Meet Jeannine Strandjord, a seasoned public company director whose board experience has spanned information technology to retail, and whose executive résumé includes the role of chief integration officer at Sprint, where she oversaw the transformation of the telecom giant during a period of radical change. She recently spoke with NACD Directorship magazine about her path from being a first-time director to becoming a boardroom leader and shared her best advice for new or aspiring directors.

Just what should newly minted or aspiring directors keep top-of-mind? “First of all, learn what you have to offer to that board,” Strandjord said. “Be sure that it’s something that adds value—not just that you’d like to be on a board. Second, if you really want to serve on a board, you better learn how to network. Meet as many other people as you can and find a great mentor who could be helpful in finding the right board for you. A wonderful mentor provided much of the reading material and later helped recruit me to his board, and I’ve acquired other mentors along the way through networking.”

Strandjord currently raises the bar for boardroom excellence at Euronet Worldwide, MGP Ingredients, American Century Mutual Funds, J.E. Dunn Construction, and the Ewing Marion Kaufmann Foundation. To advance her boardroom education and enhance her director skills, she decided to pursue the NACD Board Leadership Fellowship. “I believe I owe it to my boards to continue my education,” she said. “Continuing education is extremely important for all board members. You can’t be as effective in any endeavor unless you keep up your skill sets, because things are changing too quickly.”

NACD Fellowship, the gold standard for director credentials, is a comprehensive program of study developed to educate directors about perennial and emerging boardroom issues and best practices. Completion of this rigorous program demonstrates a director’s serious commitment to exemplary board leadership. “NACD brings the most value in terms of the education that they provide—and I’ve been to programs at the New York Stock Exchange and the Investment Council Institute,” Strandjord said. “NACD’s program is terrific, and I really believe in it.”

Read the full interview with Jeannine Strandjord in the September/October 2015 issue of NACD Directorship magazine, where she also talks about the biggest disruptors she faced at Sprint, her experience as the first and only woman on a board, and how the decision to pursue NACD Fellowship has shaped her board service.

Future issues of NACD Directorship will introduce you to other outstanding NACD Board Leadership Fellows. To learn more about the program and how you can attain the NACD Fellowship credential, click here.

Dawn Mahler and Jesse Rhodes contributed to this piece.

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