Directors College raises standards for corporate governance

DeGroote - Conference Board celebrate graduation of 2011 class

Directors College graduate Jim Adamson receives the Gil Bennett award from Diane Sinhuber of Ernst & Young LLP. Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, has been a national sponsor of The Directors College since 2003.

The DeGroote School of Business celebrated the graduation of 67 newly certified Chartered Directors (C. Dir) of The Directors College, a joint venture of McMaster University and The Conference Board of Canada, on Tuesday, April 5. Founded in 2003, The Directors College is Canada's first university accredited corporate director development program.

"The growing relevance and importance of the Directors College program is underscored by the turmoil that led the world into the 2008-09 recession. Much of the financial trouble that precipitated the recession can be traced to failures of governance," said Anne Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Conference Board of Canada.

Jim Adamson - chief executive, NASA Astronaut, US Army Colonel, Professional Engineer, and Chartered Director - was named the 2011 winner of the Gil Bennett Gold Standard Governance Award, presented by The Directors College.

Named in honour of former Canadian Tire Chair, Gil Bennett, this award has been presented annually since 2006 to a Directors College graduate who demonstrates dedication to raising the bar for professional standards in corporate governance through his or her progress in the Chartered Director program.

"We are privileged to have an individual of Jim Adamson's calibre receive the Gil Bennett award this year," said DeGroote professor Chris Bart, Principal & Lead Professor, The Directors College.

Adamson is a senior consultant to the Aerospace & Defense Industry through his own company, Monarch Precision. He is currently Director and Governance Committee Chairman for Com Dev International, a global designer and manufacturer of space hardware. He also serves on NASA's Advisory Committee for the International Space Station, and was the Operations Panel Chairman of the Return to Flight Task Group for the Space Shuttle following the Columbia accident.

Graduates of the 2011 Directors College comprise a diverse representation of public and private organizations from across Canada. In order to earn their Chartered Director designation, participants, must complete five-modules which cover the full range of formal governance principles and rules that directors need to know for their role as stewards of corporations, along with a unique board simulation and final exam.

In addition to the Chartered Director program, The Directors College also presented certifications through its Human Resources and Compensation Committee Certified (H.R.C.C.C.) Program, developed in partnership with the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), and its Audit Committee Certified Program (A.C.C.) developed in partnership with Certified Management Accountants (CMA).

Since 2003, more than 500 directors have earned the Chartered Director designation through the Directors College.

* The "Directors College", "Chartered Director", "C. Dir.", "Human Resources and Compensation Committee Certified", "H.R.C.C.C.", "Audit Committee Certified", "A.C.C.", and "The Board Simulation" are Official Marks of McMaster University. All rights reserved.