January 21, 2015

Distinguished Westphal alumna and Drexel trustee Nina Henderson will visit with students on Monday, March 2 at 6:00pm in the URBN Annex Screening Room (3401 Filbert Street) to kick-off the 2015 Nina Henderson Business Challenge.

The annual competition provides an unparalleled opportunity for all current Westphal students to be recognized for the development of their business skills and acumen. Participants engage with top industry leaders to develop plans for startup businesses, services or goods, and are eligible to receive meaningful financial support at the end of the competition.

During the kick-off event Nina Henderson will share the motivation that led her to endow the competition, as well as the trajectory of her impressive career and her dedication to the success of Westphal students. The event will be followed by a cocktail reception, where she will meet with students personally. Click here to learn more about the challenge and the projects of previous winners, and click here to learn about more entrepreneurial opportunities at Westphal.

Nina Henderson speaks frequently on business strategy, globalization, higher education and corporate governance for McKinsey, Rand Corporation, NACD, KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, Conference Board, Practicing Law Institute and NYSE/Euronext. She recently became a board member for Regus plc, the global office services provider headquartered in Luxembourg and operating in 100 countries. Nina is also an invited speaker at Bosphorous University in Istanbul for a conference on globalization and higher education. 

She is a Director of CNO Financial Group (NYSE) Bankers Life, Washington National and Colonial Penn insurance companies audit/risk and investment committees; Visiting Nurse Service of New York; the Foreign Policy Association; Walter Energy Inc. (NYSE) metallurgical coal for the global steel industry audit and safety/environmental committees; and President of the Kent Land Trust Foundation. 

She served as a Director of AXA Financial and The Equitable Companies (NYSE) audit, investment and finance/risk committees; Del Monte Foods Company (NYSE) Lead Director and Chair nominating & corporate governance committee (sold to KKR); Pactiv Corporation (NYSE), audit committee (sold to Reynolds Holdings); Royal Dutch Shell, plc (LSE) and its predecessor company The Shell Transport and Trading Co. plc (LSE) audit, remuneration, corporate/social responsibility committees; and Hunt Corporation (NYSE) audit and compensation committees (sold to Berwind).

At Bestfoods ($9.4 billion) and its predecessor company CPC International (NYSE), she was one of fourteen corporate officers as Corporate Vice President and also President, Bestfoods Grocery’s $1.3 billion U.S. consumer business (Hellmann’s, Skippy, Mazola, Mueller's, et cetera); Corporate Vice President Bestfoods Food Service Global Development $1.7 billion in Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America; Corporate Vice President and President, Bestfoods Specialty Markets Group in Canada, United States, Caribbean, Worldwide Exports food/non-food brands for North American General Market, Hispanics and Asian consumers. Prior to her general management positions, she held numerous marketing positions. Bestfoods was sold to Unilever.

A recipient of the A.J. Drexel Distinguished Alumni Award and a member of the Drexel 100, she serves as Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and as a member of the Executive and Finance Committees.