The old conventional wisdom that “the board’s only job is to hire and fire a president” should change, according to preliminary findings of an unprecedented study conducted by the In Trust Center’s Governance Initiative. The first change: swap out the word “fire” with “keep.”
In Trust Center President Amy Kardash said you could say that the board’s role is to “hire and keep the president,” adding that the study “is showing how important it is for the board to secure effective leadership for the institution whether that is by calling the right leader in the first place, nurturing them while they are in place, or facilitating graceful exits when a transition is called for.”
David Rowe, the initiative’s project director, said that while the study underscored the importance of a traditional understanding of board responsibility, what stood out was “the strong link between frequent executive turnover and poor institutional effectiveness in fulfilling its mission and sustaining its economic vitality.”
Rowe, a former president and founder of The Windermere Group, LLC, described this link as an example of a top-level finding of the study, calling it “an agenda-setting one at that.”
“We are glad to have data to back up what we have long known to be true, but the aim of the initiative is not simply to report out descriptions of board activity in the sector but to provide guidance that will help theological schools link board effectiveness with institutional effectiveness,” Rowe said.
Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., the Governance Initiative board study of both governing boards and advisory bodies in the United States and Canada is unprecedented in its scope. Conducted over 18 months, the quantitative study draws on the cooperation of over 1,100 individual respondents at 192 (or 71%) of ATS accredited schools; the qualitative research draws from 31 interviews with executive leaders and their board chairs and 11 board meeting site visits.
In Trust Center Director of Programs Theresa Griffith said one of the outcomes of the study will include finding new ways to help the center’s members.
“The study will inform the development of resources for our members that will help them improve board effectiveness in a way that especially enhances institutional effectiveness,” she said.
While the studies have been completed, Kardash said the work is, in many ways, just beginning.
“The study began with research questions and has led us to asking many more,” Kardash said. “We are asking questions of the findings toward crafting data-informed insights – ones that are actionable for boards whose fiduciary responsibility is to ensure mission fulfillment and economic vitality for the institutions they serve.”
Kardash said the In Trust Center is grateful for the robust partnership with colleagues at the Association of Theological Schools, whose two decades of self-reported institutional data provide a consistent sector-wide backdrop against which to assess the relationship of board and institutional effectiveness.
We are asking questions of the findings toward crafting data-informed insights – ones that are actionable for boards to ensure vitality.
Rowe said its fortunate that the In Trust Center has “a missional commitment and successful track record of supporting good governance, particularly through the Wise Stewards Initiative.”
Rebekah Burch Basinger, project director for the Wise Stewards Initiative, sits on the Governance Initiative Advisory Committee which provides feedback and support in processing study data and considering responses. Others on the committee include: Bob Landrebe, a retired financial leader in theological education and consultant; Darren Dias, O.P., executive director of the Toronto School of Theology; David Gyertson, a retired president, board trustee, and consultant; Donna Alexander, an attorney, former board chair, and consultant; Marjory Kerr, president and vice chancellor of Tyndale University in Toronto; Charisse Gillett, president of Lexington Theological Seminary and In Trust Center board chair; Tom Tanner, retired ATS director of accreditation, and Elizabeth Bennett, vice president and CFO of the In Trust Center.
Kardash said she expects the findings will continue to challenge the conventional wisdom and assumptions about boards and expects the work that lies ahead will “better support role clarity of advisory bodies and the specific fiduciary responsibility of governing boards.”
Additional study findings and insights will be published in In Trust magazine and on the center’s website.
You can learn more about the Center’s Governance Initiative, board grants, and more at: intrust.org
