Joan C. Conley is currently a Senior Advisor on Corporate Governance and ESG Programs at Nasdaq, a role she assumed in January 2021, and a member of several boards.

In February 2021, Joan was elected to the board of EJF Acquisition Corp., where she also serves as Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. In July 2021, Joan was elected to the board of Tigo Energy, a private company providing smart module technology for the solar industry. Joan also serves on the Advisory Board of Harvestly.co, an entrepreneurial initiative started by Cal Poly students focused on feeding the community by connecting local farmers and consumers in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Additionally, Joan is a member of Executive Women on Boards (EWOB). 

On Dec. 31, 2020, Joan retired from her role as the Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Nasdaq, where she was responsible for the Nasdaq Global Corporate Governance Program and the Nasdaq Global Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program as well as the Nasdaq Educational Foundation, following 19 years at Nasdaq and 19 years at NASD, now FINRA. In her former role at Nasdaq, Joan also served as a Managing Director of the Nasdaq Educational Foundation from 1994 - 2020 and a founding board member of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center from 2014 - 2020. 

Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2001, Joan was the Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary at the NASD (now FINRA) from 1994 – 2001 and the Director of Human Resources from 1986 – 1994, having joined NASD as a Management Trainee in the fall of 1982. 

Joan began her career in 1978 as a Business/Human Resource Analyst at Bentley, Barnes & Lynn Advertising Agency in Chicago, Ill., and in 1980 moved to Washington D.C. to join the National Academy of Science as a Research Associate/ Writer.

Joan holds a Master of Science, with honors, in Industrial & Labor Relations from Loyola University of Chicago (1980) and a bachelor's degree in Communications and Economics from Dominican University (1978).

A long-standing member of the Society of Corporate Governance Professionals, Joan is also an initial member of the Advisory Board of the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Forum and a member of the Economic Club of Washington D.C. 

In November 2020, Joan received the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award for Corporate Governance and the 2020 Best Proxy Statement for a Large-cap Company Award by Corporate Secretary Magazine. In 2021, Joan will serve on the panel of judges reviewing submissions for the annual Corporate Governance Awards.

Joan has served for decades on the Board and Audit Committees of several non-profit organizations in Washington D.C., including the board of Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School.