The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) announces the formation of a network of leading governance education providers to better prepare current and future board directors for the rigors of the increasingly complex and challenging work of directorship. Stanford University’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, the founding member of the NACD Education NetworkTM, is joined by Columbia Business School Executive Education and Drexel University’s Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute.
Building on NACD Directorship Certification®, which puts directors on the leading edge of governance issues and demonstrates their commitment to the profession of directorship, the NACD Education Network enables NACD Directorship Certified™ individuals to earn recertification credits toward their certification through participation in leading director programs provided by world-class universities across the country and around the world. NACD Directorship Certification requires recertification every two years through 32 hours of continuous learning at recognized programs.
The launch of the NACD Education Network features leading director education programs such as the Stanford University Rock Center for Corporate Governance Directors’ College, Columbia Business School Executive Education’s Corporate Governance Program, and Drexel’s Gupta Governance Institute’s Directors Dialogue.
“This is an important initiative at a critical time for business. The challenges directors—and their boards—face in today’s complex environment call for education built on deep experiential insights coupled with quantitative rigor. Columbia Business School Executive Education is proud to join with NACD and the growing network of institutions around the globe to help directors meet these challenges through the highest quality continuing education available,” said Shivaram Rajgopal, Kester and Byrnes professor of accounting and auditing at Columbia Business School and faculty director of the corporate governance program.
Alyssa Abbott, interim director of the Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute at Drexel University, added, “The economic, political, and social disruptions of this year have called attention to the increasingly complex and ever-changing role of a corporate board member. NACD’s foresight to convene renowned governance institutions from leading universities underscores the tremendous value that research and scholarship bring to director education. The Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute at Drexel’s LeBow College of Business is proud to be a part of the NACD Education Network to collaboratively advance and elevate the directorship profession into the future.”
NACD will collaborate with leading academic institutions across the country that meet NACD’s director education standards. The goal for the network is to help today’s directors to enhance their knowledge, skills, and abilities to discharge their duties as effectively as possible, as their companies continue to face existential challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic uncertainty. The network also aims to provide a strong foundation for future directors, who increasingly come from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
“The complexity of the issues that boards face, and the speed of change, means that directors face a more challenging and competitive environment than ever before. And that means director education takes on a new urgency,” said Peter R. Gleason, CEO of NACD. “Forming a network of world-class providers of executive education to pair with NACD’s cutting-edge education programming and certification will help directors chart a path to future success for their companies.”
Plans are underway to expand the network to include additional nationally and internationally recognized institutions. To learn more about the Education Network, visit https://certification.nacdonline.org/educationnetwork.