Christine J. Spadafor is an experienced corporate, university and non-profit board director with deep expertise in regulatory compliance and quality, growth strategies, corporate transitions, M&A, turnarounds, ESG and DEI. She has a demonstrated track record leading both domestic and international initiatives at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and human capital management across a broad spectrum of industries, including healthcare: a major academic medical center, physician practice groups, biotechnology, medical equipment manufacturing, mental health, and clinical social services sectors. She has worked extensively as an advisor to Fortune 100 C-suite executives and boards of directors.
Christine is CEO of SpadaforClay Group, a management consulting firm. She serves as an Independent Director at Boyd Gaming Corporation, a $3.6B NYSE-listed company, where she is the Chair of its Governance and Nominating Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and former member of the Compensation Committee; and until its acquisition, Kindred at Home, a private company that is the largest provider of home care and hospice services in the US, where she was Chair of the Quality and Compliance Committee. She also served on the board of Intus Care, a private company with a proprietary platform to synthesize healthcare data to identify risks, trends and optimize patient outcomes. Christine is also on the President’s Council of Massachusetts General Hospital’s MGH Institute of Health Professions. Christine serves on the Board of Trustees for Mercyhurst University, on the Advisory Board of WBUR, one of the premier National Public Radio stations in the US, and is a commentator on the BBC World Service “Business Matters” global radio broadcast and podcast. She is also a frequent contributor to Fortune, Forbes, Inc., and other business journals.
Christine graduated from Harvard Law School and received a Master of Science degree in Physiology from Harvard School of Public Health, which included course work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, she coauthored a workplace health treatise published by Johns Hopkins University Press, with a professor in the Science and Technology core. In addition, Christine was a Partner in three premier global management consulting firms (The Boston Consulting Group, CSC Index, AlixPartners), was an editor of The Harvard Environmental Law Review, and was selected by the Business Section of the American Bar Association/Direct Women as one of the top 20 female attorneys in the country with expertise for corporate board service.
In addition to her educational background in science and public health, Christine worked as an ICU nurse at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Health and Environmental Scientist at the US Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency, General Counsel at a pediatric hospital, and served as an advisor to the United Nations in China on public health and sustainability.
Christine’s primary clients have been Fortune 100 C-suite executives and private equity boards whom she advised on a number of strategy and governance projects, including: restructuring to improve quality of clinical care and the patient experience; advising on the design of governance structures for global finance transformation projects; leading strategic design for and execution of new revenue-generating finance, shared services, and business innovation units; and leading the design and analysis of a global ERP strategy. In addition, Christine led the strategy for the CEO at a major global medical capital equipment manufacturer, transitioning it to a digital corporation. At a national financial institution, she restructured the board of directors and developed a new governance structure.
Christine is a lecturer on Strategic Leadership in the Visiting Executive Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a lecturer/presenter at Harvard Medical School and other Harvard graduate schools. She is a speaker/keynote at seminars, meetings and podcasts addressing agile leadership, gender equity and board governance, including the US Chamber of Commerce, Young Presidents Organization, the American Medical Group Association, and Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Christine also holds two Doctor of Humane Letters degrees – awarded in recognition of her professional accomplishments and lifelong contributions to vulnerable and at-risk populations.