Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom
Drive strategic directions and succeed as a board member
Elevate your board leadership with the Corporate Governance program
The Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program from Wharton Executive Education empowers current and aspiring board members and senior executives to strengthen their governance expertise and drive boardroom effectiveness in today’s complex business landscape. As organizations face increasing governance challenges and stakeholder scrutiny, effective corporate governance frameworks are critical for ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustainable performance management.
Led by Wharton’s world-renowned faculty, this six-week online executive education program blends academic insights with real-world boardroom perspectives to help you master financial oversight, risk management, and ethical leadership. You’ll gain the strategic understanding and practical tools needed to navigate complex board dynamics and lead with confidence in any corporate setting.
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Get a firsthand look at how the Corporate Governance program strengthens your boardroom leadership and governance expertise.
Key takeaways
Wharton’s Corporate Governance program explores the role, structure, and responsibilities of corporate governance frameworks to help you succeed as a board member. This executive education program will enable you to:
Define the board’s role and responsibilities as well as characteristics of successful board leaders
Ensure proactive governance and learn how to prepare for potential risks
Recognize key considerations of compensation and succession planning
Define strategies for board members, executives, and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integrators to respond to conflicting demands and societal challenges to their organization
Plan for how to manage the competing interests of stakeholders and shareholders
What you will learn
The Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program from Wharton Executive Education will prepare C-suite executives and corporate directors to serve effectively in today’s dynamic governance landscape.
You will learn to define the board’s role in driving strategic direction, strengthen risk management and financial reporting capabilities, and balance shareholder interests to promote organizational sustainability. The program also emphasizes ethical decision making, board effectiveness, and long-term value creation, equipping you with the insights and tools to lead confidently in the boardroom.
Program modules
Gain the strategic insight and practical skills to strengthen decision-making processes, enhance value creation, and address contemporary challenges while learning from industry experts to serve effectively in the boardroom.
Program experience
Engage with peers to exchange perspectives, analyze governance challenges, and deepen your understanding through collaborative dialogue.
Participate in quick, interactive polls to compare viewpoints and reflect on key governance dilemmas.
Capture personal insights and connect course concepts to your board leadership goals through guided reflection prompts.
Explore real-world governance scenarios and board decisions illustrated through cases from leading global companies.
Apply governance frameworks to practical, scenario-based assignments that reinforce learning and build problem-solving skills.
Join live sessions with faculty for clarifications, discussions, and deeper exploration of complex governance topics.
Practice key concepts with hands-on exercises designed to strengthen decision-making and boardroom readiness.
Test your knowledge and track your progress with short quizzes that reinforce understanding of each module.
Industry examples
The Corporate Governance program provides real-world learning examples to help you understand the realities of corporate governance in practice through the experiential lens of industry experts and associate professors, focusing on decision-making processes, value creation, and addressing contemporary challenges faced by modern boards.
Analyze Apple’s board demographics to understand the value of diversity in background, experience, and skill sets.
Understand the importance of board accountability and how a captive board can reduce oversight in governance via this example of Disney’s board being comprised of friends and acquaintances of its president, Michael Ovitz.
Understand the impact of non-market factors through this example of the pharmaceutical organization, Mylan.
See how some companies (Starbucks, in this case) take diversity to heart and the influence that a diverse board can have.
Recognize the impact of diversity in background, experience, and skill sets through an analysis of Wells Fargo’s board composition.
Who is this program for?
The Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program is designed to give participants a deeper understanding of corporate governance and help boost their effectiveness on a corporate board.
The program is ideal for:
Current board members and senior executives interested in joining a board who want to understand the various aspects of proactive governance and help drive strategic direction, risk oversight, and the establishment of compensation
C-suite executives looking to explore the duties and nuances of board service, help strengthen their company’s financial return; enterprise risk management, and governance diversity; and learn to effectively take on existing and emerging issues
Attorneys engaged in legal services who are seeking to learn the fundamentals of corporate governance from a variety of angles and how to assess the effectiveness and execution of governance roles and responsibilities
Corporate governance handbook
The Corporate Governance program enables you to explore the processes and responsibilities that drive corporate governance, offering a deeper understanding of how effective boards operate and make informed decision-making processes. The program includes a handbook where you can reflect on key takeaways, ensure compliance with best practices, and learn to collaborate with various stakeholders to create long-term value as a successful board member. Topics addressed in the handbook include:
Laying the groundwork: Begin by drafting your director bio and exploring the importance of marketing yourself.
Conducting a personal skills audit: Assess your professional background to help you understand your strengths and any critical gaps in your knowledge or experience for board positions you’re seeking.
Finding your director doppelganger: Focus on strategically networking with directors who possess experience/characteristic profiles that are similar to yours, as they can help point you toward boards that are looking for a candidate with your profile.
Demonstrating your grit: Be able to persuasively articulate your experience in crisis/adversity situations.
Completing a leadership style assessment: Consider how your style informs the way you would manage various stakeholders, as well as which stakeholders you’re most comfortable interacting with and/or advocating for in the boardroom.
Putting the pieces together: Define and characterize your personal guiding principles via a concise and effective board value statement.
Testimonials
Discover how this program has helped board members, senior executives, and governance professionals strengthen their impact and contribute more effectively at the highest levels.
Faculty
World-renowned Wharton faculty in the Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program will help you navigate the complexities of modern board leadership. You will gain strategic insights into decision-making processes and compliance to strengthen governance effectiveness and create long-term organizational value.
Bantwal Family Goldman Sachs Presidential Associate Professor; Associate Professor of Management, Organizational Behavior, The Wharton School
Mary-Hunter McDonnell studies organizational behavior within challenging institutional contexts, such as contentious social environments and uncertain regulatory environments....
Guest speaker
Partner, Mayer Brown
Sean McDonnell is a partner in Mayer Brown's Washington D.C. office and a member of the global litigation and dispute resolution practice. Previously, Sean was an assistant Un...
Certificate
Upon successful completion of the Corporate Governance: Maximize Your Effectiveness in the Boardroom program, you will earn a digital certificate of completion from the Wharton School.
Note: After successful completion of the online program, your verified digital certificate will be emailed to you in the name you used when registering for the program. All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of the Wharton School.
Boardroom Readiness Program
FAQs
Didn't find what you were looking for? Write to us at learner.success@emeritus.org or Schedule a call with one of our Program Advisors or call us at +1 680 205 5118 (US) / +44 185 845 9995 (UK) / +65 3135 1422 (SG)
The program will observe a scheduled holiday break from December 24, 2025 through January 1, 2026.
Flexible payment options available.
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