fintech risk management

FinTech Risk Management: Directorpoint CEO Shares Insights on Risk at FinXTech 2018

Directorpoint’s CEO, John Peinhardt, shared professional insights during a fintech risk management panel discussion at BankDirector’s 2018 FinXTech conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The panel was moderated by BankDirector CEO Al Dominick.

What should businesses do if they start growing too quickly?

The first question dealt with the risk that a business may be growing too quickly. Mr. Peinhardt quipped: “If your business is growing too fast, rule number one is raise your prices.”
Continue reading →

board member

5 Characteristics That Make a Great Board Member

There’s no better place to learn about developing a board of directors than from chairmen and board members themselves. There are certain expectations for board members, as well as the expectation that each board will prepare its members to handle their respective responsibilities.

We recently interviewed the longtime CEO of an energy company. He began by saying that he appreciates all of his directors. To him, the best ones have a firm understanding of the industry, and an understanding of the issues being discussed. They support ethical decisions, and give their time and talent selflessly.

Thanks to that interview, we’ve put together a list of 5 characteristics that separate good directors from great directors.

1) Committed to the organization, through consistent engagement and involvement

An individual who commits to joining a board of directors is pledging to actively pursue ideas and solutions that can benefit the organization. While board activities typically happen after work hours, it’s important for directors to set aside enough time to give board matters their full attention.
Continue reading →

board member training

What Do Boards Do for Board Member Training?

Serving on a board of directors means a lot of learning on the go, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t resources for boards that want to improve.

Whether they’re sought out individually or as a team, board member training options can provide directors with even more specialization and confidence in their leadership abilities.

If you’re a first time board member, look for guidance

Being a first time board member can be an intimidating experience. You’re learning the ins and outs of corporate governance as well as the basics of parliamentary procedure all while guiding an organization.

Walking into a director’s role without any formal training isn’t impossible, but it’s not an easy task either. Whether you’re joining a local nonprofit board or the board for a large corporation, there are tools that can help you become better prepared.

For nonprofit members, you can easily find free online training courses like the ones at nonprofitready.org. For-profit board members can attend in-person training events with outstanding organizations like the National Association for Corporate Directors, which offers a 3-day course specifically for new directors.
Continue reading →

board management software

5 Benefits of Adopting Board Management Software

As technology has increased the speed of communication, it has also raised expectations for boards of directors to conduct their business differently. With the rise of cloud technology and digital access to important documents, boards cannot only rely on printed board packets before meetings to stay up to date.

As more and more boards of directors realize the challenges of keeping information updated and accessible, they have turned to board management software to streamline administrative work and help board members find information more easily.

Continue reading →

tablet vs laptop

Tablet vs Laptop: Which One is Better for Meetings?

As computer technology gets smaller, faster, and more powerful, professionals are finding themselves with more options for the modern workplace. Specifically, technology companies are developing better tablets which could replace the traditional laptop computer for the professional on the go. So the question becomes, in the tablet vs laptop showdown, which tool is the most effective for meetings?

Continue reading →

Managing Board Room Risk in 2018

Risk is a word that board members have been familiar with for a very long time. As part of their duties, boards must identify, measure, and ascertain what levels of board room risk their organization could encounter. In 2018, that has become an exponentially more difficult job than it was thirty years ago.

As Susan C. Keating, CEO of WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) writes, “The risks around innovation, company culture, and geopolitical changes will continue to make shareholders and regulators press for more accountability on boards—blame is getting pushed upstream, not down, in today’s organizations.”

In recent years, the issue of risk has moved increasingly into the realm of cybersecurity and cloud data protection. Every year, hackers find new ways to breach systems. As a result, companies are scrambling to ensure that they stay ahead of the curve. MHA Consulting believes that 2018 could be the year that AI enters the realm of risk management by making phishing attacks more sophisticated than ever before.

MHA adds, “It can also be used to learn users’ computer behavior in order to improve the hackers’ field position as they go on to mount the familiar brute-force attacks to try to crack insiders’ network passwords.”
Continue reading →

artificial intelligence

How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Boardroom

Boards have always been aware of the importance of emerging technologies and how they can affect industry. Whether it’s cryptocurrency, augmented reality, or cloud storage, directors are expected to understand what’s coming. Plus, they need to project how new technology might affect their company’s operations. They also need to consider the potential to utilize the technology for growth, and much more.

Artificial intelligence isn’t a brand new technology. However, its business-related impact is growing in leaps and bounds. For instance, AI is poised to have a significant influence on how big data is used not only in an internal auditing sense, but also as a decision-making tool for leaders.

Board members and their companies will be able to use AI to examine data and make substantial alterations to customer service. AI allows for constant tailoring and for creating an experience that is unique to each customer or client based on how their data is interpreted by AI systems.
Continue reading →

making meetings effective

Making Meetings Effective

Most organizations call meetings the cornerstone of business communication. Has the rise of email, meeting software, and apps like Slack stepped in to help unburden the meeting-inundated? Yes! But the meeting is still the basic activity that drives industry forward—particularly for boards of directors.

That being said, it’s clear that the meeting could use a little modernizing. Time has become the most valuable business commodity, which means that saving time, encouraging efficiency, and developing effectiveness are some of the smartest choices that leaders can make.

Here are our tips for making meetings more effective for everyone involved:

1. Determine whether the meeting really needs to happen.

Continue reading →

private boards vs public boards

Private Boards vs Public Boards: What’s the Difference?

Both private company board service and public company board service come with a great deal of responsibility. In each instance, directors will be expected to review data and reports, attend meetings, serve on committees, and much more. In most cases, the experiences of serving on these two types of boards will be similar. There are, however, a few key differences that distinguish them.

Private companies come in many different sizes. You could have a board for a private company that earns $2 million a year or one that earns $120.4 billion a year—like food and agricultural conglomerate, Cargill. Oftentimes, private companies begin as family-owned businesses, which can heavily influence the make up of the board and how it operates.

For instance, in a family-created business, the CEO could also be a major shareholder. In a situation like that, the board would operate more in an advisory role since firing the CEO would be nearly out of the question.
Continue reading →