Assuming your governance capital

By Alice Korngold

On a nonprofit board, you will work with others to develop the organization's greater vision, revenue model, and case for support.  Leslie Rahl, president of Capital Market Risk Advisors, points out that "you deal with matters of ethics that transcend what you learned in business school.  You learn the dynamics of being part of a team of peers, of knowing when to defer to others, especially in situations where you are also ultimately responsible and accountable."

Rahl was asked to join the board of Fannie Mae in 2004.  Her firm specializes in risk management, hedge funds, financial forensics, and derivatives, and she has authored books on hedge funds.  She has an undergraduate degree from MIT and an M.B.A. from MIT's Sloan School.

Clearly, her business expertise qualified her to serve on the Fannie Mae board, but it was her nonprofit board experience that distinguished and elevated her as a candidate.  "When they were interviewing me for the position," she explains, "the Fannie Mae board members spent a great deal of time asking me about my work on the board of 100 Women in Hedge Funds and my experience in chairing its philanthropy committee in particular.”  She adds, "Once I was identified for the Fannie Mae board, and my business qualifications were dear, my having served on a nonprofit board was definitely considered a plus."

Business background may open the door, but leadership experience gets you into the boardroom.  Rahl was recently elected to the board of CIBC, a leading North American financial institution

Hedge funds vary widely in the quality of their internal controls and disclosures, said Barbara Lucas, a partner at Capital Market Risk Advisors, a financial advisory firm.

When it comes to the quality of hedge fund operations, "we see the good, the bad, the ugly and the indifferent," said Lucas, a longtime securities attorney.  "It's really all over the place."   

Third Quarter 2007