Yaravi Cardoze – Get to know our VAB member

We would like to introduce our member Yaravi Cardoze, who joined the VAB community from Panama. Yaravi currently serves as board and executive advisor at BoD Advisors. She also has held advisor and mentor positions with businesses and organisations like Wisy Platforms, Inc. and the Project Management Institute. Yaravi served as Chief Digital Officer for Canal de Panamá, was VP of Digital & People Transformation at RYU Corp. and worked at Dell Technologies for over 8 years, including in the role of Global Director Talent Transformation. As mentioned in her comments below she is keen to support knowledge-sharing in the VAB community and enjoys working with companies and individuals committed to organisational transformation and evolution; particularly, with individuals eager to help leadership teams make their organisations future-ready. If you would like to learn more about Yaravi, please check out her full Q&A here and reach out to her if you find you have shared interests.

What inspired you to become a member of the Virtual Advisory Board community?

I was inspired by VAB's commitment to building an active, collaborative global hub, which dismantles the traditional secrecy surrounding the Board Advisory field. My experience founding and leading communities (e.g., Project Management Institute PMI, Women in Agile, GenNext, Data Science) has proven the exponential power of peer-to-peer elevation for career transformation. This is crucial today, as the world shrinks and diverse thinking in the boardroom becomes imperative for market-winning innovation. I joined VAB so I can contribute my Dual Authority expertise (Digital + Human) and exchange strategic oversight with global peers; thus accelerating my ability to guide organisations toward a Future Ready outcome.

In what area do you feel board advisors can add the most value for Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executive teams?

Board advisors add the most value by providing strategic clarity and reality checks in an era of accelerated change. This often requires expertise a Board may lack internally. This value is delivered by: a) Bridging the Insight Gap: providing crucial external context—market trends, evolving technologies (AI) and unmitigated risks—that challenge internal strategy and prevent tunnel vision; b) Uncovering Unseen Friction: acting as a strategic catalyst to provide a closer, candid overview of organisational and human capital challenges, diagnosing "unseen roadblocks" that stall multi-million dollar transformations; and c) Ensuring Resilience: guiding a Board in its governance and oversight role by demanding a human-centric approach to strategy, ensuring plans are resilient and executable, not just aspirational. In short, we, as advisors, connect the boardroom strategy to the organisational ground reality and future imperative.

What would be your dream company/organisation to work with as a board advisor/NED?

My ideal partner is an organisation—regardless of size, anything from an ambitious startup or Family Office to a Fortune 500 company—that is at an inflection point of strategic evolution. I thrive where the focus is on ambition for expansion and market disruption, not preservation. I am energised by the strategic complexity that accompanies scaling and transformative change. The best fit for my Dual Authority Strategist value is a company committed to embracing change and agility. My role is to accompany and advise the Board and executive teams along their strategic path, ensuring their integrated roadmap—comprising Digital, AI and Human Capital—is resilient, actionable and directed toward long-term, sustainable success.

What book or podcast would you recommend to VAB members that might improve their skills in corporate governance, board advisory or boosting board-to-executive team communications?

My recommendations address the crucial need to balance high-velocity strategy with the human-centric culture required to execute it in today’s BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible) environment. My top three recommendations are the following:

Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail et al.: This is a governance imperative. It fundamentally reshapes how Boards think about scaling strategy and capital allocation, preparing them to guide organisations through hyper-growth and market disruption in the AI era.

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek: Essential for Board-to-Executive communication. It highlights that the CEO and Board must consciously build a Circle of Safety—a leadership trait imperative for fostering the trust and collaboration needed to navigate rapid, non-linear change.

Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf: The foundational text for Human Capital strategy. In a BANI world, only leaders committed to the growth and well-being of their people—practicing Servant Leadership—can build the agile, resilient cultures necessary for sustainable success.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? 

My final message is a call to action for all Board Members and Advisors: we are operating in an era of unprecedented opportunity, but it demands courageous leadership. Navigating this turbulent landscape requires shifting from preservation to a proactive Growth Mindset, paired with sharp Strategic Discernment. This is the only way to avoid market noise (FOMO) and seize high-potential opportunities for market share. My commitment is twofold: 1) to partner with leaders, providing the strategic flexibility and Dual Authority perspective needed to guide organisations toward a competitive advantage; and 2) to actively contribute, learn and exchange experiences with fellow VAB members to elevate collectively the community’s strategic impact.