Overview

Sheila Penrose is a board member and executive with extensive experience in leadership development and stakeholder management.  Over the last two decades, Penrose has served as an independent director for global companies in the specialty chemicals, secure identity and transactions, financial systems, restaurant, and real estate services industries. Penrose is President of S. A. Penrose Advisors and a trusted advisor to CEOs and C-Suite executives, sharing extensive experience in board dynamics, stakeholder management, CEO succession, talent and team-building, strategic M&A, capital allocation, and sustainability.

Career History

Penrose served as Chairman of JLL, Inc., and as Director of McDonald’s Corp., chairing the Sustainability Committee. She has also served as an independent director for global companies in the specialty chemicals, secure identity, financial systems, restaurant, and real estate services industries. She also acts as Executive Advisor to Boston Consulting Group. As Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Corporate Leadership Center, Penrose partners with major companies to augment and accelerate the leadership development of their senior executives through the CEO Perspectives and Leading Women Executives programs.

A regular speaker at the World Economic Forum and a member of the Community of Corporate Chairmen, Penrose currently serves as an advisor on WEF’s Global Parity initiative. As a founding member of the US 30% Club and on the Advisory Board of Catalyst, Penrose has strongly advocated for advancing women in business.

In her executive career, Penrose was President of Northern Trust’s Global Corporate Bank and the first and only woman on the company’s Management Committee for seven years. Previously, she was an Economic Advisor at the British Treasury in the UK. In addition to her business roles, Penrose serves on several non-profit boards in healthcare, science, and education.

Personal

With a degree in economics, a post-graduate education diploma from the University of Birmingham in England, and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, Penrose attended the Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.  She later served on the Advisory Boards at Stanford GSB and LSE. Penrose received the Chicago Business Hall of Fame and Women on Boards awards, among others; she was a finalist for NYSE’s Chairman of the Year. Penrose divides her time between Chicago, Florida, and New York.