
- Improves
- Manages
- Trains/mentors
- Creates
- Resolves
- Authors
- Volunteers
- Influences
- Increases/decreases
- Ideas
- Negotiates
- Launched
- Revenue/profits
- Under budget
- Won
- Grew
- Scaled