Dona D. Young serves on the boards of Spahn & Rose, a family-owned lumber yard and construction retailer; The Gem Group, a family-owned promotional products company; and USAA, a diversified financial services group serving the US military, veterans, and their families, where she chairs the finance and audit committees and serves on the compensation and workforce; nominating and governance; and marketing and member value committees. She also serves on the NACD board, where she chairs the compensation and human resources committee and serves on the nominating and governance committee, which she previously chaired.

Young previously served as nonexecutive chair of Foot Locker's board and as a member of its nominating and governance, audit, and executive committees through the company's acquisition by Dick's Sporting Goods in September 2025. She also served on the supervisory board of Aegon, chairing its risk committee and compensation and human resources committee, concluding her service upon reaching the 12-year term limit. Young served on the boards of Sonoco Products Company, Wachovia, Save the Children US, and Save the Children International from 2012 to 2023.

Young retired as chair, president, and CEO of The Phoenix Companies, an insurance and asset-management company, after a nearly 30-year career. Earlier, she was the organization’s general counsel, becoming one of the first women to hold that role at a financial services company. At the time of her 2008 retirement, Young was one of only 24 women serving as CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies. During her six-year tenure as CEO, Young oversaw a major restructuring of the company and the successful spin-off of its asset-management business. The spin-off company, Virtus, trades on the Nasdaq exchange.

Young currently engages in strategic advising and consulting, with a focus on CEOs, C-suite executives, and boards, including through NACD's Board Advisory Services. A frequent speaker on leadership, civic engagement, and governance, Young has served on the faculty of the NACD Director Professionalism^® and MasterClass^® programs since August 2012. She has also served on three NACD Blue Ribbon Commissions, most recently cochairing the 2025 commission on building a high-trust board-CEO relationship.

Young is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and holds NACD Directorship Certification^®, demonstrating a commitment to the director profession. She also earned the CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight and the Effective AI Oversight for Directors Certificate Program delivered by NACD in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University. In 2015, Young was named to the NACD Directorship 100 and in 2021 was one of four directors to receive the Financial Times Outstanding Director Award.