New Board Programma (NBP)

The New Board Program is open to a select number of large/ international companies who propose candidates for application. Candidates should be regarded by their company as a potential candidate for a position at or just below the management board level, or already be functioning at this level. Please advise the participants profile for further information.

In recent years, corporate governance has found its way onto the agendas of Supervisory and Management Boards all over the world. This is the result of corporate scandals which have brought about a need for urgent change in the way companies are supervised and run. In the United States, Sarbanes-Oxley has brought in new regulations. In the Netherlands, the Tabaksblat Commission has developed explicit rules aimed at preventing new scandals in the future. The application of these rules will lead to greater transparency which, in turn, will lead to shareholders being informed more quickly and more effectively about how companies are run. These new rules and regulations will, it is hoped, make nasty surprises a thing of the past.

The New Board Program brings key management talent from major companies together into a program in which they gain (additional) knowledge and experience in dealing with different board roles.

The goal of the New Board Program is to provide participants with training and mentoring to help prepare them for non-executive board positions, supplemented by support during the execution of these roles. The program has been built around two major streams:



Knowledge & Training
As future non-executive board members, participants will require the technical knowledge needed to fulfil the role of a non-executive board member in a responsible and contributing way. To achieve this, the program addresses a variety of topics ranging from the legal intricacies of non-executive board membership to insights into the most important topics that non-executive board members have to deal with.

Learning & Experiencing
The program also helps participants complement their executive skills and experience with the ability to supervise effectively and exert a positive influence without resorting to a hierarchical relationship. This will be a key requirement of their new position, and a substantial portion of the Learning & Experience efforts will be focused on this aspect of the non-executive board member role.

A unique aspect of the New Board Program is that it doesn't just provide skills and insights. It also provides a basis for participants to start creating a network of their own, focused on the non-executive board. For instance, the program brings together executives who are all facing the challenge of fulfilling non-executive board memberships, allowing them to accelerate network-building outside their own companies. The program also brings participants into contact with a variety of experienced non-executive board members (mentors) and specialists, allowing them to further build their networks.

The New Board Program is an extensive four-year program.

The first year consists of three knowledge-based training modules on the role of the non-executive. Each module is a two-day program.

Years two, three and four consist of two in-depth modules a year and executive sessions organized around specific topics of interest. These modules last one and a half days.

Executive sessions take place during a one-day program.The first year of the 4-year program prepares participants for their non-executive board membership by providing an overview of all aspects pertaining to their new task, and contains three two-day modules that focus on the role of the non-executive.

After the first year, training takes the form of two session types. In the first type, several aspects of the non-executive board membership are explored in depth through regular training sessions. In the second type, specific and contemporary topics are discussed in one-off executive sessions, some of which are plenary sessions with other groups of participants. This helps participants extend their networks beyond their own group.

The topics in the regular training sessions are grouped according to three different themes for the respective years:

• The company's winning recipe,
• Staying in control,
• Organizing for sustainable success.

Here is our Educational Curriculum at a glance:

Knowledge & Training during years 1, 2, 3 and 4