For-Profit Board Leadership Program

UPWARD ACADEMY FOR-PROFIT BOARD LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Enroll in the UPWARD For-Profit Board Leadership Program and become for-profit board-certified in 9 weeks.

Serving as a board director is both an honor and a duty. This program equips directors with the understanding of their responsibilities, the current and emerging challenges and trends that face them, and the fundamental knowledge and skills they need to be capable contributors to public, private, and advisory boards. Arm yourself for success with this highly interactive program and secure a level one board certification.

Enroll in the UPWARD For-Profit Board Leadership Program and become for-profit board-certified in 9 weeks.

THE DETAILS

Program Enrollment is $3,900 and UPWARD will launch three program cohorts, two virtual, and one two-day in-person option offered in San Francisco, California. The virtual session occurs over 9 weeks via Zoom at 10 am PST on Fridays.

UPCOMING COHORTS

Virtual Cohort #1: February 14 – April 11, 2025

Virtual Cohort #2: April 18 – June 13, 2025

Virtual Cohort #3: September 5 – October 24, 2025

In-Person (2 Day) Cohort #4: November 7 – 8, 2025

*Participants are limited to ensure cohorts are tight-knit.

THE DETAILS

Program Enrollment is $3,900 and UPWARD will launch three program cohorts, two virtual, and one two-day in-person option offered in Sans Francisco, California. The virtual session occurs over 9 weeks via Zoom at 10 am PST on Fridays.

Virtual Cohort #1: April 4th – May 31st.
In-Person Cohort #2: August 23rd-24th (details below).
Virtual Cohort #3: September 6th – November 1st.

*Participants are limited to ensure cohorts are tight-knit.

Empower Your Career:

Request your employer’s advocacy for gender equality in the boardroom and sponsorship for your for-profit board certification training.

Contact UPWARD for a free template to support your ask.

The UPWARD Academy For-Profit Board Leadership Program has two components:

Component #1: INITIAL ORIENTATION

Initial assessment and personal one-on-one video call with Boardwise expert

Participants complete an online Board Bona Fide® assessment to establish current board readiness. You have a one-hour private session with a board expert coach to review your profile; discuss what type of board is the best match and explore suggestions for how to achieve your goal to serve on a board.

Component #2: GOVERNANCE EDUCATION SESSIONS

Live educational sessions online

The live interactive program includes nine sessions, each of which is two hours.

The modules include presentations and interviews with experts on governance and the hot topics that directors must address today, including governance differences among countries, cybersecurity, risk management and decision-making, artificial intelligence, strategic designs, financial foundations, and emerging challenges in digital transformation and diversity.

Each session includes interviews with topic experts, facilitated presentations related to director duties and care on the topic, and experiential board exercises based on real-world situational cases. Cases are used for board simulations and discussion. Homework assignments are provided a week prior to each session for participants to read and prepare.

SESSIONS TOPICS

During this program you’ll learn:

Fundamentals of Board Service
Financial Foundations: Investors, Adding Value & How Board Members Can Empower Their Finance and Investor Relations Teams.
The Board’s Role in the Digital Age: From AI to Cyber Oversight and More.
Global Governance.
Board’s Role in Strategy and Innovation.
The Board’s Role in Risk Management.
Board Challenges: Handling Dilemmas, Ethics and Decision-Making.
Board’s Role in Future Work Changes: ESG, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and Other Disruptions.
Expert Forum” Solutions for Specific Challenges

THE BENEFITS

The UPWARD for-profit board leadership program is for aspiring and current board members who want to increase their ability to engage meaningfully in discussions of leading-edge topics, ask sharper questions more easily, delve to the core of critical issues and improve proportional impact in a boardroom to create more shareholder value – not just conceptually, but tangibly by helping management think more critically about decisions.

The program offers 9, 2-hour modules of training that span from “welcome to the boardroom” to leading-edge technology applications, including AI-Decision Science and Cybersecurity.

Our modules are strikingly different from other programs. Other programs are structured as more lecture-oriented knowledge downloads, often around regulatory and compliance topics to prepare for test-taking or compliance.

In contrast, the program modules offer:

Guest speakers and breakout sessions that enable peer-to-peer discussion and immediate “learn by doing.”
Leading-edge topics such as AI and Decision Science, Cybersecurity, Data and Digitization. The discussion orients to a topic – drawing on life experiences – to understand the concepts and limitations, assumptions that can trap, errors frequently made by management, and sources of success and failure.
This enables participants to ask sharper questions – questions that help lift management out of the weeds, challenge existing knowledge/assumptions/frameworks and see with new lens/perspectives to avoid wasteful churns and pivots.
As one person said, it seems “Montessori-style.” Modules and discussions enable knowledge retention and application to empower you in your boardroom.

Program Schedule

Session #1: Fundamentals of Board Service - Featuring Donna Hamlin, Ph.D.

The first session introduces the foundational duties, expectations and guardrails to prepare board directors for their work ahead. We discuss the purpose, principles and models for boards, along with director duties and safeguards. You also learn about board committees and collaboration with the executive team, the areas of expertise required to serve and the best ways to find the ideal board opportunity. Using a real board situation, we create teams of participants into two boards who then meet to explore what to do. We then discuss the quality of the thinking and decisions made and share what happened in the real story. The simulation is well-liked as a stimulating way to learn.

