Kaley Childs Karaffa, Esq.

AVP, Head of Board Advisory, Americas
Nasdaq

Kaley Childs Karaffa is the Head of Board Advisory for Americas for Nasdaq. In her role, she advises boards and CEOs of public, private, and nonprofit corporations on corporate governance, leadership, strategy, and risk matters utilizing her experience as a director, attorney, and executive. Kaley works with public, private, and nonprofit corporations in a wide range of industries and in countries globally. Prior to Nasdaq’s acquisition of Center for Board Excellence (CBE) in October 2019, Kaley was CBE’s Vice President, Client Services, Business Development & Legal from September 2015 through 2019. Prior to joining CBE, Kaley served as General Counsel of Clarolux. Before beginning an in-house practice, she practiced law in New York City with a focus in real estate, banking law, and litigation. Kaley served as Program Director of Jefferson County Teen Court prior to attending law school.

Kaley has served on governing and advisory boards of various corporations. Her current board and advisory roles include the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence Insights Council, Horizon Education Board of Directors, Northside Charter High School (Brooklyn, NY) Board of Trustees (Chair), Firstboard.IO Advisory Board, privately held biotech company patient advisory board, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center’s Patient Advisory Board (Co-Chair), Patient Safety Committee, and ImmunOptimize (a clinical trial network) Steering Committee. Kaley volunteers with leading civic and philanthropic organizations with a focus on education, healthcare, and law.

She publishes articles and speaks publicly on corporate governance topics with many leading business organizations, including Corporate Board Member, NACD, Directors & Boards, Society for Corporate Governance, Competent Boards, TechGC, Equilar, Agenda/Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal, among others. Kaley received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Political Science from Samford University and a Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.