The Directors Institute Announces New Suite of Products and Services for Prospective Directors

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helping both prepare and position current executives to be the next generation of board leadership

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

The Directors’ Institute, a non-profit membership organization focused on building next generation board leadership for American companies, today announced a new suite of products and services focused on helping today’s senior executives prepare and position themselves for board service on public, private, and non-profit boards for American companies.

Data gathered by The Directors’ Institute covering the past decade shows that, especially for small cap public companies, getting on a board is often a function of relationships and networks. Chris Grimmig, Director of Member Services at The Directors’ Institute noted, “In the data we reviewed, less than a third of small-cap companies used a search firm when recruiting a new director. Even for mid cap companies, we found a search partner was only used about half of the time.” Grimmig also noted that “our research, which aligns with work done by SpencerStuart© and PWC©, indicates that more than 90% of the time a new board member is added, relationships with the Chairman/CEO and/or existing directors come into play. “

According to Founder and CEO Ken Schwenke, “Over the next decade, we believe that the boardroom will have to change, as many current board members may simply ‘age out’. Though there are many great people in boardrooms today, recent articles have described the boardroom as ‘male, pale, and stale’ as it does not match the diversity of the business community it helps to govern.    In addition, SEC pressure on board qualification disclosure, increased pressure from proxy-advisory firms, and the potential impact of visible dissident shareholders seems to point to change. We are beginning to see this change occur; 40% of public company board seats filled last year were filled by first time directors. ”

Schwenke continued, “There are numerous quality executives who can add insight, talent and diversity to the American boardroom, but many of them don’t know where or how to start their work in adding their skills to the boardroom. Other than sitting CEOs, who remain in demand but are now often more constrained in the number of boards on which they can serve, other C-suite executives are often ill-prepared in how to effectively present themselves as viable board candidates. “

Directors’ Institute’s new product and service line has been positioned to help these executives both prepare and position themselves to be the next generation of board leadership. The products include:

•     Completion of board-focused resume and bio, and effective use of those documents on business networking sites such as LinkedIn©;
•     Inclusion in DirectorSource™ database, provided at no charge to company Governance and Nominating Chairs;
•     Creation for members of their personalized Board Network Map™ which maps possible board connections;
•     Creation for members of a personalized Directorship Heat Map™, a custom analysis of target companies based on industry, age, diversity, etc.;
•     Providing members with custom Board Triggers™ which report board vacancies within their networks, and look forward 12-18 months to possible board seats up for election with information on likelihood of change;
•     Attendance at Directors Symposium™ events, where members have the opportunity to not only build foundational skills in corporate governance, but to also build networks with existing board members who may have boardroom opportunities.

About The Directors’ Institute, Inc.
The Directors’ Institute, Inc. is a non-profit organization focused on helping current “C-suite” and other executives build the requisite network connections and foundational knowledge to serve as the next generation of leadership on public, private, and non-profit boards of American companies. It is the first membership organization focused on all potential members of that next generation, unlike current organizations which require that members already serve as a director. The Directors’ Institute serves an audience of nearly 3.5 million current senior executives, and conducts Directors’ Symposia events in cities throughout the U.S. to help prepare its members for board service.

Further information may be attained at http://www.DirectorsInstitute.org or by calling 484-483-2882.

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