Rebecca Thornton

Managing Director, Head of Director Advisory Services

J.P. Morgan

A seasoned and respected governance expert, Rebecca has spent nearly 25 years advising CEOs, boards of directors and aspiring directors on best practices for director recruitment, board design / composition, shareholder engagement, as well as CEO search and CEO succession planning. Over the course of her career, Rebecca has advised over 2,000 companies across a wide range of industries and special situations, including IPOs, spins, activism defense and companies exiting bankruptcy. She has also worked with private equity firms, families and founders looking to evolve their governance models.

Rebecca currently serves as Head of Director Advisory Services (“DAS”) at J.P. Morgan, based in New York. DAS was formed in 2016 as a center of excellence to advise and support corporate clients with their evolving board needs. Under her leadership, DAS has grown into a highly valued and differentiated platform that, to date, has worked with more than 1,600 public and private companies of various sizes, situations and geographies. In parallel, the group has assembled an impressive cross-section of board-ready talent, each of whom is referred by a J.P. Morgan banker and/or a director in the network. The group also regularly engages this community through a series of curated virtual and in-person events, as well as through its bi-weekly newsletter, which highlights thought-leadership relevant to the director community.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2018, Rebecca was a senior member of Spencer Stuart’s Board of Directors’ Practice, and earlier spent 10 years in the Board & CEO practice of Heidrick & Struggles where, over the course of her tenure, she supported two Vice Chairmen and Heads of the Practice. She began her career in the Chairman’s Office of Heidrick & Struggles where she conducted candidate and company research in support of Fortune 500 CEO and Board projects.

A recipient of the National Association of Corporate Directors’ “Directorship 100”, which celebrates and recognizes the most influential directors and leaders in the corporate governance community, Rebecca is a noted and followed voice on governance trends and topics. A sought-after public speaker for both J.P. Morgan and external conferences, she has appeared across varied media platforms such as The New York Times, Bloomberg, Clubhouse and LinkedIn and as a guest on podcasts from Apple and Spotify. She also recently hosted multiple episodes of J.P. Morgan’s “Making Sense” podcast series.

Rebecca holds a B.A., with honors, from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. In addition to volunteering for several local charities and institutions, she serves as a Trustee of New Canaan Country School (CT) where she is Co-Chair of the Governance Committee. Rebecca is married and the proud mother to two young children.