"the ability to read a room, lead with empathy, listen actively, debate respectfully, influence without dominating, seeing the big picture, and looking around the corners, I believe, are essential to success as a board member." - Sharda cherwoo

Written by Intern Nithya Kumar

Celebrating International Women's Day, we at Serica are thrilled to bring you our next empowerment webinar event with Serica Storytellers Leading with Impact: Celebrating Asian American Voices in the Boardroom on March 6th. Join us as we feature public company board chairs Jane Li, Judy Lee, and Lisa Lim and learn their journeys and advice for other AAPI and business people looking to develop their career.

This event was brought together by The Serica Initiative Board Member Lisa Lim, who had an extensive career as Senior Partner at EY and is now developing a seasoned board professional career herself. Learn more about all the speakers in our webinar at the bottom of the article!

Register Here!

In celebrating these amazing Asian American women who have made large impacts in boardrooms, Sharda Cherwoo is someone else who deserves to be recognized. Sharda unfortunately will be unable to join our webinar, but she graciously offered to provide the Serica Initiative with some insider tips and thoughts to guide your board journey.

Sharda is a seasoned board member and senior C-suite executive, with more than 40 years of governance and

professional services experience. She has a distinguished track record of driving significant market growth by pioneering and scaling billion-dollar businesses, leading go-to-market strategies, and executing successful technology-enabled transformations.

"Board opportunities, rarely emerge from a single conversation. They grow from visibility and trust, built over time. "

Her vision and leadership in implementing cutting-edge technologies have earned her multiple awards for innovation and global business leadership. Sharda retired as a Senior Partner from Ernst & Young LLP (EY) in the US, following a 37+ year non-linear career that began in the audit practice. Over the course of her tenure, she gained unique and diverse experience across all of EY’s service lines, including audit, tax, management consulting, and M&A. She also served as Global Coordinating Partner for Fortune 100 companies and other major global clients. On top of all of this, she held a CEO role, pioneering and leading EY’s first award-winning offshore global delivery center in India.

Her large repertoire of experience includes creating enterprise value through building, scaling, and operating successful businesses, while leading cultural transformation. Sharda currently serves on the boards of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and World Kinect Corporation (NYSE: WKC), a Fortune 100 company. She contributes to Audit, Governance, Finance and Risk, and Policy Committees across these boards.

In addition, she is a strategic business advisor and mentor for Klarity.ai, an innovative technology start-up focused on hyper-automation, low to no-code, and GPT-based AI solutions. She also does this work for several other technology start-ups. She serves on the non-profit boards of the NACD New York Chapter, Tax Analysts (a leading tax think tank), and on Board of Trustees of International House, an organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of global leaders through fostering cross-cultural understanding. Lastly, Sharda also serves on the Investment Committee of Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Sharda's experience proves that the boardroom means so much more than just being in the room. It is something that helps to shape and grow the ethos of the company and their trajectory. Being part of a boardroom means that you are constantly contributing change to growing businesses, and helping them perform to the best of their abilities. Bringing together your experience, passions, and history is extremely vital in bringing change to the forefront in a boardroom. You commence change by being a contributor to the space through all of your personal strengths and wisdoms.

Sharda shared with us her most intimate thoughts about Stepping into the Boardroom– which you can read more directly in her linkedin post– as well as a few extra pieces of advice. There are four important traits that can make a difference in your board career: preparation, focus, discipline, and confidence. For those looking to get started with their board career, she offers three pieces of reflection to help think through your career:

"Before launching your board search, pause and ask yourself: Why now? Why this path? What kind of organization aligns with your values? What causes or industries energize you? How do you want this chapter to contribute to your personal and professional purpose? What are your key board skills and experiences, that will help differentiate you?"

Starting with "why?" helps you determine your truest motivation for getting involved in the boardroom. Is it interest or pride? Is it the responsibility or coverage? Once you are able to parse through these meanings, you can have more clarity on where to begin and expand your superintendence.

Understand the Dynamic and Evolving Landscape

This is where the four key traits: preparation, focus, discipline, and confidence matter. The boardroom is constantly changing based on societal and business reactions to everything evolving around us.

