BY: Katelyn Owen, MSW
Here at Career Mastered Magazine, we love celebrating women making moves in their careers. According to data collected from the Women Business Collaborative, this past year there have been nearly 500 women appointed to serve on public boards. These women are trailblazers from all different walks of life, who have fought hard to gain a seat at the table for their voices to be heard. While they all deserve recognition, we’d like to take a moment to spotlight a few of the recent board appointments this year.
SARAH BOND
Sarah Bond, who has served as president of Xbox since 2023, was appointed as an independent board member of Tyson Foods this past August, according to Tyson. Bond’s promotion to Xbox president made her the first Black woman to serve as president of a gaming company. It is no surprise that she continues to excel and make her way into board rooms, as Bond shares on her LinkedIn that she has, “…dedicated her career to transforming cultures, rearchitecting organizations, accelerating businesses, and most importantly empowering others to do the same.”
MARY WINSTON
Mary Winston serves on the boards of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., TD Bank Group, TD US Bank and Northrop Grumman. She is also president of WinsCo Enterprises, a consulting firm providing financial and strategic advisory services. Her prior executive roles include serving as interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond and as chief financial officer for several large public companies. In May, The National Association of Corporate Directors® (NACD), the authority on corporate governance best practices, announced the appointment of Mary A. Winston as new chair of the NACD board of directors.
DR. YANBING LI
Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company® announced the appointment of Dr. Yanbing Li to the EquinixBoard of Directors in August. According to the press release, Li currently serves as Chief Product Officer at Datadog, where she leads the team responsible for scaling the Datadog product portfolio to best meet the needs of its global customers and drive business growth. After receiving her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering from Princeton University, she went on to work for companies including Google, where she was the Vice President of Product and Engineering.
MARIE MCLUCAS
CREW Network Foundation recently announced Marie McLucas as Foundation Chair. Marie is a past President of CREW Charlotte and a former Foundation Board member and committee chair for the global CREW Network organization. Marie is also CFO, Primax Properties, where she oversees Primax’s policies and procedures for all financial functions, including budgeting, credit/loan administration and cash management, financial reporting, tax reporting and planning, insurance and risk management, and human resources.
Although we can’t showcase all of the women appointed to boards this year, each of them has a special story that helped them pave their path to the boardroom. This is a good reminder that there is more than one way to achieve your goals. Just like these astounding women– you have skills, talents, and abilities that are unique to you and can help set you apart from the rest. Don’t lose sight of those, and keep paving the way for your future path–whether that’s leading you to a boardroom or somewhere else.
Katelyn Owen, MSW, is a copywriter with roots in social work and mental health care. She draws on her field experience to craft meaningful content that supports helping professionals and impact-driven businesses.
