BIOS
Neil Diver
Co-Founder
Neil Diver is experienced in corporate governance, financial administration, and entrepreneurial value creation. This varied background has given him excellent perspective into the importance of governance to ensure nonprofit success.
He has served as a director of seven public companies and seven closely held companies and has 85 years of cumulative service on audit committees. Neil has founded or co-founded eight companies involving real estate development, biotechnology, and finance. He authored four publications for periodicals including two on board governance.
He has also 20 years of experience serving on not-for-profit boards relating to Health Care, Education, and Maritime Training. In addition, he has founded a not-for-profit education organization for which he was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young.
Neil was CFO of Ticor, a diversified financial services company listed on the NYSE until its acquisition, and was previously a co-founder of Ticor Mortgage Insurance, which became the second largest insurer in its industry within five years. He originated the first-single family and multi-family residential mortgage-backed securities and introduced rating of mortgage pools by Standard & Poors. He was trusted to administer or advise complex companies and trusts with multiple beneficiaries, illiquid assets or challenging litigation, and is familiar with numerous industries.
Neil is a magna cum laude graduate of Indiana University with a BS degree in Accounting and Finance and an MBA in Management. He has attended executive courses at Harvard Business School and New York University School of Law
Katherine “Kit” Williams
Co-Founder
Kit Williams is an expert in executive development and corporate/nonprofit governance, offering her clients a strong business background coupled with a deep understanding of leadership, strategic planning, nonprofit management, and coaching. Kit, with more than 20 years in the leadership development field, is co-founder of Compass Consulting, the firm that provides governance consulting, coaching and development for not-for-profit organizations and leaders around the world, assisting NGO’s with governance matters such as board development, strategic planning and board-staff relations.
Kit began her career as an investment banker at Citibank, then moved to First Pennsylvania and Fidelity where she led Commercial Lending. After more than a decade as a senior executive in the field, she progressed to coaching business and not-for-profit leaders. Since then, she has been an entrepreneur, the leader of a corporate strategy and organization development team, and a Harvard Business School-based consultant and lecturer.
She has extensive experience coaching leaders in the academic and not-for-profit sectors. She has coached leaders at the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Broad Institute, the Aquidneck Land Trust, the Redwood Library, Brigham and Women’s, the Social Innovation Forum, Partners in Health and Veterans’ Legal Services. Kit has also been Board Chair of four not-for-profits in health care, historic preservation, Philadelphia parks and in workforce development. She has served in various capacities such as Advancement and Governance on nonprofit boards for more than forty years cumulatively.
Kit has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Philosophy and Economics from Rosemont College.