Phoebe A. Wood

Phoebe Wood is a distinguished leader whose career spans significant achievements in the corporate world and community service. Phoebe spent her Junior League provisional years in LA and Dallas and continued her involvement as she navigated her career in finance across the globe, including notable involvement with the Junior League of London. 

Professionally, Phoebe has been a trailblazer in the oil and gas industry, serving nearly 24 years at Atlantic Richfield. She was the first female Business Manager in a production office and the first female CFO for Europe, and later for Alaska, the largest division. Her sharp commercial acumen and exceptional interpersonal skills propelled her career and established her as a role model and advocate for women and the differently-abled. Phoebe's commitment led her to advocating for and achieving diversity in corporate boardrooms, co-founding "Women of Color and White Women Against Racism" and chairing the Board of Trustees for The American Printing House for the Blind. 

After her tenure in the global oil and gas sector, Phoebe was appointed CFO at Brown-Forman, a NYSE-listed consumer products company. During her time there, she remained actively involved with the Junior League and received the Founders Award in 2008. Her dedication to philanthropy extends to her roles as a Trustee and Chair-Elect for The Gheens Foundation and a Trustee emerita for Smith College, her alma mater. Recognized as one of the 100 Inspirational Leaders by UCLA Anderson School of Management, from which she earned her MBA, Phoebe's leadership has been acknowledged widely, including an appointment by the Governor of Kentucky to the Board of Trustees of the University of Louisville. 

After retiring from corporate life, Phoebe embarked on a "portfolio" career, serving as a director on publicly traded corporate boards as well as advising and investing in start-up companies. She is a member of the North America Advisory Council of Chatham House, a British think tank, and Treasurer for the Chatham House Foundation. She is actively engaged as chair of the Board of The American Printing House for the Blind which is creating The Dot Experience, intended to be the world's most accessible museum, including the Helen Keller Archives. 

Phoebe and a colleague just launched KirtleyWood, a corporate governance advisory firm to use their decades of knowledge on boards to improve their effectiveness. Read more about her new venture at www.kirtleywood.com.