"Take the time to understand where your skills fit within the broader board ecosystem. Boards increasingly prioritize three key soft skills in their selection process: Emotional intelligence, collaboration, and strategic thinking. The emotional intelligence aspects of a person’s skills, cannot be underestimated - the ability to read a room, lead with empathy, listen actively, debate respectfully, influence without dominating, seeing the big picture, and looking around the corners, I believe, are essential to success as a board member."

"These qualities help directors navigate complexity, build trust, and guide organizations effectively. In addition, boards value experience in leadership, finance, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and human capital. Review the skills matrices of boards you admire. Ask yourself, and your mentors, how your expertise can complement a board’s needs."

Understanding what the board you specifically are involved in is looking for in terms of needs and goals will help you figure out your own position within the space, so you can bring your authentic and imperative perspectives to the room.

Authentically Build Visibility

In order to feel seen, you need to be able to manage your perspectives while also building relationships and respect:

"Board opportunities, rarely emerge from a single conversation. They grow from visibility and trust, built over time. This is not about self promotion. It is about showing up intentionally -- engaging with leaders and influencers you respect, contributing to advisory or nonprofit boards, and sharing your perspective on issues, that matter to the company and you."

"If you have built a career where results quietly spoke for themselves, this part may

feel uncomfortable. But visibility, when done sincerely, is not about spotlighting yourself. It is about helping others understand your abilities – understand your strategic thinking, your judgment, your values, and your leadership style – so that when the right opportunity arises, you are already top of mind."

Sharda closes off her statement by expressing the importance of diverse voices, and more Asian American women, in boardrooms. Having perspectives that serve through clarity of your goals grow and stay grounded in the facts and realities of the ever-changing dynamics of boards. It's important to use your authentic voice to collaboratively, respectfully, and empathetically move through the space as a valued member and a maker of change.

"Start with clarity and confidence. Ground yourself in dataand insight. Show up consistently, authentically, and with purpose. Because, when individuals lead collaboratively - with competence, empathy, and conviction, the boardroom doesn’t just look different, it governs differently. And when boards think more inclusively, and act more strategically, they are better equipped to fulfill their duty to all stakeholders -- shareholders, employees, customers, communities, and the planet. That is not just good governance, it is enduring value creation."

We hope this serves you and brings you clarity and much needed advice as you go into building your board career. If you are interested in learning more, don't forget to sign up for our discussion on March 6th with three other highly accomplished board members.

REGISTER FOR MARCH 6 WEBINAR

Meet the Speakers

Moderator: Lisa Lim

Independent Board Member | Seasoned Global Business Leader | Qualified Financial Expert | Retired EY Partner

Lisa is a seasoned board member, global business leader, SEC-qualified financial expert and CPA with 35+ years of experience guiding Fortune 100 and high-growth companies through transformation, strategic business development, risk management and growth. As a board member, Lisa contributes to the audit committee by bringing forth her financial and risk management expertise. She is also well-positioned to advise on the global business environment, CEO succession planning, geopolitics, supply chain, tax and tariff matters, talent management, M&A and IPO readiness. A lifelong continuous learner, Lisa builds consensus across diverse stakeholders and drives sustainable value creation.

She currently serves on the Strategic Advisory Board of WilliamsMarston, a professional services firm backed by PE firm, Kelso & Company. She previously served on the Board of HF Foods Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HFFG) as Audit Committee Chair and Special Committee Chair for CEO Succession. A retired senior partner and business leader at EY, Lisa built and scaled the Americas Supply Chain practice, led global relationship and services to Johnson & Johnson, IBM and other growth companies, and served on EY’s Global Governance Council — the oversight body responsible for firmwide strategy, risk management, and major investments.

Judy Lee

CEO, Dragonfly Capital | Managing Director & Co-Founder | Independent Board Director

Judy Lee is MD & Co-Founder of Dragonfly, a NY-based firm founded in 2000, providing quantitative risk management, applications for strategy and investments to companies globally, and concurrently CEO of Dragonfly Capital. Judy has 35+years of executive experience in banking, risk, renewable energy; was Partner at Capco, CMRA, and Principal at Bankers Trust, Global Risk Management. 

She’s served on corporate boards for 10+years, with experience on 8 Audit/Risk committees, 4 Sustainability committees, and 12 CEO/Chairman successions. Her diverse governance experience includes highly regulated industries – banking, asset management, real estate, infrastructure, energy, utilities, public transport, agri-tech, biotech/healthcare.

