Posted on July 28: Back to school for directors

McMaster University is sending Canadian business leaders back to school.

Up to 30 corporate directors are expected in class when the first directors' college session begins in November.

The board members will study ethics, learn about their legal and governance duties, and about setting proper pay levels for management.

They'll be taught how to plan strategies for their companies. They'll learn dicey things like how to deal with non-performers and how to tackle the board bully.

“We're out to change the boardroom culture. We're out to change boardroom behaviours,” said Chris Bart, the lead professor at the college.

The novel inititiative is a joint venture between McMaster and the Conference Board of Canada. The partners have taken on Ernst & Young, the consultant-management firm, as the first of four national sponsors behind the college. They are also seeking a top-line law firm as a sponsor.

Graduates of all five sessions of the directors college get an accredited certificate from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster. And they can sport “C. Dir.” after their names, for chartered director.

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