June 16, 2010
Dinner Meeting 

 Board Member Skills and How To Assess Accepting a Board Position or Not

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Program Overview - Prospective board members need an understanding of how to assess the liability, cultural fit and productivity of their potential role as a board member. Becoming a board member of a public company, and to a lesser extent, a private company or not-for-profit entity, is a big decision, and one that many legal and other advisors would urge individuals to be very cautious about accepting.  Our panel of very experienced public company board members will share the thought processes that they went through in evaluating joining their current and other boards which they have considered joining. The panel will discuss the type of questions asked and of whom that are critical to becoming an active and productive board member.  These questions might include:  How would you describe the "culture" of the company?  What is the company's track record on earnings and operations guidance?  What has been the company's appetite for acquisitions? What is the history of number of board and committee meetings and do I have the time to adequately serve on this board? What is the company's reputation in its industry?  Join this "all-director" panel to help you understand the diligence you need to apply to prospective board opportunities.

Tom Briggs (Moderator) is an experienced CFO with 10 years of public accounting experience in two of the current four worldwide accounting firms, and 25 years as a CFO in public and private companies primarily in the food and oil and gas industries. Mr. Briggs was most recently CFO of Healthy Food Holdings, Inc., a Boulder-based holding and management company for branded food companies, and before that CFO of Horizon Organic, the largest organic foods company in the US, which was acquired by Dean Foods in 2004. From 1990 to 2000 he was VP-Finance at Leprino Foods, a privately-held cheese and dairy ingredients manufacturer. During the 1970s and 1980s he was a tax and M&A consultant to oil and gas exploration companies, and later CFO and senior officer in two Denver-based independent oil and gas companies. He is a past Director of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States (IPAMS).  From August 2004 to March 2009, he was a board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Corrpro, a publicly-held engineering and construction services company. He is currently a board member, a member of the Audit Committee and Chairman of the Compensation Committee of Whiting Petroleum Corporation, a public oil and gas exploration and production company.  Mr. Briggs holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Duke University, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Gerald "Bud" Laber spent 33 years in the audit practice with Arthur Andersen, LLP, and retired in 2000. His experience included auditing public and private companies, dealing with risk assessment, internal controls, financial statement disclosure and accounting matters, SEC issues, and communicating with audit committees of the board of directors.  Mr. Laber currently serves on the board of directors of Smart Balance, Inc. and Scott's Liquid Gold, Inc..  He serves as chair of the audit committee and is a member of the compensation, finance and governance committees of these companies.  Mr. Laber is a past member of the board and audit committee of Applied Films Corporation and SpectraLink Corporation, both public companies.  He also serves on the board of one privately owned company and one public company that is no longer an SEC reporting company.  Mr. Laber is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the AICPA and CSCPA. He holds the NACD Certificate of Director Education.  He is a graduate of the University of South Dakota. 

Harold “Hal” Logan, Jr. is a co-founder and a director of Basic Materials and Services LLC, a privately held company founded in 2007 that invests in companies providing specialized services for the pipeline construction and sand/silica industries. Mr. Logan is also a Director of Graphic Packaging Holding Company and Cimarex Energy Co., both public companies, and Hart Energy Publishing, LP, a private company.  Additionally, he has served as a Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. Supervisor since March 1996 and was elected as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in January 2007. Mr. Logan was a Co-Founder of TransMontaigne, Inc. in 1995 and Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Treasurer and a director through 2002. Mr. Logan served as a director of TransMontaigne and chairman of its finance committee from 2002-2006.  From 1987 to 1995, he was Senior Vice President/Finance, Chief Financial Officer, and a director of Associated Natural Gas Corporation. Prior to that Mr. Logan was with Dillon Read & Co. Inc. and Rothschild, Inc.  Mr. Logan is active in numerous not-for-profit boards of directors, including Denver Botanic Gardens and Bonfils-Stanton Foundation.  He received a B.S. in Economics from Oklahoma State University and a M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
  
Wayne Murdy retired as Chairman of Newmont Mining Corporation in 2007, a position he held since 2002.  He served as Chief Executive Officer from 2001 to mid 2007.  Newmont Mining is a major gold producer with a market capitalization in excess of $20 billion, total assets in excess of $15 billion on five continents, and 15,000 employees worldwide.  Mr. Murdy is a director of BHP Billiton Limited, BHP Billiton Plc., Weyerhaeuser Company and Qwest Communications International Inc.  He is also a Trustee of the Denver Art Museum, a member of the College of Engineering Advisory Council at the University of Notre Dame, and a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the Business School at the University of Denver.  He was a founding board member of the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative of the World Economic Forum, a past Chairman of the International Council on Mining and Metals, a past Director of the National Mining Association and a former member of the Manufacturing Council of the United States Department of Commerce. Prior to joining Newmont, Mr. Murdy spent 15 years in senior financial positions in the oil and gas industry, first with Getty Oil Company and later as Chief Financial Officer of Apache Corporation.  He began his business career in public accounting.  A graduate of California State University at Long Beach, he has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Time:  5:30 PM
Cost:   Members - $49 / Non-Members - $64
Location:  Denver Country Club
                  1700 E. 1st Avenue
                  Denver, CO 80218

Agenda:
5:30-6:15 PM:  Cocktails & Networking
6:15-7:00 PM:  Dinner
7:00-8:00 PM:  Program 

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