Board Chair Online Forum - Your Role as Board Chair (Session 1 of 3 - 2025)

01/09/2025 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM ET

Location

Zoom

Description

Board Chair Online Forum – Your Role as Board Chair (Session 1 of 3)

Thursday, January 9 | 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM | Online Forum

Presented by: Janet Unger, President, Unger Consulting Services

Offered in Partnership with: Unger Consulting Services

So, you’ve landed yourself in the Board Chair seat. Now what? Whether you’ve just begun in this role, have been doing it awhile, or are the Chair-Elect, you are sure to have questions. Your governing board has ultimate corporate accountability, yet only meets for a limited number of hours each year. How will you do it all and do it well?

 

Each of three meetings, facilitated by governance expert Janet Unger, will offer a high level of exchange with your peers. Janet will provide practical tips and tools to help make your job easier. Join other nonprofit leaders for this interactive series designed exclusively for current and incoming Board Chairs.

 

In this first session, we’ll focus on Your Role as Board Chair. We’ll cover your experience and observations as Board Chair, the role of the Board Chair, key relationships for the Board Chair, and address specific situations you may be encountering. At the end of our time together, we’ll reflect on what we’ll do differently moving forward.

 

Whether you choose to join for just this session or all three, you will:

  • Discuss challenges you have encountered as a Board Chair
  • Discover effective governance principles, practices, and perspectives
  • Learn new techniques and gain insights to share with your board
  • Increase your confidence to implement new ideas with your board
  • Make progress on your governance goals
  • Meet board chairs from across Pennsylvania and learn from their experience
  • Receive a downloadable Participant Packet with additional references

Scroll down for more about what we'll get into during each session, or you can check out a description of Session 2 here and Session 3 here.

These advanced practice sessions are designed for chairs of governing boards. This series may not be as applicable to your situation if you are the chair of a “working board.” Please inquire if you have questions about this distinction.

This is an interactive forum. All attendees are expected to join by webcam and actively participate in the discussions. Due to the collaborative nature of this series, space will be limited to the first 20 registrants and the sessions will NOT be recorded in order to support our candid conversations. If you are unable to attend this time around, please email Christina Spadaro (christina@pano.org) to be added to the waiting list to be notified of future opportunities to participate in this series.

 

Agenda:

Session 1: Your Role as Board Chair (Thursday, January 9)

     Your experience and observations

  • Board chair challenges
  • Effective board chairs

     Boad Chair Role

  • Principles for the position
  • Position description
  • Term limits

      Key Relationships for Board Chair

  • Board Members
  • Committee Chairs and Officers
  • CEO/ED
  • External Relations

 Current Board Chair Situations

  • Specific questions

What will you do differently?

 

Session 2: Leading Robust Board Meetings (Thursday, February 6)

     Designing the Agenda

  • Board agenda cycle
  • Future-focused agenda
  • Consent agenda and required approvals
  • Team building time

      Ensuring Productive Meetings

  • Group facilitation
  • Ad hoc decision-making > Policies
  • Meeting rules: Beyond Robert's Rules of Order (RRO)
  • Executive sessions
  • Meeting evaluations

How will you adjust your board meetings?

 

Session 3: Accountability for Performance (Thursday, March 6)

      Operational Oversight > Foresight and Impact

  • Board monitoring - Dashboards
  • Board leadership in times of crisis

 

      Ensuring Executive Performance

  • Executive evaluation process
  • Executive succession planning

      Board Performance

  • Board leadership succesion planning
  • Chair's role in board leadership development
  • Board committee structure
  • Board communications
  • Board portals and online information systems
  • Board self-evaluation

How will you modify board monitoring of performance?

Cost (Session 1 Only):

$70 PANO Members | $155 Not Yet Members

 

Terms of Participation
Your purchase is good for one person to attend the first session of this online forum. Please do not share your login information with others, as it may interfere with your ability to join. To maximize participation from multiple organizations, we are only able to accept two (2) participants from each organization in this cohort. If two (2) individuals from the same organization would like to participate, please ensure that each person registers separately rather than try to share or borrow one registrant’s login instructions.

 

Cost (Full Series – 15% Discount!):

$180 PANO Members | $390 Not Yet Members

 

Terms of Participation
Your purchase is good for one person to attend all three (3) sessions of this series. Please do not share your login information with others, as it may interfere with your ability to join. To maximize participation from multiple organizations, we are only able to accept two (2) participants from each organization in this cohort. If two (2) individuals from the same organization would like to participate, please ensure that each person registers separately rather than try to share or borrow one registrant’s login instructions.

 

We never want cost to be a barrier to participation – please don’t hesitate to reach out so we can discuss ways to make this work for you! Email Christina Spadaro, Assistant Director, at christina@pano.org, to start a conversation.

 

Materials & Login Instructions:
Login instructions will be emailed to attendees a few days prior to the date of the online forum. Participant materials will be sent with the final reminder for each session. PANO uses Zoom as our web meeting platform. You can familiarize yourself with Zoom or join a test meeting prior to these sessions.

 

These web meetings will NOT be recorded in order to promote open dialogue, honest discussion, and less inhibited sharing. If you are interested in participating but can’t make the dates, please email Christina Spadaro (christina@pano.org) to be added to the waiting list to be notified of future opportunities to participate in this series.

 

What Past Participants are Saying About this Series:

 

“Best course I have taken thus far. I was very impressed and grateful for all of the valuable information.”

 

“It has been such a valuable tool for me to use in my role as board chair. There is so much to glean from each month’s rich forum material.”

 

“Great information and presenter”

 

“You have given me so many concrete things I can change! I can see that these things will really make a positive difference.”

 

“Pertinent information and the ability to share with and hear about other chairs’ experiences”

 

“The breadth of Janet’s knowledge. The presentation was very comprehensive and the supporting materials look like they will be easy to implement.”

 

“Invaluable information and resources and great discussion.”

 

“So much I can actually apply.”

 

“What fabulous forums. You shared quite a breadth of materials these past three months that will be resources for me during my time as board chair.”

About the Facilitator:

Nonprofits hire Janet Unger to increase the effectiveness of their board and to position their organization for the future. Unger Consulting integrates Janet’s governance and organization development expertise. This skilled facilitator will guide you in analyzing current conditions, evaluating options, and finding creative solutions to complex challenges.

 

Janet taught the course Board Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations at the University of Pennsylvania. She provides practical advice to strengthen board leadership for individual agencies as well as across association networks, leads strategic planning from thoughtful analysis to achieving substantive progress, facilitates organizational restructurings, and helps families of boards understand the complexities of their parent-subsidiary structure.

 

Through the years, Janet has chaired governing boards, advisory boards, and numerous committees. She also cultivated her business acumen developing two small family businesses. The depth of her experience in coaching local, regional, national, and international clients over the past 30 years, coupled with her diverse business achievements helps Janet provide clear and pragmatic professional guidance.

 

For additional information, please visit Janet’s LinkedIn profile.

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