Judy is an independent director of: DBS - SEAsia’s largest bank, Mapletree Logistics Trust - a Pan-Asia REIT, SMRT - Singapore’s leading public transport operator, JTC - Singapore’s government agency developing industrial infrastructure, an IFC/World Bank nominee director at Commercial Bank of Ceylon, on TBS Energi Utama BOC-ESG Committee, and non-profit boards: NYU-Stern Executive Board, Co-Chair WomenExecs on Boards, and SHE. Previously she served as an independent director of AlTi Global - a Nasdaq listed UHNW advisor/asset manager and Temasek LifeSciences Accelerator, a board director/EVP of Solar Frontier (Shell Japan) - an integrated solar panel manufacturer and power plant developer, on the Investment Advisory Board of MDI Ventures Telkom Indonesia for healthcare, and member of Monetary Authority of Singapore Corporate Governance Advisory Committee. 

She was Adjunct Professor at Singapore Management University for 10 years, and of Columbia University and Peking University. Judy was appointed Senior Fellow of Wharton School Risk Institute. She co-authored books: “What Every CEO Must Know About Risk”, “RAROC & Risk Management”. 

Jane Li

Public Company Board Chair, Semtech Corporation

Jane Li is an experienced public company Board Chair serving on Audit, Compensation, Nom/Gov, and Technology & Strategy Committees. She brings 30 years of high-tech industry experience and a seasoned operator’s lens, gained by scaling businesses in the US and Asia – astutely overseeing P&L, delivering innovative products to market, M&A, and steering transformations at PE/VC-backed to Fortune 500s. To the board, Jane contributes strong business acumen and sales, marketing and go-to-market/commercialization experience across IT, SaaS/software, IoT, semiconductors, wireless/telecom, cloud/storage, cyber, and AI sectors.

Jane serves as Board Chair of Semtech (SMTC), where she Chairs Nom/Gov and is a member of both Compensation and Technology & Strategy Committees – guiding the board of this $5.6B market cap semiconductor company on strategic growth in IoT and hyper-scale datacenter areas. She has seen Semtech through two CEO successions, doubling revenue to $909M+ and tripling market cap. Jane led a board refresh as Nom/Gov Chair, a ‘pay for performance’ evolution on the Comp. Committee, and helped establish the Board’s AI governance framework and Activism Strategy. Then she led as a key board negotiator in an activist settlement. As Director on Audit Committee of Knowles Corp. (NYSE: KN), a $1.8B+ market cap industrial tech co. – Jane guided M&A/diversification strategy and Knowle’s transformation from consumer electronics components to diversified industrial, aerospace, MedTech, defense, auto, and energy tech leader—driving growth and valuation multiple. She was also deeply involved in a successful activist settlement and influenced the Board/C-suite in accelerating AI growth/governance framework. Jane also serves as Director/Compensation Committee Member of PDF Solutions (PDFS), a leading cloud analytics platform for semiconductor ecosystems, supporting PDFS’s 61.5% hypergrowth to $179.5M revenue – and is shaping next stage growth, strengthening compensation/pay-for-performance, and disciplined governance for market cap expansion.

Jane is also a Strategic Advisor at the PE firm Diversis Capital, where she led a turnaround strategy, and is keenly involved in operations and tech deals, from assessment, diligence to post-acquisition. Earlier as M&A/Turnaround CEO at PE firm The Gores Group, she led the acquisition team of a $600M revenue division of a large public company. Jane understands how to pull the right levers within the PE market. As COO of Huawei Enterprise US (IT, Cloud, Enterprise Networking, Mobility), and as GM, Huawei Symantec USA (Storage, Cyber, Network), Jane led operational scaling of Huawei US’s Enterprise ground up to $600M (2 years) and Huawei Symantec to $700M revenue. AS EVP/GM of Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc., she led her teams in tripling revenue to $350M, and contributed $7B+ in revenue at Corning Inc. (GLW) – both through strong product innovation and go-to-market strategy. Jane has earned coveted awards – 2024 NACD Directorship 100, Top 100 Asian American Board Directors by Board Prospects, Most Influential Corporate Board Directors by WomenInc., and others. Jane is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.