About the Chairmen’s Forum:
Founded on February 26, 2008, the Chairmen’s Forum is an organization comprised of non-executive chairmen of corporate boards whose companies are incorporated and stocks are traded on exchanges in the United States and Canada. Participants meet for the purpose of addressing steps that enhance the accountability of corporations to owners, discussing matters of common interest, promoting deeper understanding of independent board leadership practices and reaching out to the wider market on effective practices of board chairmanship. The Chairmen’s Fo
rum intends to help create an international hub of national and regional forums of non-executive chairmen to encourage peer exchanges worldwide. Funding for the the Chairmen's Forum is provided by Spencer Stuart.
In 2011, William McCracken, Chief Executive Officer, CA took over as Chairman of the Forum from Harry Pearce is Non-Executive Chairman of MDU Resources Group, Inc. and the founding chair of the Chairmen's Forum.
The first gathering of the Forum took place on October 7, 2008 to explore the characteristics of independent board leadership in the US, Britain and Canada. The findings of the October Forum, together with an analysis of history, successful practices and trends in the separation of the chairman and CEO, are documented in the policy briefing, Chairing the Board: The Case for Independent Leadership in Corporate North America, produced by the Millstein Center in conjunction with the Chairmen’s Forum. View endorsers of the paper and its findings.
Below find the summary of recommendations of Chairing the Board: The Case for Independent Leadership in Corporate North America:
To accelerate board reform, the Chairmen’s Forum is issuing a call on all North American public companies to voluntarily adopt independent chairmanship as the default model of board leadership, upon succession to a combined CEO and chairman. A board could do so, for instance, through bylaw or charter amendments. If corporate directors choose to take a different course, either by combining the two posts or naming a non-independent chair, they should explain to their corporation’s shareowners why doing so represents a superior approach to optimizing long-term shareowner value. To advance the spread of such practices, the Chairmen’s Forum will commit to undertake the following steps within the next three months:
Latest in the Chairmanship paper series:
Chairmanship: The Effective Chair-CEO Relationship: Insight from the Boardroom
A new report published February, 2011 by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management is among the first to outline how chairs and CEOs work effectively together in these interdependent roles, providing useful guidance as the Chair-CEO leadership structure becomes more prevalent. Download the full report>>>>
“The Chairmen’s Forum will help anchor the model of independent board leadership in real time experience and performance,” said Pearce. “The time is right for the growing number of those actually doing the job to build knowledge on how independent leadership can best work.”- HARRY PEARCE, Founding Chair of the Forum