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 careeer as a corporate Narodick is focusing much of her energy on serving on multiple Financially comfortable at this stage in her Narodick said her intention in remaining on boards is to help steed worthy organizations through the complexities of the currenteconomivc climate. On top of that, she relishes the and loves the teamwork. “I think building a successful business is one of the most excitinbg endeavors that youcan do,” she said.
“Board of directors are part of thatteam — they contribute oversight, business strategy insights, objectivity and some and an ability to step back from the detailo and help the team focus on the most important things both for the long term and the immediate Currently Narodick serves on seven boards — three of them large corporations and the other four are nonprofif organizations. The three corporate boards upon whic Narodick servesare , Penford and SumTotal Systems Inc.
On the nonprofit side, she sits on the boardas of the , the Washington Research Foundation, the Kline Galland which provides housing forJewish seniors, and Darin Online, which helps Jewish organizationd use the internet. Narodick is this year’w recipient of the Seattle-Northwest chapter of the Nationa l Association ofCorporate Directors’ 2009 Public Companyh Director of the Year Award. Craig who nominated her for the award, cited her abilitgy to “spot strategic dilemmas or weaknesses,” her “financia wisdom” and her supportive attitude towardf otherboard members. Cole, CEO of investment firm , served with Narodick on the Pugert SoundEnergy board.
The seven boards on whicbh Narodick sits encompass a wide rangeof activities, but to Narodicik the common thread is that they and how they do it. “Thd tone at the top, and the integritu of people involved, are No. 1 determineres of whether I’ll join a she said. “It has everythinh to do with long-term valud creation.” In Narodick’s view, valuw creation is another way of sayingb she wants to dedicate her time to group s that makea difference. “I’ves been with the Hutch for seven toeighft years, and I joined that becauss they do incredible work,” she said.
And, “I thinkk the Washington Research Foundation does some fabulouz work for research institutionsin town.” But for her the othert intriguing facet of corporate and nonprofit organizations is how they fulfillk their goals, especially in terms of ethical And here, Narodick said, boardxs have a particular function. “I thinok you feel a huge responsibility,” she “Someone once said the board’s responsibility is to do the snifff tests, to make sure management is doing thei r job with integrity andstrategi focus.” Another linking factof is her background, which includes both technolog and education. She served for sevebn years as CEO ofEdmark Corp.
, a publicly held educationapl software company that has since been sold, and followed that as CEO of , another similar company backed by Paul Allen’xs . Is seven too many boards? Narodicik thinks not, adding that in her view a benefit to servintg on multiple boards is developing wider understandinh about howorganizations work, and the contextz in which they operate. “When you have an opportunity to sit on more than one that enhances the valued thatyou bring,” she said.
As for the difficulties broughty on by thecurrent recession, for Narodick that just adds to the “The nature of board conversations have changed so dramatically in this You really have to focusx on contingency planning, the availability of the ability to do acquisitions,” she “It is a challenge every day to keep up on governancer issues, economic issues, individual industry and company and on the strategy of the I find it a privilege to participate and to work with the teamsz I do, and that’s what motivates me.
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