Board Technology Oversight and Tools

It makes for a great cartoon -- a classic boardroom, with a dozen old guys suffering through a presentation on cybersecurity, big data, AI and digital strategy from a young techie. But with all the acronyms, tech shorthand and numbers, their eyes glaze over.
The boardroom reality is less amusing.  Global companies are plunging into the deep end of a digital technology pool, and boards of directors must suddenly come up to speed.  Boards are working to improve their digital oversight for the company – huge cyberhacking losses and penalties assure that.  But how do they get a handle on AI, cybersecurity, data, and the explosion in tech they now have a duty to monitor? 

• What are the new areas of technology that boards must monitor?
• How does your board structure and talents need to change to deal with tech oversight?
• Assessing your company internal controls and literacy on tech.
• Do you know what your company’s digital “crown jewels” are?
• How does the board assess company artificial intelligence tools, opportunities, and protections?
• Online board portals are reshaping boardwork.  How do you put portals to work for you?
• The company servers have been hacked!  What must your board do immediately?

• How to charter and shape a board technology committee.
• Improving board communication with the CISO and other tech staff.
• Assessing company cybersecurity structures.
• What questions can boards ask to gauge cybersecurity status?
• What tech regulations and disclosure rules apply to your company?
• How does the board assess company artificial intelligence tools, opportunities, and protections?
• How are online board meetings changing board governance? What are best practices?

• Corporate board members
• Nonprofit corporate leaders
• CISOs and CIOs
• Private and family firm board members
• Corporate secretaries.
• Corporate counsel
• Venture capital and private equity partners.

Ralph Ward is an internationally-recognized speaker, writer, and advisor on the role of boards of directors, how “benchmark” boards excel, setting personal boardroom goals, and the future of governance worldwide.  
Ward is publisher of the online newsletter Boardroom INSIDER, the worldwide source for practical, first-hand tips for better boards and directors (www.boardroominsider.com).  He also edits The Corporate Board magazine (www.corporateboard.com) the nation's leading corporate governance journal, with subscribers who are directors and senior officers across the U.S. and in 27 foreign countries.
He is author of six acclaimed books on board and governance for today’s corporate boards, the challenges they face, and the answers they need to excel: • Board Seeker Guidebook (2018) • Boardroom Q&A (2011) • The New Boardroom Leaders (2008) • Saving the Corporate Board (2003) • Improving Corporate Boards (2000) • 21st Century Corporate Board (1997)