Boardroom Horizons: 2025 Trends and Perspectives from Asian Directorship 100™ Directors

NACD Northern California gathered our Asian Cohort together with allies at PwC's beautiful San Francisco office for our program, "Boardroom Horizons: 2025 Trends and Perspectives from Asian Directorship 100™ Directors."

Our distinguished speakers, all Directorship 100™  2024 honorees—Sue Siegel, Priya Cherian Huskins, and Jane Li, as well as our moderator David Chun—shared their experiences, insights, and outlook on key boardroom trends for 2025, challenges they anticipate for the year ahead, and what their strategic priorities will be. Key topics included AI and adaptability, shifting geopolitical risks, cybersecurity, stochastic terrorism, and deregulation. The panel also delved into diversity and inclusion offering advice on how to foster your network and promote excellence within the Asian-American community.

Thank you to Directorship 100™ honorees Jane Allen, partner at PwC, for hosting and our Asian Cohort leader Barbara Adachi for her ongoing support of this group.

Please find a few key takeaways below:

Top Board Considerations in 2025:

Today’s business landscape was described as a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Boards are grappling with how to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, from technological advancements to shifting stakeholder expectations. The issues that are top of mind for the panelists included:

• AI and Adaptability: Managing AI's ethical and equity implications. Emphasis on workforce reskilling and managing stakeholders.
• Geopolitical Risks: Tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions affecting product and consumer goods.
• Cybersecurity: Data governance and ensuring secure systems for customers and employees.
• Stochastic Terrorism: Increasing concern about CEO safety.
• Deregulation: Ongoing deregulation in the U.S. leading to a volatile regulatory environment for businesses.

Diversity and Inclusion 2025:

There’s a shift towards removing equity from the conversation. Links between executive pay and diversity goals are far less common now to avoid attracting activists. Instead, companies are revisiting their diversity strategies to better align with changing societal and workplace expectations and aligning their initiatives with their employees and customers. Costco has been a great example of successfully defending diversity and inclusion policies while protecting the company's reputation. Companies should have a crisis playbook for managing social activism, much like boards would create for cybersecurity risks. Inventorying company policies on diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and inclusivity is essential to ensure you are current with new language and policies.

Business Strategy and Resilience:

CEO succession planning should be a priority for boards to ensure leadership continuity and long-term stability. Relevant advisors are also crucial in helping companies navigate the evolving business landscape.

Advice for Asian-American Directors:

• Asian-American directors should focus on networking and promoting other Asian-American directors to corporate boards.
• Be transparent with people about what boards you are looking for and why your experience as an Asian-American would be relevant and helpful to the board.
• It is vital to focus on personal excellence and build strong networks within groups like NACD, Ascend Pinnacle, TAAF, and others.

Questions for the Boardroom:

• How can we be prepared for technological advancements like DeepSeek R1?
• How do we ensure that our organization's strategy remains resilient and agile in the face of advancing technological changes, changing geopolitical issues, and changing stakeholder expectations?
• Ask management: "What are you worried about? How can I help?" 

Thank you to PwC for generously hosting this event.