Calibrating the Board’s Engagement in Strategy

Susan Chapman-Hughes is a transformation-focused senior executive and board director with 25+ years of experience in digital modernization, operational excellence, and organizational growth across the financial services, technology, and real estate sectors. As Founder and Managing Partner of Acumentus, she advises pre-IPO, public, and nonprofit organizations on enterprise transformation, human capital strategy, real estate optimization, and go-to-market execution. Her recent work spans technology (blockchain/crypto/stablecoin), healthcare, and consumer sectors, where she helps companies scale operations, strengthen leadership, and prepare for accelerated growth. She also partners with CEOs and executive teams on practical, business-led AI integration to improve productivity, customer engagement, and decision-making. Susan is a highly sought after speaker on topics including business transformation, connected leadership, and corporate governance.

Over her corporate career, Susan has held several senior roles at Fortune 500 companies. At American Express, she led major digital, operational, and organizational transformations—modernizing the Global Commercial Services customer experience, revitalizing and returning the US Large Market business to growth, and driving a global workplace transformation. She also held senior leadership roles at other Fortune 500 organizations, where she guided enterprise growth, strategic transformation, and large-scale organizational change.

She currently serves on the boards of The J.M. Smucker Company, where she chairs the Compensation & People Committee, and Toast, where she chairs the Compensation Committee and serves on the Nominating & Governance Committee. She previously chaired both the Compensation and Audit Committees at Potbelly Corporation.

Her leadership has been recognized by Diversity Woman’s “Elite 100,” PaymentsSource’s “Most Influential Women in Payments,” the “Grio 100,” and Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.”

Committed to civic and nonprofit leadership, Susan serves on the boards of New York Junior Tennis & Learning (NYJTL) and The Berkeley Carroll School. She previously served on the boards of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, A Better Chance, and Girls Inc. She holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, and a B.S. in Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Ms. Mathew is the Former Chairman and CEO of D&B. She joined D&B in August 2001 as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), after 18 years at Procter and Gamble. At D&B she was appointed CFO and SVP of International in 2005, CFO and President of the U.S. business in 2006, and President and Chief Operating Officer in 2007. She was named Chief Executive Officer in January 2010 and assumed the role of Chairman of the Board in July of that year, a position she held until her retirement in 2013. Ms. Mathew was a member of D&B’s Board of Directors from 2008 to 2013.

During her tenure at D&B, Ms. Mathew was instrumental in transforming D&B from a data company to a more innovative, digital enterprise, leveraging technological advances to expand its reach to new customers and structural changes to transform the underperforming International business. She led the re-build of D&B’s core technology platform and data assets, introducing Data-as-a service (DaaS) to access new customers and accelerating Big Data Analytics to create new insights for its existing customer base.

Ms. Mathew has received numerous accolades during her tenure at D&B. In 2012, she was named to FT’s 50 Women at the top; in 2013, Top value creator in the S&P500 by Chief Executive magazine; in 2015 NACD’s Directorship 100 list; in 2017, FWA’s Woman of the Year; in 2018 Ascend/Deloitte’s Pan Asian Director of the year. In 2019, Sara was awarded NACD Director of the Year for the New Jersey Chapter in 2019 and is the recipient of P&G’s John G Smale Award for outstanding alumni in 2020. Prior to D&B, Ms. Mathew spent 18 years at Procter of & Gamble.

Ms. Mathew currently Chairs the Board of Freddie Mac and serves on the Boards of State Street (Chair of the Comp); Reckitt Benckiser and NextGen SPAC She has previously served on the Boards of Campbell Soup, Avon and Shire and has about 35 years of cumulative Board service. Sara holds a bachelor's degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics from the Women's Christian College in Madras, India, and a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.