Directors Academy, a non-profit organisation that supports corporate diversity, has partnered with investment company Bain Capital to launch “the 2021-22 NextGen Directors Program” to increase the appointment of underrepresented candidates “on public and private company Boards of Directors.”
Bain Capital will support the programme “across the private capital and alternative assets industry to develop future directors for placement on private equity and private company boards.”
They are also the exclusive sponsor of the private equity development track and will serve on the Directors Academy Board.
The programme’s mission is to “accelerate shareholder value creation by building a pipeline of highly credentialed prospective board members from diverse backgrounds, experiences, ethnicities, and genders,” and in doing so disrupt “the current board selection process by educating, exposing, and socialising the next generation of diverse board members.”
Candidates from underrepresented backgrounds will get “governance education and training” via “an immersive peer-to-peer learning environment that offers educational sessions, one-on-one mentoring, an interactive case study, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.”
Corporate board members with “extensive governance experience across a wide variety of public and private companies” are leading the programme and will discuss a variety of topics, including “technology disruption, go-to-market growth strategies, and ESG issues.”
Topics including “corporate director duties and responsibilities, the work of the full board and individual committees, emerging governance issues, and best practices exchange” will also be covered while Bain Capital will offer “content development and business case examples.”
So far, “115 future director candidates” have participated in the programme, “including 99 corporate leaders and 16 not-for-profit leaders, of whom 58% are female, and 44% are people of colour,” which is a step in the right direction for making boardroom diversity, which continues to lack female and ethnic minority representation, a reality.
Keith Meyer, Co-Founder, and President of the Directors Academy, said: “We are excited to extend our programming to focus specifically on the different skills and experiences needed on private company boards and to continue to build on our national community of over 200 high-performing board leaders and diverse next generation director candidates.
“We look forward to working with Bain Capital to better prepare future leaders from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds for their first board experience.”
Susan Levine, Managing Director at Bain Capital, added: “Not only will we as a firm greatly benefit from participating firsthand in this innovative programme, we believe it will help advance the effort to bring greater overall diversity to our industry by creating a broader pool of talent and fostering an ecosystem that is more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.”
“The 2021-22 NextGen Directors Program” will launch on June 4, 2021, and includes four main sessions that will run through March 2022 and will conclude with an in-person session at the University of California, Berkeley Haas Business School in March 2022. Registration is now open. To apply, click here.
