EMPHASIS ON DIRECTOR EDUCATION -

The board development committee may wish to reconsider its director education program for 2017 following two recent and unrelated developments. The first is a greater articulation of expectations of such programming generally. The second is the likelihood of significant change to health care policy in general, and to the health industry financing model in particular, under the Trump Administration.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) recently established a standard for director education within a proprietary “Director Education Framework.” The goal of the NACD effort is to tie core responsibilities of the board to key areas of director competency that are considered critical to a director’s ability to properly respond to his/her fiduciary obligations. Primary topics identified by NACD for focused education include (i) board governance, structure and function; (ii) ongoing board responsibilities and activities; (iii) constituent considerations; and (iv) emerging issues.