Achieving Diversity in the Boardroom and the C-Suite: Barriers, Biases, and Breakthroughs
Amanda K . Packel
Amanda K. Packel
Deputy Director, Rock Center for Corporate Governance
As deputy director of the Rock Center, Packel coordinates and executes the center’s programs and projects and serves as co-director of Stanford Directors’ College, the leading executive education program for board members and senior executives of publicly traded firms. She also oversees the center’s communications strategy, web assets, and finances, and maintains strategic relationships with corporate affiliates and other key partners. In addition, she conducts research on corporate governance issues, with publications on diversity on corporate boards, leadership, and ethics in nonprofits. Packel serves on the board of directors of The Thirty Percent Coalition, a national organization committed to the goal of women holding 30 percent of board seats across public companies. She is also an advisory board member of the Silicon Valley Directors’ Exchange (SVDX) and a member of the leadership committee of the Stanford Women on Boards Initiative.
Prior to joining the Rock Center, Packel served as executive director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, where she conducted research on leadership and the changing dynamics of the legal profession and co-authored Leadership: Law, Policy, and Management (with Deborah L. Rhode), a text specifically designed for teaching leadership in law schools.
Packel previously practiced white collar criminal defense and conducted corporate investigations as an associate at Covington & Burling and a senior associate at Orrick. Her experience includes defending individuals and companies against SEC enforcement actions and federal criminal investigations in the areas of antitrust, securities fraud, stock options backdating, public corruption, and off-label promotion. She has also represented audit committees and conducted internal investigations into allegations including securities fraud, the Bank Bribery Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Prior to law school, Packel did empirical research and analysis in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. She received her A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and a J.D., order of the coif, from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she was an Articles Editor of the California Law Review. After graduating from law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Marsha S. Berzon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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