Board Governance
Most boards are designed once, early, under pressure — and then quietly outgrown. We work with boards re-setting that design.
When the board has outgrown its original design
Most boards are designed once — usually early, usually under pressure — and then never re-designed as the company changes. The cap table shifts. The company scales. The market moves. The original assumptions about what the board would decide, how often it would meet, and where its line ran with management slowly stop matching the company the board is now governing.
​
We work with boards re-setting that design — naming explicitly what the board decides, what it does not, and the cadence and signals by which it will judge whether it is working. The work is structured, written, and complete. We do not become a permanent fixture of the boardroom.
How we engage
-
Director qualification — evaluating prospective directors against the work the board actually needs to do, not against a generic checklist.
-
Director certification — formal credentialing for candidates whose path to the board requires it, in partnership with the recognized credentialing bodies.​
-
Board education — sessions for sitting boards on the topics where the regulatory or practical ground has shifted under them.
-
Research and guidance — independent research on governance practices in the company's sector, drawn from active engagement with current boards.
-
Independent board evaluations — a structured read on how the board is performing, written and delivered with the candor private feedback usually lacks.
-
Advisory board support — for companies whose advisory board has drifted, gone quiet, or never been given a real shape.
-
Board director search and placement — retained search for board roles, with credentialing where the role requires it.
-
Coaching for chairs, CEOs, and directors — focused on the specific interface where governance and operating intersect.
-
Strategic planning and board coordination — working with management on the materials, agendas, and decision frameworks that produce governance the board can actually act on.
Donna Hamlin leads the Board Governance practice. A board director, CEO, and operating advisor with global experience across fintech, technology, software, and professional services, she is certified for global board governance by Harvard and NACD. She is the founder of Boardwise, Inc., which leads research and education on governance practices, and has particular depth on the boards of companies preparing for an IPO.