A Governance Role Model

Meet the 2025 NACD Directorship 100^™ Public Company Director of the Year, Patricia Bedient, NACD.DC, and where she finds value in her board service.

Ensuring that the company’s values are “front and center” is one of the “guiding lights” for how directors should act, according to Patricia Bedient, NACD.DC^®.

Bedient believes that before a decision is made, it should be filtered through those values to align with what’s best for all stakeholders. It is one of the reasons why her colleagues often describe her as being a “governance role model” and have confidence in her ability to “do the right things, for the right reasons, always.”

Bedient has extensive experience in the boardroom, including as chair of Alaska Air Group. She is also a board member of Park Hotels & Resorts, where she chairs the nominating, governance, and corporate responsibility committee; a director of Suncor Energy, where she chairs the audit committee; a trustee of the Oregon State University Foundation, where she is chair-elect; and a trustee of Overlake Medical Center & Clinics. She retired in 2016 as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Weyerhaeuser Co.

The Board’s Thought Leader

Bedient’s background in finance and strategy has informed how she leads with thoughtful judgment in the boardroom, which shows as she navigates complicated corporate crises. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Park Hotels faced an unprecedented challenge: paying operational expenses with little to no incoming revenue due to government-mandated shutdowns. Park Hotels was ineligible for federal support programs available during that time. This, combined with prioritizing the safety of employees and guests, placed great stress on the board and management team.

Despite the complexity of these challenges, Bedient’s “presence on the board was a source of stability and inspiration,” wrote Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., CEO and chair of Park Hotels, in a letter nominating Bedient for the NACD 2025 Public Company Director of the Year award. “Her thoughtful questions and constructive feedback challenged us to think critically and act decisively, while her encouragement kept our team motivated and focused on our mission.”

More recently, Bedient’s judgment was pivotal in supporting Alaska Air’s merger with Hawaiian Airlines. During a board dinner in 2022, Ben Minicucci, president and CEO of Alaska Air Group, mentioned the idea of the merger for the first time. His proposal was met with silence.

Bedient spurred the idea into motion with three words: “Look into it.” Minicucci recognized this as Bedient understanding the scale of the proposal and having the clarity and courage to act. He credits Bedient with having “helped lead the board through one of the most transformative decisions in our company’s history.”

“‘Look into it’ was not just a green light, but a signal of Patty’s openness to bold, transformative thinking,” Minicucci wrote in a nomination letter.

An Ethos of Service

Bedient’s effectiveness comes not only from how she leads in the boardroom but also from the emphasis she places on a company’s core values.

“When I was an executive at Weyerhaeuser, I was able to see what impact a board can have on a company, both positively in terms of how boards react, as well as some board behavior that wasn’t quite as positive,” Bedient said.

She noticed that the conversations in the boardroom and the engagement of the board members among themselves had a direct impact on management, not just the directors. It is no wonder, then, that "be kind-hearted," which is one of the five core values of Alaska Air, resonates so strongly with her.

“You can send management teams in a lot of different directions if you aren’t cognizant of the impact of that conversation [in the boardroom],” she said. In her own board service, Bedient notes that her experience has led to her be “very cognizant of how board members were received and how they could be the most helpful” when constructively challenging management in discussions. This has been key to avoid sending mixed signals or overwhelming them.

Colleagues say Bedient’s genuine care and support for all individuals within an organization, including employees, management, and her fellow directors, is one of the reasons she is known to have an “ethos of service” and “impeccable integrity.”

“I can say with 100 percent confidence, if all boards were comprised of individuals with Patty’s experience, judgment, and integrity, they would be able to successfully navigate the most difficult of situations and deliver enduring long term shareholder value,” wrote Russ Girling, chair of Suncor Energy in a nomination letter. “She sets a standard all of us as board members should strive to achieve.” ■

This article is from the winter 2026 issue of Directorship.

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