Corporate Directors Circle

How Women Lead’s Corporate Directors Circle is a six-month, high-trust group for seasoned women public company directors with space for the conversations you can’t have just anywhere. Here are the women who will engage your curiosity and goals like no others, because they have performed at your level and share your commitment to leadership growth. 

• A private weekend retreat in Scottsdale, AZ with a full day at the home of Evelyn Dilsaver and special sessions led by Maggie Wilderotter, Kathryn Henry, Sue Harnett, and Dottie Schindingler. 

  • Accommodations at the iconic Hotel Valley Ho

  • Friday night welcome dinner and intro sessions

  • Saturday all-day at Evelyn’s lake home, with a curriculum designed around the specific interests & expertise of the group

  • Sunday morning working brunch & action roadmap session

• Six monthly virtual workshops with expert-led study sessions–including faculty such as Alicia Syrett– and peer mastermind work to build your board future.

• Potent, relevant outcomes:

  • Current and future AI/tech governance and strategy: how to ask better questions, define guardrails, and challenge and augment management narratives

  • Stronger tools for board effectiveness (including making evaluations meaningful and driving accountability)

  • A sharper CEO oversight and succession playbook (upskilling, replacement decisions, transition readiness)

  • A tighter ability to lead through inflection points: strategic pivots, transformation triggers, and crisis leadership

• A clearer, current “director value” narrative aligned to 2026 board priorities (execution, people, tech/AI)

• Your personal plan to enhance your influence as a committee chair, lead director, or board chair

• A trusted, lasting circle of women directors you can call when the agenda is sensitive and the stakes are real

What makes this circle different: the room. This is designed for women-only sitting directors who want an experience that feels like what the boardroom should be: prepared, honest, strategic, and consequential. You’ll be surrounded by other experienced director peers for insight-sharing that is rarely available in any other setting.

Six Months of Connection; Years of impact.

Our community plan is designed to build a tight cohort of leaders who will be your sounding board and go-to circle for years to come.  Our monthly sessions will respond flexibly to emerging needs of the circle over time; sample topics are listed. 

• Friday, Feb 27 at 6pm through Sunday, Mar 1 at noon (Mountain Time)

• Fridays from 9 - 11:30am (Pacific)

  • March 20   Excelling as Committee Chair, Lead Director, and Board Chair

  • April 10   Strengthening director relationships and building situational influence; making Board evaluations effective

  • May 29   The CEO playbook: upskilling, managing, succession-planning, or replacing your company's leader

  • June 26  Strategic Viewpoints: process leadership; identifying transformation triggers; the board's role in change management

  • July 24   The Board in Crisis: leading through challenges

  • August 21  Forward from here: future-proofing your board value