Governance pros offered new certification

Corporate secretaries and other governance officials in Canada will from next week be able to start signing up for a new training course described as the first of its kind in the country.

Governance Professionals of Canada (GPC) will launch registration for its education program (GPC-EP) at its annual conference in St. John's, Newfoundland, which runs from August 21 to August 23. ‘While formal education abounds for directors in Canada, there are no programs that focus on the unique and practical education needs of the professionals who support boards and governance processes in Canadian organizations. This is long overdue,’ GPC president Lynn Beauregard says in a statement.

The GPC-EP is designed to cover all the key areas of focus for governance professionals, both to provide an introduction and skills for those new in the role and to strengthen the skills of those with more experience in helping their boards and organizations enhance their governance. It will cover issues ranging from AGMs and financial literacy to minutes and recordkeeping. The program is designed for governance professionals in public, private, not-for-profit and governmental organizations.

The GPC-EP program consists of three, two-and-a-half day modules, which will be offered twice a year. The first will be offered in Toronto from November 3 to November 5, 2017 and in Vancouver from November 17 to November 19, 2017. Upon completion of the program, and passing a final examination, program participants will receive the Governance Professionals of Canada Designation: GPC.D.

The increasing and evolving risks facing companies in areas such as human rights, ESG and cyber-security – and the demands they put on boards and their advisers – are expected to be areas of focus for discussion at the GPC conference next week (CorporateSecretary.com, 7/13).

CURRICULUM
GPC-EP curriculum will comprise the following units:

Module 1: Foundations of governance

• Core of governance and the role of the governance professional
• Director management; the director life cycle - advising the board and driving board effectiveness
• Soft skills – managing and influencing board dynamics, culture, relationships and conflicts.

Module 2: Applied governance

• Meeting processes and AGMs
• Financial literacy for the non-financial governance professional
• Minutes, records and recordkeeping
• Records management
• Board committees framework.

Module 3: Strategic governance

• Risk and the governance professional
• The role of the governance professional in board strategy
• CSR, sustainability and ESG and the role of the board
• Strategic finance
• Ethics.