Driving Alpha Workshop: Helping Mission-Driven CEOs 'Build Better' with Their Boards
This 2 day workshop, hosted at Vanderbilt University, helps CEOs of PE and VC-backed healthcare companies—particularly those focused on autism, neurodiversity, and mental health innovation—build more productive relationships with their boards and investors. By transforming governance relationships into strategic partnerships, CEOs can unlock economic value, have more authentic relationships, and drive better outcomes.
Participant Benefits, CEOs Learn to:
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Engage your board as working partners who will 'roll up their sleeves'—not just purveyors of oversight, governance, and accountability.
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Get better at tough conversations with your board—like sharing bad information early, so problems can be solved together—not just pushed aside—until strategic alignment is reached.
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Transform board meetings into true collaborative working sessions that simultaneously drive your company's mission and while meeting the board's scaling/profitability KPIs.
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Build a team aligned with your culture and long-term strategy, and learn to evaluate external prospects for culture fit and leadership potential.
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Spot and avoid common pitfalls among boards and CEOs, like mistaking surface-level agreement for true alignment or missing early warning signs.
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Leverage domain expertise of our partners at the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University, led by Dr. Keivan Stassun.
Meet the Team Leaders
This program was developed and is facilitated by Jeffrey Cohn and Dr. Carrie Muchow, and are joined by other governance experts, executive coaches, and thought leaders.
Jeffrey Cohn
Jeffrey is a board governance expert and was a former fellow at the CEO Leadership Institute, and case facilitator at the Harvard Business School, where he helped write the very first case study on Apple. He was also a governance expert and leadership advisor at Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, and Elevate Partners. A few of Jeff's recent articles in the Harvard Business Review: What Public Company Boards can Learn From Private Equity; How Private Equity Firms Hire CEOs; and "Why CEOs Should Model Vulnerability."
Dr. Carrie Muchow
Dr. Carrie Muchow is a sought after executive coach, cognitive behavioral therapist, and professional assessor. Dr. Muchow received her Ph.D. with Honors in psychology, with an emphasis in neuroscience, from Columbia University. She specializes in helping high-potential leaders have difficult conversations and and how to better manage stress, anxiety, and uncertainty in their careers. She has also helped global talent consultancies create proprietary assessment tools.
Program Activities & Takeaways
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Join a small, trusted group of peer CEOs to share best practices, to be vulnerable, and to help solve your most pressing challenges.
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Engage in boardroom simulations to practice difficult conversations and to stress test your personal approach.
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Learn from experts in governance, strategy, and talent, who focus on real-world impact—not just theory.
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Focus on real challenges. Bring your board relationship challenges; leave with practical next steps, new tools, and stronger ways to partner for strategic value.
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Build a personal board of advisors to call upon when your need trusted advice.
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Program Format:
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Open Enrollment: Join CEOs from a cross-section of companies.
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Private, Invite-Only Sessions: Custom sessions exclusively for CEOs within a single investor ecosystem–enabling deep, portfolio-level exchange of best practices.
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