Corporate Board Member (CBM), the independent voice of America’s public company director community for more than 20 years, announced today that it has acquired the American College of Corporate Directors™ (ACCD), the nation’s premier board of director education and credentialing organization.
The merger creates a powerful new resource for corporate directors facing an increasingly volatile and disrupted era in business. It marries ACCD’s well respected webinars and forums, collegial retreats with top experts and professors, with the resources of CBM: Corporate Board Member magazine, America’s most-respected director publication; Corporate Board Member Institute, an exclusive membership organization; and CBM’s slate of world-class in-person events, including the flagship Boardroom Summit and Board Committee Peer Exchange in New York.
With a community of over 25,000 public company board members, the combination will create the leading organization serving the unique needs of public company board members. The result is an unparalleled opportunity for directors to access the highest standard of networking and instruction, as well as the theory and practice surrounding important, timely and strategic governance, risk, and stakeholder issues that face public companies in today’s complex world.
“There’s no tougher job in business today than being a public company director,” said Jamie Tassa, publisher, Corporate Board Member and director of the Corporate Board Member Institute. “From technology disruptions to the ESG revolution to the profound societal shifts every company is facing, the world is changing faster than ever. By combining the reach and resources of CBM with the depth and experience of ACCD, we’ll be able to help the director community thrive as never before.”
ACCD was founded in 2004 by Clint Allen, a retired CEO and Chairman of a New York Stock Exchange Member firm, and a Cambridge-based biotech company. Starting with a dozen members with whom he could discuss and assess larger corporate issues and concerns that all directors were facing, the collegial atmosphere of ACCD’s director learning experience soon attracted like-minded directors, and the organization quickly grew. Sadly, Allen passed away in 2020. Over the course of his career, Allen served on 18 public company boards.
“Clint cared passionately about building better boards and the ethical, intelligent stewardship of capital, and Corporate Board Member shares his independent spirit and love of business,” said Mike Jeans, Interim President of ACCD. “Corporate Board Member is the ideal partner for preserving and expanding the legacy Clint built.”
CBM will proudly continue ACCD’s credentialing program for those seeking to establish or maintain their ACCD certification as a Professional Director. The combined organizations will offer a range of opportunities to hone members’ skills and to remain current with their ACCD accreditation at all CBM and ACCD events, including:
- Continuous Learning and Networking: With an emphasis on the real-world experiences of working directors, CBM’s Boardroom Summit, ESG Board Forum, Compensation Committee Summit, Board Risk Forum and associated online workshops, conference calls and webinars are vital and important gatherings for current directors wrestling with the toughest boardroom challenges. CBM will expand this offering by strengthening and growing ACCD’s focused, high-value forums, which have been on hold since the onset of COVID-19. These forums are led by some of the sharpest minds in governance from top business schools, law firms, compensation advisors and others.
- Peer-to-Peer Learning: Through membership in the Corporate Board Member Institute, directors have access to exclusive online and in-person peer discussions with other board members who are in similar roles (e.g., lead directors, board chairs, specific committee chairs and committee members), as well as roundtable discussions with top advisors and experts on the most important topics facing directors. Strictly confidential and deeply influential, these roundtable discussions are the ideal way to stay current, gain new ideas and foster new relationships in a time-effective way custom-designed for busy directors.
- On-Demand Skills Development and Certification: Directors and aspiring directors can take advantage of the combined resources of CBM Institute and ACCD to develop and test their director skills—at their own pace. With an emphasis on fundamentals and practicality—duty of care and duty of loyalty in action—directors can establish the essential base of knowledge needed to build their board career, while receiving sought-after credentialing as a Professional Director through ACCD. A certification from the American College of Corporate Directors has long been considered an important credential for board leadership and a useful tool for members interested in acquiring additional board seats.
- Research and Journalism: In the pages of Corporate Board Member, as well as on Boardmember.com and a weekly eNewsletter, directors find the independent thinking and indispensable experience of actual board members and most-trusted experts that set CBM CBM’s research studies and surveys of the director community—unavailable anywhere else—help directors benchmark their thinking and performance and gain new insights.
About ACCD
The American College of Corporate Directors™ is the networking, educational and credentialing organization for directors of publicly held companies. Its mission is to provide members with the highest standards of instruction, theory and practice surrounding the important, complex, and timely issues facing public companies today. A certification from The American College of Corporate Directors™ is an important credential for board leadership, and a useful tool for members interested in acquiring additional board seats.
About Corporate Board Member
Corporate Board Member, a division of Chief Executive Group, has been a market leader in board education for 20 years. Corporate Board Member magazine provides public company board members, CEOs, general counsel and corporate secretaries decision-making tools to address the wide range of corporate governance, risk oversight and shareholder engagement issues facing their boards. Corporate Board Member further extends its thought leadership through online resources, webinars, timely research, conferences and peer-driven roundtables. The company maintains the most comprehensive database of directors and officers of publicly traded companies listed with NYSE, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq. Learn more at BoardMember.com
