The VAB Podcast

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, host Andrea Iorio explores why diversity in boardrooms truly matters — and how to ensure it becomes a driver of performance and culture, not just a buzzword. The conversation tackles some central questions related to corporate governance today: why do so many highly qualified women still struggle to secure their first board seat, and what needs to change for inc...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, host Andrea Iorio sits down with Babs Ryan, global board director, strategic advisor and former Chief Innovation Officer at GE Capital’s largest division, to discuss why, in 2025, women still face barriers to board roles — and what it takes to overcome them. Together, they explore the realities of gender representation in corporate governance: from tokenism and...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, host Andrea Iorio discusses the critical underrepresentation of marketing professionals in boardrooms with VAB members and  guests John Rose and Jon Stamell. They explore the findings of a global study they ran, revealing that while 71% of board members acknowledge the importance of marketing, few marketers hold board positions. The conversation delves into the...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Shefaly Yogendra, an experienced non-executive board director who has sat on the boards of 2 FTSE 250 companies and served as a university governor. She is also ranked on the FTSE 100 Women to Watch. Shefaly and Andrea talk about what we can learn about risk management and governance from recent developments in the banking industry. S...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Jay Weiser, the chief catalyst and navigator at Jay Weiser Consulting. His company helps guide and enable boards, leadership teams, and their organisations to become future-fit so they thrive over the long term. Jay and Andrea talk about the Five Leadership Superpowers, why leaders fail, and the Board’s role in guiding change manageme...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Peter Thommen, the founder and CEO of the Global Strategist & Sparring Partner, a company that gets your organisation ready for the future and helps it establish true sustainability. Peter is a former IKEA executive , having worked for 30 years in roles across Poland, Russia, Japan and elsewhere. Both men talk about how to become...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Tanja Faller, an international senior executive with 20+ years of experience at the crossroads between public and private sectors. Her career path focused on energy transition and impact with in-depth experience in finance, working at the African Development Bank and the World Bank. Now she serves as the GIZ’s Head of Energy and Clima...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Brian Hayward, President of Aldare Resources, a company that advises clients on governance, strategy, and business development. Brian was previously CEO of Agricore United - a $5 billion, publicly-traded agri-business - and Chair of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange. He is also author of the book The Great Chair, A Window on Effective B...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Mike Stenson, Head of Innovation for Kingspan Group and board member at Invicara and Synthesia Technology. For many years, he was responsible for the development and execution of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Strategy for a number of operations centres across Central & Eastern Europe and in Russia. We spoke about "Digital Tw...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Amancio Sampaio, who has been at Philip Morris International for more than 25 years. For 15 of them, he served as President - CEO/Managing Director in highly-regulated and competitive environments such as Central America, Brazil, and France. He is now a board member, business advisor, and investor, and he provides regular commentary f...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Rajeev Kapur, President & CEO of 1105 Media, author of the book Chasing Greatness , and a seasoned executive who has managed three successful exits valued at over 60 mil. USD. They talk about how to develop better commercial and go-to-market strategies, how to market more effectively to Gen Z consumers, and how to overcome Imposte...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio talks with Shimi Shah, an independent Non-Executive Director at the UK's Royal Mint. Shimi is Chairperson at Miratech and Carousel Solutions Group Ltd. and is also co-founder of NEDx. Andrea and Shimi discuss how to create high-impact boards, how best to measure their impact, and how to migrate from NED to Board Chairperson roles.

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Bill Best, a business executive who has had a successful 40-year plus career holding a variety of senior roles and who is a seven-time Ironman finisher. Bill currently operates his own advisory and consulting company, Garrett Lanes Advisors, and he serves as COO and Partner at Regal Holdings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bill spoke about...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Andrew Kakabadse, professor of governance and leadership at  Henley Business School , University of Reading in the UK and emeritus professor at  Cranfield University School of Management . Andrew has published 32 books, over 200 journal articles and 18  monographs . He talks about the renewed role of the Chairperson, ab...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Carmen Wee, a global C-suite HR Leader with over 25 years of international business experience at a number of tech companies such as SAP, Ariba and AVEVA. She is also a Board Member at HTX (the Home Team Science & Technology Agency of Singapore). Andrea and Carmen talk about the “People Factor” on Boards, how to better hire and re...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Chris Rolfe, CEO at CR Advisory. Chris is an executive with 20+ years of international experience across operations and advisory (15 of which have been at the CEO/Director level in companies such as Virgin Active South Africa, Mobilitrix, and GoBeyond). Chris and Andrea talk about how to finance innovation, how to avoid the most commo...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Lance Laubach, partner at Essentia Advisory Partners, former CEO of CapSpyre and VAB member, to talk about the what are the key characteristics of good Advisors from the point of view of CEOs, how to advise companies in different sectors, and how to establish trust in Board relationships. Enjoy!

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Shane Dempsey, Head of Human Resources at Thomson Reuters Enterprise Center, advisor to start-ups and VAB member, to talk about the the peculiarities of advising Start-ups, and about how to develop flexibility in Boards. Enjoy! All this and more in this first episode of the VAB Podcast. Check out VAB at www.virtualadvisoryboard.co.uk...

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Andrew Hart, CEO at Cargostore Worldwide, advisor with a 25+ years career in Africa and a VAB member, to talk about the implications of the current logistics crisis for Boards, and about how you can leverage on an international career to become “board-ready”. All this and more in this episode of the VAB Podcast. Enjoy!

In this episode of the VAB Podcast, Andrea Iorio sits down with Christos Tsolkas, a business advisor who has held executive positions at Philip Morris across the globe for more than a decade. He is author of the book "The Gift of Crisis" and host of the podcast "Executive Mentoring”. Andrea spoke with Christos about how crises can be a “gift” and give leaders the chance to reinvent their businesse...

In this first episode of The VAB Podcast, Andrea sits down and chats with Mark Hamill and David Fernández about VAB's plans for 2022 and about what can we expect from this podcast series. This episode also features special guest, Nirit Harel of Impact Israel. Nirit shares with us some details about VAB's first global meet-up at Israel Innovation Journey in March 2022! Have a listen here.