Linda Ireland is an experienced private corporate and healthcare independent director. Capitalizing on a 30-year career of diverse operating, investing, advising and board experiences, Linda now actively splits her time between governance and engaged philanthropy.

Active in board service for over 20 years, Linda has chaired boards of varied private corporate and nonprofit structures. She has chaired Governance, Finance, Quality & Safety (healthcare), and Audit committees and served on Compensation & Leadership Development, Nominating, Strategy, plus several ad hoc committees. As a private investor in women owned and led businesses, Linda has also played an advisory role in several early-stage businesses.

Linda’s unique power – and the defining role she plays in every scenario – is asking questions that help leaders envision an ideal future and then reverse engineer it to make the financial, operational and cultural decisions needed to create it.

Linda brings an abundance of governance experience to any board, including:

• Board leadership experience; chaired six boards
• Committee chair responsibilities include Audit, Finance, Governance, and Strategy
• With board, management and outside counsel, navigated complex sale of a corporate subsidiary
• Restructured a system of 37 independent affiliates to a single not-for-profit corporate structure and culture
• Prepared for CEO transition and assessed models for repurchase obligation in a 100% ESOP company
• Led search committee and transition to new executive leadership in three organizations
• Led initiatives to advance diversity, inclusion and equity within board practice and in collaboration with management to guide organizations
• Led initiatives to use human-centered experience design to transform operational purpose and performance
• Perspective gained in industries including financial services, healthcare, biotech, pharma, retail, technology and engineering, and in varied public, private ownership and not-for-profit structures

Current Board Directorships

• Gillette Children’s – since 2016: Gillette is a global destination center of excellence for patients with complex brain, bone and movement conditions that begin in childhood.
  • Committees: Strategy, Finance & Audit, Governance – Chair, Quality and Safety – Chair
• Social Venture Partners Minnesota, since 2019: SVP is a grantmaking capacity builder, eliminating opportunity, justice and resource gaps experienced by teens and young adults.
  • Past Board Chair. Committees: Finance – Chair, Governance – Chair, Impact & Equity – Chair
• EquaSpace – since 2019: EquaSpace is an in-development non-profit impact center, which will provide equitable and co-located workspace and related services to 40+ non-profits in the Twin Cities.
  • Founding Board Member, Treasurer. Developing a public-private partnership to bring space to reality.
• World Savvy – since 2019: World Savvy is a national nonprofit reimagining K-12 education, preparing both educators and students to be leaders & changemakers in an increasingly diverse and complex world.
  • Board Chair. Committees: Governance – Chair, Finance & Audit, Impact, Growth