There will be “more changes in the boardroom in the next 12 to 18 months than we’ve had in the past decade,” Nora Denzel, lead independent director at Advanced Micro Devices, predicted during a press roundtable last week at the 2024 National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Summit. Emerging technologies are the reason why.

Denzel is a co-chair of the 2024 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission, which recently released a report centered on technology. It presents 10 recommendations for technology governance, which the authors viewed as an area of pressing concern for boards.

Right now, we’re seeing “the biggest change in technology in the past 50 years,” Denzel said. “And I know some people think it’s overhyped. I think it’s actually underhyped.”

She added, “I think this is going to have societal-level impact on how we work, how we play, and how we live.”

Technology presents risks boards need to deal with right now: Regulation has yet to catch up with emerging technologies like AI, Denzel noted, placing the imperative on boards to set guardrails around their companies’ use of technology. “We’re going to have to self-govern before the real governance comes in,” she said. “This is not a compliance issue,” she added. “It’s about protecting your reputation before there are government rules” in place.

New technologies are especially risky because they’ve increased access to data at all levels of a corporation, David Kenny—co-chair of the commission, board chair elect at Best Buy, and executive chair at Nielsen—said at the roundtable.

For more on building tech governance, click here.—CV

Have you ever started at a company that turned out to be completely different than when you interviewed? Not a pleasant surprise—unless you’re talking about biotech, where you want that to happen. A company can toil for years without a marketable product, only to one day get it approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Then you’re a new company,” according to Mardi Dier, CFO of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. “All of a sudden, it’s full-on marketing and commercialization.”

Dier started in late February, just two weeks before the FDA gave the green light to Madrigal’s drug, Rezdiffra, the first to win approval to treat a form of liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, which affects millions of people in the US, according to the agency. She spoke with CFO Brew about financing the transition from R&D to commercialization, and how she’s thinking about cash management as the company expands.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you finance that transformation?

Biotech [has] a unique business model, because we’re basically a checkbook. We spend a lot of money, and we don’t have money coming in on the top line until we’re approved. So a big part of my job is thinking strategically on how to keep the company financed and make sure we have enough cash in the balance sheet to meet the upcoming spend. [We] try to keep at least 12 to 24 months of cash on the balance sheet at all times.

Click here for more on financing large transformations.—GD

It’s that time again: another AI survey. Only this one is a twist on the familiar favorite, showing that the much-hyped technology has caught the attention of internal auditors.

AI has officially cracked the top five priorities of audit committees in this year’s Audit Priorities Survey from professional services firm Jefferson Wells.

The survey of 250 US audit executives, conducted in May and June, found that audit committees’ top four priorities remained unchanged from last year: data privacy and cybersecurity, emerging risks, strategic risk, and regulatory compliance.

But generative AI made the top five for the first time this year, “indicating a growing interest in the risks and adoption of this technology.” GenAI is an even greater priority for private and smaller (less than $100 million) companies, taking third place.

Attention is one thing; action is another. And the survey shows that organizations are lacking on the AI front.

Just 26% of respondents indicated their companies “have fully integrated GenAI standards” into their governance and compliance frameworks. Jefferson Wells said it expects that percentage to shoot upward next year “as regulation expands.”

Click here to continue reading.—AZ