Only ONE member of the failed SVB board had investment banking experience

Only one member of Silicon Valley Bank’s board of directors had investment banking experience, while the others were major Democratic donors, it was revealed.

Tom King, 63, was appointed to the board in September after having been executive director of investment banking at Barclay’s. He has 35 years of investment banking experience.

But he is the only board member with financial industry experience, while others include a former Obama administration employee, a prolific aide to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and even a prayerful Hillary Clinton megadonor. at a Shinto shrine when Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

The board is now under investigation by federal authorities after it failed to prevent the bank from going under while investing client money in risky low-interest government bonds and securities.

He was previously accused of being too focused on awakening issues.

When the bank went under on Friday, he touted that his board included ‘1 Black’, ‘1 LGBTQ+ member’ and ‘2 Veterans’. She also noted that her board of directors is 45 percent women.

But only one board member is under 60, while the oldest is 78.

And only King has experience in the financial investment industry.

The others were major donors to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Clinton, Obama and President Joe Biden, who also made contributions to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) political action campaigns. and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a longtime member of the powerful Senate Banking Committee.

“Everyone knew it was the bank that woke up CEOs went to,” an unnamed source told the outlet. New York Post. ‘They knew they were politically aligned. The companies that SVB lent money to all had a lively agenda.

Among those members was Phil Cox, a member of the board of directors of NextGen Cyber ​​Talent, a nonprofit organization that “provides a platform to increase diversity and inclusion in [the] cybersecurity sector’, according to its online profile

And Kate Mitchell, co-founder of the National Association of Venture Capitalists initiative, Venture Forward, which “focuses on advancing opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in [the] risk ecosystem.

Mary J Miller, a former Assistant Secretary for Domestic Finance for the US Department of the Treasury who ran in the 2020 Baltimore mayoral race as a Democrat, also served on the board.

Venture capitalist Kate Mitchell cried at the Shinto shrine when she learned that Donald Trump won in 2016

Kate Mitchell, 64, has been a Silicon Valley Bank board member since 2010.

During that time, she donated a whopping $50,000 to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid and cried when Trump finally won.

She said CNBC at the time when he went to a Shinto shrine during a trip to Kyoto that Thanksgiving to pray.

“I prayed for me and for us to get through our grief and shock and figure out how to be involved and listen to what happened and get back together,” Mitchell said.

He had previously celebrated how 97 percent of tech industry donations went to Clinton’s campaign, suggesting it would be “friendlier” to their businesses.

“The 97 percent support for Clinton is mind-boggling and really suggests we’re banging the table.”

But she was less enthusiastic about the Democratic candidates in 2020, donating only $593.33 each to Democratic parties in Minnesota, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Professionally, Mitchell co-founded the National Association of Venture Capitalists initiative, Venture Forward, which “focuses on advancing opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in [the] risk ecosystem.

She is credited with co-authoring the individual private offerings legislation that made it easier for startups to go public, and in 2021 received the American Spirit Award from the National Association of Venture Capitalists for her “private-focused community service.” equity and diversity. ‘

Mitchell also advises the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University.

Rite Aid CEO who attributes success to being in a jam company

Elizabeth ‘Busy’ Burr, 61, attributes her success to being in an improv group.

She said Authority Magazine in an interview in February 2021: “I have learned a lot doing improv and it has influenced my way of thinking about leadership.”

Burr also detailed in that interview how she saw her role as a director as one of making companies diversify.

We all have to start by being aware. Recognize that if we are not solving the problem, we are part of it. And that there is indeed a problem. A big one.

“People of color in this country face a much more difficult journey to achieve their dreams than I do, and the barriers they have to deal with are systemic and often unconscious,” he said, adding: “We just had 4 years of a president who unleashed a wave of racism and white supremacy.

“The strange advantage of that is that there are a lot more important conversations, but we have a long way to go.”

‘It’s not enough to just report the numbers, we must demand a deep look at the company culture: what are the informal networks and behaviors that support the status quo. Discuss this at board level and hold management teams accountable for real change.’

The interview came just nine months before she was appointed to Silicon Valley Bank’s board of directors. TO Press release he noted at the time that he held positions at Citigroup and did investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Boston.

Burr was also called the interim executive director of Rite Aid in January.