Merline Saintil (Board Director): Cybersecurity In The Boardroom

DESCRIPTION

Merline Saintil has led teams at Intuit, Yahoo, PayPal, Adobe, Joyent, and Sun Microsystems. Now, she serves on the board of directors at five fast-growing companies – most recently she was appointed to GitLab’s Board of Directors. She’s constantly thinking about how companies can address and be prepared for cybersecurity threats. Today, Merline shares these insights, her advice for first time managers, and what it means to send the figurative elevator back down.

Key Takeaways:

[1:23] Merline takes us back to being a software engineer at Sun Microsystems and then deciding to transition to a program role at Adobe.

[3:47] What it was like leading mobile and emerging products within a kind of startup within Yahoo. What were the first 100 days like and how did Merline measure success?

[5:57] What specifically drew Merline to Intuit?

[7:03] Merline shares about what she was doing over her four years in Intuit, how did things end up, and why she decided to leave.

[8:26] Merline talks about the role that networking and relationships have played in her career development.

[9:51] What does it mean to send the figurative elevator back down?

[10:47] Does managing come naturally to Merline?

[11:30] Merline gives advice for first-time managers.

[12:30] Merline shares how she landed her first board role, how many boards she is on today, and how she finds balance among all of them.

[13:38] How is security addressed in the boardrooms today and how has Merline seen that evolve over time?

[16:05] Merline shares about her different roles on the boards.

[17:38] Merline is hopeful to land a Fortune 500 board.

[18:20] Merline shares about her work at GitLab and the priorities for 2021.

[20:36] Merline shares the benefits of having an operator on a board and the importance it has for companies going through hyper-growth.

[22:03] Which advice would Merline give to her younger self?

[22:27] Merline gives advice to women who are beginning their careers.

[24:10] Merline shares the best piece of advice she’s gotten.

[25:59] Merline talks about her female role models.

[27:29] If Merline was not in her current role, what would she be doing?