It seems to be a right of passage for former Big 4 chairmen and CEOs to eventually end up on a public company’s board of directors. We saw two such instances last year: After Mark Weinberger retired from EY, he joined the board of MetLife. And former Deloitte CEO and current WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert joined Ronald McDonald and pals on the board of McDonald’s Corp.
On New Year’s Day, ex-PwC International chairman and Ice Bucket Challenge participant Dennis Nally, who has been on Morgan Stanley’s board since October 2016, snagged a seat in another boardroom.
AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) today [Jan. 2] announced that its Board of Directors elected Dennis M. Nally, 67, as a new independent director, effective January 1, 2020. With the election of Mr. Nally, the AmerisourceBergen Board of Directors increased from nine to ten members, eight of whom are independent.
Mr. Nally is the former Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), having served two terms in that role until his retirement from PwC in 2016. During his 42-year career with PwC, Mr. Nally served in a number of senior management and executive positions, including Chairman from 2009 to 2016, and Senior Partner and Chairman, United States, from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Nally was a Partner at PwC from 1985 to 2016 and served in numerous leadership positions, including National Director of Strategic Planning, Audit and Business Advisory Services Leader, and Managing Partner. Mr. Nally is Vice Chairman of The HOW Institute for Society and has served as a director of Morgan Stanley since 2016.
So, who’s next to join a public company board? My money is on Lynne Doughtie, once her term as KPMG chairman and CEO wraps up.
Feel free to speculate where Lynne might go post-Big 4 in the comments section.
