Join us for an interactive discussion on corporate governance, strategies for joining company boards, and insights for serving effectively as a director. This unique and valuable event is hosted by the Wharton Club of the National Capital Region in partnership with sister Wharton Clubs across the U.S.

Prof. Michael Useem, Faculty Director of the Leadership Center and McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and William and Jacalyn Professor of Management Emeritus at Wharton, will engage with two distinguished board veterans:

• Raj Gupta, who has served on the boards of Vanguard Group and Hewlett Packard
• Mark Turner, who led WSFS Bank through remarkable, widely-documented growth

Together, they will share practical advice and insights on securing board invitations and maximizing your impact in the boardroom.

Webinar Details:

• Date & Time:September 17, 7:00-8:00 PM ET (Virtual)
• Registration:[Click here to register]
• Audience: Wharton Club members only!

Come prepared with your questions about optimizing your board candidacy and enhancing your effectiveness as a director. The session will conclude with a roadmap for becoming a director, partnering with management, and leading enterprise governance.

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Michael Useem is Faculty Director of the Leadership Center and McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and William and Jacalyn Professor of Management Emeritus at Wharton. He is author or co-author of Resolute Japan, Boards That Lead, Investor Capitalism, The Leadership Moment, The Edge: How Ten CEOs Learned to Lead, and The Leader’s Checklist. His university teaching includes courses on management and leadership, and he offers programs on leadership and governance for managers in the U.S. and abroad.

Mark Turner was born, raised and schooled in Philadelphia. He has spent the majority of his career in banking, most of which was at WSFS Bank, where he held roles of CFO, COO, CEO and Executive Chairman.  During his time at WSFS he helped grow the company 10 times in assets, 20 times in revenue and profit, and 30 times in public market value, all while outperforming broad market indexes by several times over. Mark has chronicled his experiences in his recent book, The Path to Sustained Excellence: https://www.thepathtosustainedexcellence.com/. A lifelong learner, he received degrees from LaSalle University, University of Pennsylvania and University of Nebraska, and attended numerous executive education experiences.  Today, he serves on Boards and guest lectures at universities and executive forums. He and his brilliant wife, Regina, VMD, PhD, live in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and together they have raised 2 amazing daughters, Becky and Katie.  

Raj L Gupta was born in a small village in Uttar Pradesh, India. As a 22-year-old in Spring 1968, he came to the United States with only $8 in his pocket to do graduate studies in Operations Research/Computer Science at Cornell. He built a 39-year career at the global Fortune 500 specialty materials company Rohm and Haas, where he retired as Chairman and CEO in April 2009.

Over his career, he has served as a director at 15 public companies across a wide range of industries, including Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Arconic/Howmet, Delphi/Aptiv, Airgas, Tyco, and Avantor. He also held long-term Board Chair positions at Delphi/Aptiv (7 years) and Avantor (12 years), both Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has served on the boards of six private companies, including Vanguard Group, IRI, StrozFriedberg, and Aceto. Raj received a BTech(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from IITBombay in 1967, followed by an MS in Operations Research/Computer Science from Cornell in 1969 and an MBA in Finance in 1971 from Drexel University.

After retiring from Rohm and Haas Company, Raj and his wife Kamla established their family’s Ujala Foundation (which means “light” in Hindi), focusing on education and healthcare, equally directed to India and the U.S. Since its inception, the Ujala Foundation has contributed towards an endowed professorship at Hopkins, initial funding for the Drexel University Gupta Governance Institute, fellowships at Drexel’s Business School and Cornell University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, and other causes, including Raj’s alma mater IITBombay, and several civic and cultural organizations in India, such as Pratham and AIF, and the United States, such as the Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Franklin Institute. To date, the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute represents the Ujala Foundation’s single largest commitment.

Raj and Kamla split their time between suburban Philadelphia, PA, and Bonita Springs, FL. They are parents to two daughters and grandparents to three boys. Raj documented his personal and professional journey in a book titled Eight Dollars and a Dream: My American Journey, written in collaboration with Syd Havely and published in 2016.