OnBoard Excellence Awards

OnBoard Excellence Awards

Designed to recognize individuals in senior executive positions who are in the pipeline for board service, the OnBoard Excellence Awards are presented each year to three Georgia-based leaders to exemplify OnBoard’s mission: increasing the number of women in executive leadership and on corporate boards.

To be eligible, an OnBoard Excellence Award nominee must be Georgia-based, serving in a significant leadership role within their organization. Their colleagues recognize them as someone who serves with excellence in their profession, a role model of career achievement who actively mentors and advocates for other professionals seeking to advance their careers. They serve on a for-profit company board or are building the credentials to be eligible for a for-profit company board.

2025 OnBoard Excellence Awards Honorees

Madeline Chadwick

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
Papa Johns International

Tori Kaplan

EVP & Chief Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Officer
Truist

Renee Mathewson

Vice President of Corporate Affairs for North America
SAGE

Past OnBoard Excellence Awards Honorees

2024

Amber Murray

Dara Redler

Beth Chandler

2023

Sarah Butterfass

Nicole Keaton Hart

Wendy Thomas

2022

Erica Hoholick

Laurel M. Hurd

2022 OnBoard Excellence Awards-3

Jolie L. Weber

2021

Vicki Lostetter

Lily Prost

annette-rollins-min

Annette Rollins

2020

Kali Wilson Beyah

Jill Campbell

Dr. Maureen Schumacher

2019

Crystal Hanlon

Brandi Thomas

Susan Gambardella

2018

Lauren Childers

Katharine Mobley

Juliette Pryor

2017

Ceree Eberly

Sloane Perras

Terry Vacheron

2016

Jane M. Elliott

Jackie Parker

Elizabeth (Betsy) Peck

2015

Danielle Lisenbey

Joanne McInnerney

Maureen Morrison

2014

Terri Jondahl

Suzanne Patterson

Michele Sarkisian

2013

Rhona Applebaum

Angie Chattin

Beth Gibbs

2012

Ann-Marie Campbell

Ann Daiss

Penny McIntyre

2011

Debra Kuper

Ann Stallard

Robin Sangston

2010

Phyllis R. Austin

Terrie Jones

Loretta Young Walker

2009

Molly B. Burke

Patricia M. (Trish) Jones

Kathy N. Waller

2008

Barbara Blackford

Peggy McCormick

Sarah O’Brien

Leslie Pearce

Leslie Sibert

2007

Becky Blalock

Kathy Harris

Tasia Katapodis

Amy Whitley

Chief Legal Officer, H&R Block

Dara Redler is a member of the executive leadership team for H&R Block. She is actively engaged in all aspects of the company’s globally regulated business serving as a trusted partner to the CEO contributing to a successful transformation-in-progress of the risk profile and culture with stock price growth that has more than doubled in two years, and working on a new five-year strategic plan. Dara is the Chief Legal Officer of H&R Block, as well as the executive sponsor of the “Belonging Council” – “Belonging at Block” is H&R Block’s DEI initiative.

Dara previously came from Tilray, Inc., a leading global cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company with operations in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Latin America. She successfully navigated the highly regulated industry of cannabis and hemp during a time of significant transformation, supporting the company to achieve double-digit growth year over year and expansion to new global markets, and leading the negotiations for a multi-billion-dollar merger to create the largest multinational cannabis company.

In addition, Dara was with The Coca-Cola Company and held several leadership roles in the legal division during her 17-year tenure. She supported the Chief Digital Officer and was responsible for the customer-facing digital platforms for North America. She also led a legal team responsible for supporting the marketing, advertising, sponsorship, and social media strategy in North America including the Coca-Cola trademark brand, the flagship brand for the Company. Dara was previously responsible for the legal team supporting Coca-Cola North America’s franchise leadership bottling and distribution system, as well as supporting the retail sales, and foodservice and hospitality divisions where she negotiated and drafted key relationship contracts to support customers.

Dara was chosen for The Coca-Cola Company’s intensive global strategy program to work on a business-critical issue to achieve breakthrough business results – leading to the creation of a juice business for the North African business unit worth multi-million dollars in revenue. She sat on The Coca-Cola Company’s Corporate Diversity Counsel and was President of Coca-Cola’s women’s affinity group, serving a membership of over 3300 women across the globe.

Before joining The Coca-Cola Company, Dara was Senior Counsel and a member of the management team for the global computer reservation system, Worldspan, LP, and was an associate in the litigation department of the law firm Alston & Bird.

Dara received her J.D. from the Duke University School of Law, a B.S. from the Wharton School of Business, cum laude, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, cum laude. She received the BoardProspects NextUp 50 award for fifty top executives ready for corporate board service. She lives in Atlanta and is an avid outdoor enthusiast.

Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Rollins

Beth Chandler is a multi-faceted C-suite leader with deep and diverse experience with governance, mergers & acquisitions, and regulatory agencies. She brings to Board service her background as an attorney with business experience in high growth acquisitive public companies. She began her career as a transactional attorney and has closed complex cross border transactions and managed complex litigation and investigations.

Chandler has multi-company and multi-industry business experience, serving as general counsel for Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE: ABG) and Assistant General Counsel of Mirant (Formerly NYSE: MIR) when it went public and was spun off by Southern Company (NYSE: SO). In those roles, she led significant M&A activity, public company compliance, financial restructuring and litigation management. Her sector experience includes business and consumer services, health and safety, energy, international and government, giving her a unique perspective on the challenges that companies face in global environments. For public companies, she has established compliance efforts, enterprise risk management programs and environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies.

Currently, Chandler is the Chief Legal Officer for Rollins, Inc. (NYSE: ROL), a global pest control company with a market cap of $20 billion, 2023 revenues of $3.1B and 19,000 employees worldwide. She sits on the executive leadership team, and leads the enterprise risk management, privacy, compliance, internal audit, legal and corporate governance efforts and supports corporate development with 25-30 acquisitions a year. Rollins has experienced long term revenue growth over 7% and double digit in recent years. She is the Executive Sponsor for the Company’s ESG efforts and the Women’s Business Resource group at Orkin, the Company’s largest brand.

In addition to her diverse public company general counsel experience, Chandler currently serves on the Board of Crider Foods, a large Georgia based food processing company. She also brings to board service her background as a big firm partner and cabinet officer with the City of Atlanta. She was selected by Mayor Shirley Franklin to serve as City Attorney where she advised on the development of the Atlanta Beltline and the renegotiation of the Delta contract with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She also managed litigation related to all aspects of the City, including public service segments, watershed and airport.

Chandler chaired the Board of Atlanta Beltline, Inc. from 2009-2012, and currently sits on the Board of the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, where she is Vice-Chair. The Atlanta Beltline is one of the most successful urban redevelopment projects in the US building a series of trails, transit, and parks in the City of Atlanta. She is also on the Board of the Georgia Research Alliance, which supports Georgia’s University scientists in research and entrepreneurship opportunities and recently retired from the Board of Bobby Jones Golf Course Foundation which has redeveloped the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta into an award-winning revolutionary golf experience. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum.

Ms. Chandler holds a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia and BBA in International Business, magna cum laude, also from UGA. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and is the proud parent of two adult sons.

Chief Strategy Officer, Microsoft Security

Nicole Keaton Hart has a deep background in cyber security, enterprise strategy, large complex system development and disruptive technology integration. She brings to board service a keen understanding of risk oversight and the ability to recognize sound risk management strategies. She can see where technology risk can erode an organization’s ability to meet business objectives. Most notably, as an example, in a mere six months, Ms. Hart took a situation where there were over 1000 unresolved audit findings and guided the company to take a strategic rather than tactical approach in developing corporate risk management strategies for this Fortune 500 firm in the financial services industry. The outcome was board audit committee and regulatory approval of the strategy which when implemented, successfully reduced risk allowing the firm to maintain its conservative public brand recognition and preserve shareholder value.

As an example of how Ms. Hart can add value at the board level as a cybersecurity strategy expert, she guided Fulton County Government, one of the most populous counties in the US, in preparing for Superbowl LIII with an integrated cybersecurity and risk management strategy, garnering adoption and broad execution across 170 public and private sector entities including the National Football League and Department of Homeland Security. Resulting from Nicole’s proactive risk mitigation and governance oversight, the county demonstrated business resiliency to increased global cyberattacks by maintaining a low cyber risk rating throughout the Superbowl LIII event.

Ms. Hart’s business operations expertise includes overseeing the development and execution of enterprise technology strategies to facilitate cyber and technology risk evaluation during M&A pre-acquisition actions, cloud migration, and digital transformation in financial services, consumer packaged goods, critical infrastructure and software development industries.

As Chief Strategy Officer for Microsoft Security, Ms. Hart oversees the development and execution of global cybersecurity product strategies to capture new markets, drive growth and innovation, and identify key acquisition targets. She has held key C-level roles such as the former Chief Information Officer for Fulton County Government and Senior Vice President for SunTrust Bank.

Ms. Hart is a certified risk management (CRISC) and governance of enterprise information technology (CGEIT) professional and additionally holds an Executive Master of Management Information Technology from Georgia State University. She is currently pursuing an Executive Doctorate of Business Administration from LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, while residing in Atlanta with her family.