Factbox: Starboard's nominees for Yahoo board

(Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP on Thursday unveiled a slate of nine potential candidates for election to Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) board of directors.

Here's a look at who they are:

BRIDGET BAKER

Bridget Baker is a media expert with expertise in cable networks. As a former president of TV networks at NBCUniversal, now a unit of Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), she ran the company's cable distribution business, where she negotiated hundreds of content agreements with cable and satellite operators and helped launch business network CNBC.

TOR BRAHAM

Braham is a deals specialist with experience on the boards of large technology companies. He was an investment banker at Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and, before that, advised on mergers and acquisitions as a lawyer at Silicon Valley's top firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He's on the board of NetApp Inc (NTAP.O), a storage company analysts say is also in need of a turnaround.

BRAD BUSS

Buss built his career as a chief financial officer at publicly traded technology companies such as SolarCity Corp (SCTY.O) and Cypress Semiconductor (CY.O). He has experience dealing with large personalities such as Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk, since he serves on the board of Tesla.

W. LANCE CONN

Conn has connections in both the technology space and the more traditional cable industry. He is close to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) co-founder Paul Allen from running Allen's investment firm, Vulcan Capital, and also serves on the board of Charter Communications (CHTR.O), which is awaiting approval for its acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC.N). Through serving on Charter's board, Conn has ties to Liberty Media Corp (LMCA.O) executives John Malone and Greg Maffei, whose digital media company has been speculated to look at investing in Yahoo.

DALE FULLER

Fuller is the security expert with stints as interim CEO of McAfee Inc and a current director at antivirus firm AVG Technologies NV (AVG.N), another company that has explored a sales process in the past.

EDDY W. HARTENSTEIN

Hartenstein has been around the block as a media executive, publisher of the LA Times, former chief executive of Tribune Co and board member of several publicly traded companies. He currently serves on the boards of several technology companies that are in the midst of transformative mergers, such as SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O), which is being taken over by Western Digital Corp (WDC.O); Broadcom Ltd (AVGO.O), which is now owned by Avago; and Rovi Corp (ROVI.O), which had been reported to be in talks with Tivo Inc (TIVO.O).

RICK HILL

Hill has experience in intellectual property as a former chairman of technology designer and licensor Tessera Technologies Inc (TSRA.O), and worked for 20 years at Novellus Systems, a semiconductor company. Hill could be a key board member when dealing with Yahoo's trove of patents. Yahoo has said it exploring a sale of non-core patents worth $1 billion to $3 billion.

DEBRA JANSSEN

Janssen, a financial services executive who is chief operations officer at Bankers Trust, has also has worked at CDS Global, a division of the media company Hearst Corp that provides services to publishers.

JEFFREY SMITH

Jeffrey Smith is the one who engineered the entire board slate as CEO of Starboard. Smith, who successfully oversaw a proxy fight at Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI.N), will have his work cut out for him at Yahoo, where he has to win over several of Yahoo's large institutional investors plus co-founder David Filo, its largest shareholder with a 7.5 percent stake. This fight comes as Yahoo presses ahead with an auction for its core Internet business. Some Yahoo investors are concerned that a proxy fight would hinder the auction effort, sowing doubts among potential buyers over the stability of Yahoo's board, Reuters has reported.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)