A private board isn't a small public board
It sits closer to the founder, the cash and the next decision. Govern it like a FTSE board and you add drag the company can't afford.
Independent Chair · Board Director
I work with companies through growth and complexity.
I'm Willem Baralt, a Chair and Board Director with 25+ years of CEO, CFO and board experience across healthcare, medtech, AI enabled software and technology businesses in the US and Europe.
I take on a small number of chair and non-executive roles, plus selected advisory work through Light Beam Strategy, usually in cross-border, sponsor-backed companies that need investors and management aligned around strategy, risk and value.
Most boards don't need more data
They need someone to ask the question everyone is avoiding — early, while it can still change the outcome, not in the post-mortem.
AI is a board problem before it's a tech problem
The hard part isn't the model. It's who owns the decision when the model is confidently wrong.
MedTech lives or dies on evidence
I've watched good products stall at reimbursement because the board treated it as a sales problem. It almost never is.
Where the work sits
Domains where governance meets complexity
LB Strategy concentrates where technical depth, regulation and capital collide — the sectors where board judgement is hardest and matters most.
MedTech
Healthcare innovation
Evidence, regulation, reimbursement and adoption, weighed at board level.
Pharma & life sciences
Discovery to scale
Governing long horizons, trial risk and the economics of innovation.
AI in the boardroom
Oversight of intelligence
Model risk, accountability and data governance as board responsibilities.
European growth capital
Scaling with capital
Founder–investor alignment and governance through capital transitions.
Boardroom Notes
Essays and frameworks.
Practical notes for chairs, directors, founders and investors navigating governance, capital, AI, MedTech and private-company complexity.
Library
Selected reading and reference sources.
Books
Board Bookshelf
A curated reading shelf across governance, capital, AI, MedTech, strategy, organisational behaviour and judgement.
Browse booksSources
Sources & Information
Governance codes, institutional references, AI oversight sources, MedTech regulatory material and useful external resources.
Explore sourcesGet in touch
Wrestling with a real governance question? Let's talk.
If you're a founder, investor or board facing a decision that matters, I'm happy to have a short, confidential conversation. I'd rather say no early than waste your time, so it's a genuine call, not a sales one.