You need experience in the industry to be a board member.
No, that simply is not true and I have First hand experience of it not being true...
I was going through some hefty duty interviewing for a pretty high position at a Shoe industry Corporation...Had to interview with the President, the Senior VP, the VP of personnel, the Men's and Women's Directors of Merchandising all individually, then a dinner at night with all of them together....
Well, after I made it through all of their interviews, I had to fly to New York City, to a Psychiatrist's office there to take an all day series of Psychological tests, then had to meet with this Psychiatrist for an hour.
This was all done by the Parent Company, who had just bought the Shoe Company I had just been through a series of interviews with... which believe it or not, was a men's dress shirt company... the Good Lord only knows why a men's dress shirt company would want a primarily well known brand Men's shoe company.... but it was, what it was at that point....
Anyway, the Psychiatrist that I had to chat with for an hour or so,
Was on the Board of Directors of this Men's Dress Shirt corporation who now owned the Shoe Corporation I was interviewing with...
He had absolutely no experience in retail or merchandising or in sourcing factories for product or acquiring new corporations....
yet, HE was on the Board of Directors!!!