EXEC-EDU launches an elite program that prepares board members

EXEC-EDU, the leader of the executive education market in Romania, launches a portfolio of courses addressed to organizations that want to increase their competitiveness by professionalizing their boards of directors. These courses will be attended by both entrepreneurs or founders of non-governmental organizations, as well as managers from corporations who are interested to apply for a board position.

The program will approach subjects such as the role and responsibilities of board members, legal and institutional aspects of governance, best practices related to compensation, audit or risk, negotiation, strategy, leadership.

“We created this program to meet the needs of our graduates, entrepreneurs whose companies have reached a stage of development that requires transforming boards into corporate, professional structures. For this purpose, they need board members to support them in making increasingly complex and risky decisions during this volatile period. Their preparation is crucial, while corporate governance is facing major paradigm changes”, said Oana Scarlat, CEO EXEC-EDU.

The professionalization of boards of directors can improve the performance of companies in any stage of development, not only when important events take place, such as its sale or listing on the stock exchange and regardless of the size of the company or its structure (SME, NGO, public company, multinational or state owned).

As for the Romanian entrepreneurial scene, the pandemic lead to major changes, from the emerge of new opportunities and niches, to the shrinking or complete disappearance of other business segments. In this context governed by accelerated changes, the board of directors plays a very important role.

“This program is modular and can be accessed according to the participants’ priorities and needs. The trainers are well-known experts in the field of corporate governance, strategy and leadership, with a deep understanding of the global and local market. We address both to board members from mature companies, who want to update their skills, as well as entrepreneurs with accelerated growth, from tech or other growing industries, but also from NGOs”, adds Oana Scarlat.

Boards of directors can be very valuable because of their major contribution to increasing or maintaining financial results in a sustainable way. However, without specific training, they have only a formal role, and studies show that up to 90% of them do not bring real value to executive teams. Paradoxically, directors are spending more and more time in board meetings, and the data shows that the trend is upward, with the average in 2022 being 31 hours per year. By the new program, EXEC-EDU addresses these challenges through a series of practical and intensive courses.

EXEC-EDU expects a high demand for this program, targeting entrepreneurs, board of directors or people accessing a board position, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and any other managers who come into contact with boards, general secretaries, financial analysts and other stakeholders with a supervisory role.

Among the 2023 trends related to boards members concerns, stand out  the need for efficiency and more impartial boards, the emphasis on the governance of all stakeholders, focus on diversity and inclusion in the recruitment of members, the creation of competitive compensation and bonus structures and, last but not least, adapting to digitization and cyber security.

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About EXEC-EDU

With a presence of 18 years, EXEC-EDU is the leader of the executive education market – the top segment of the training market – having a team of over 40 trainers and experts and nearly 20,000 students. The EXEC-EDU portfolio currently includes about 70 programmes, and the EXEC-EDU offer is structured on 4 main lines of activity: development programs for C-level, management programs, specialization courses in highly current professional fields, niche and well-being workshops. The 4 directions include not only training programs, but also coaching, mentoring, consulting. EXEC-EDU won the Gold Award in the top training companies in Romania, following a research conducted by the Learning Network in 2019, involving more than 500 managers and human resources specialists.