Session #2: Financial Foundations - Featuring Nola Masterson

CFOs are too often surprised by analyst questions and earnings releases can go awry. It does not have to be this way. This session covers four topics where even non-financial board members can add value. By understanding: 1) the approaches of activist investors, 2) questions fundamental analysts (not traders) ask and the tools they use to discover those questions, 3) where board members can add value — and often are legally “on the hook” – such as leasing and 4) how to improve investor relations by understanding approaches of activist investors and employee activists, questions analysts typically ask and board’s role in stakeholder communications.. Board work in finance not just about auditing and compliance. It is about avoiding financial dangers. This session provides breakout sessions to practice how to ask key questions of management.

Session #3: The Board’s Role in the Digital Age - Featuring Jen McClure

This session focuses on the evolving role of the board in the digital economy and the age of AI. From the board’s role in digital transformation and AI strategy, to data privacy regulatory compliance to cyber security oversight, the role of the board is crucial. This session also covers the role of the board in technology ethics. We discuss the need for new kinds of expertise on boards, new committee structures, and board composition for good corporate governance in the digital age. Participants will participate in a hands-on case study session on digital and cyber risk governance and will leave this session equipped with more than 50+ questions board members should ask to improve their oversight of these important areas.

Session #4: Global Governance - Featuring Professor Dr. Fred Van Enennaam

Governance differs from country to country. This session provides you with real-life examples of global governance challenges and practices. We’ll focus on today’s governance landscape in a multipolar world and what is on the boards’ agenda. We will look at the differences in structure and behavior among different countries, such as USA, UK, Dutch, Swiss, Chinese, and Italian boards. Together, we will discuss a Harvard Business Case featuring a real-life governance challenge. What would you do as a board member facing this challenge in the boardroom?

Session #5: Board’s Role in Strategy & Innovation - Featuring Professor Dr. Fred Van Enennaam

“Who owns strategy and the transformation agenda?” We’ll look for an answer to this question during the session. This session addresses the duties of boards to ensure long-term success for enterprises. Discussions cover opportunities for shared value creation, sustainability, and new ways of working for dynamic companies and with global partners to deal with innovation, disruption, emerging technologies and global ventures.

You get familiar with 3 strategic games boards can play, the characteristics of different innovation models and explore the board’s role in the innovation process. How to make decisions wisely when we do not really know what is to come? The heart of the session is the Harvard Business Case discussion that puts your knowledge to the trial with a real-life case example of a strategic challenge. Closing the session, an experienced board member will share his/her experiences on how to help the company and board navigate through the transformation and strategic challenges of today.

Session #6: Board Challenges: Handling Dilemmas, Ethics, and Decision Making - Featuring Dr. Donna Ha

Boards often face challenges with ethical dimensions. In the current environment with scrutiny of governance practices and expanding duties for oversite, it is more vital than ever to have the skills and processes to make the “right” decisions: wise and effective ethical ones. This session addresses the process and framework for making “right” ethical decisions across strategic choices, business practices, organization’s place in society and attention for employees, stakeholders, customers and suppliers. This session includes a board simulation to address an ethical board situation and discussion of the real case outcome, as well as discussion with a guest regarding such issues and how they were handled.

Session #7: The Board’s Role in Risk-Management - Featuring Jen McClure

Session #8: The Board’s Role in Future Work Changes - Featuring Marilyn Nagel & Guest Speaker

In this time of unprecedented disruption, the evolving landscape of work and the board’s role in providing oversight continues to evolve. This session provides an opportunity to gain an understanding of the strategic implications, and action steps, that are required to address how work is changing in response to the evolving world and resulting implications. Organizations are grappling with social and political upheaval, climate change, technological advancements, and disruptions that are happening on a global scale, affecting every aspect of our lives. The workforce is more diverse and distributed, and people face complex challenges amid geopolitical uncertainty. Organizations are now ecosystems of people, technologies, and broader societies. The board’s role has shifted to include stewarding culture, DEI, and human capital management (as some jobs become obsolete new roles emerge), and organizations are increasingly expected to operate ethically and contribute positively to society while navigating regulatory compliance like ESG. In this session, you will gain the insight and strategic mindset needed to harness the opportunities presented by the evolving future of work. An engaging and familiar scenario in our board case study allows participants to work in small groups and put into practice lessons learned from this session as well as prior modules in the program.

Session #9: Expert Forum: Solutions for Specific Challenges, Ask The Panel Your Questions

This session is an open panel with the experts during which you can ask questions you have about any topics in governance and for guidance on your goals for director roles and opportunities. The panel members offer insights and counsel during the session and also provide resources for specific topics after the session.

Ready to elevate your leadership and make a lasting impact? Enroll in the UPWARD Board Leadership Program today. Shape your future and contribute to the journey towards gender parity. Join us in building a community of empowered and influential leaders. Enroll now to unlock your potential!

IN-PERSON PROGRAM DETAILS

Our in-person program is an intensive, engaging two days which covers the key topics to prepare you to serve as a board director and to handle governance challenges ahead.

The Benefits of In-Person Programs

For busy executives, this provides an efficient way to prepare and become certified in two days with little disruption of regular management responsibilities.
It offers the chance to meet other professionals and learn together.
You meet both faculty experts and learn from specialists in key areas who guide on all governance questions you may have.

Date: August 23-24, 2024

Daily Schedule: Reception 8:00 – 8:30

Morning Sessions: 8:30- 12:45
Lunch: 12:45 – 1:15
Afternoon Sessions: 1:15pm – 5:30pm

Location: San Francisco Conference (To be announced soon)

Registration – Enroll online to reserve your seat!

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR PROGRAM PARTNER

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what our MEMBERS are saying

“UPWARD has been an organization that has been supportive of me as well as supporting my connection as a business leader with other women.”

“The UPWARD network with its thought-provoking discussions and inspiring members have played a significant role in helping me grow and develop professionally.”