Michele J. Hooper is president and CEO of The Directors’ Council, which consults with major companies to improve the effectiveness of their corporate governance. With over 30 years of corporate board experience, Hooper is a financial expert and highly regarded governance expert and business leader who chairs the audit committees of several global companies. She serves on the corporate boards of directors of UnitedHealth Group (as lead independent director) and United Airlines (as chair of the audit committee). Hooper previously served on the boards of PPG Industries, Target Corp., Seagram Co. Ltd., Warner Music Group, and AstraZeneca. In 2017, Hooper was selected as an NACD Director of the Year. She was also recognized as part of Forbes’s “The 50 Over 50 2022: Women Stepping Into Their Power In Life’s Second Half.”

Hooper has retired from the NACD board and as president of NACD Chicago. She was a commissioner on ten NACD Blue Ribbon Commissions on governance, including on strategy oversight, board-shareholder communications, audit committees, risk oversight, and the diverse board. Hooper is a leading NACD faculty member and a consultant for in-boardroom consulting as well as director education. She has also retired as a board member of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), where she was chair of the CAQ working group focused on deterring and detecting financial reporting fraud.

Previously, Hooper served as president and CEO of Voyager Expanded Learning and of the Stadtlander Drug Company Inc. Prior to joining Stadtlander, she was corporate vice president of Caremark International and president of the international business group, responsible for the expansion of Caremark into Europe, Canada, and Japan. Hooper began her career at Baxter International. As president of Baxter Canada, Hooper led Canada’s largest health care and laboratory supplies company.

Hooper is on the Smithsonian Institution’s national board as well as a board member of the Black Directors Health Equity Agenda, Ringling College of Arts and Design, the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe of Florida. She is a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago, the World Presidents’ Organization, The Chicago Network, and the International Women’s Forum Chicago.