Corporate Governance Institute Set For Growth as It Targets the UK Business Community

As the global economic outlook remains volatile, businesses increasingly look towards good governance to deliver financial sustainability.

The Corporate Governance Institute, leaders in the provision and certification of governance education to aspiring and existing directors, is ramping up its activity in the UK market as a direct result of demand. The expansion is being supported by recent fundraising which secured €2m to help expand the CGI’s team and portfolio of courses, which now includes the world’s first university credit-rated diploma in Environmental, Social and Governance - alongside its original Corporate Governance Diploma.

Founded in 2020, Corporate Governance Institute has already become the global leader in the certification of existing and aspiring boardroom directors, with over 500 UK C-level directors and CEOs having taken the full, university-accredited Diploma in Corporate Governance since the beginning of the year. This makes the CGI Institute the world’s largest educator of accredited and certified directors - in just under 18 months since foundation.

Anthony Quigley, the co-founder of the Corporate Governance Institute, said: “We set up CGI in 2020 to provide leaders with the knowledge and tools that they require to thrive in an ever-evolving boardroom. Here, they need the right combination of skills, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

“A critical priority for almost every board is to align boardroom talent with company strategy. To ensure that boards have the appropriate diversity, for example, Europe has just agreed to a 40% female quota for boards and the FCA in the UK wants the same for listed firms. Furthermore, 45% of board members require skills in emerging ESG.”

As company regulation and personal reputation become increasingly important, the boardroom is more critical than ever for setting the correct business strategy, driving growth, and managing risk. This is driving a significant uplift in demand for high quality and flexible certification in corporate governance, as well as other key areas such as ESG.

The institute has also scaled up its internal teams to meet the demand of the addressable market, including the appointment of a new chief revenue officer (CRO). Ciaran Bollard has over fifteen years of experience and is responsible for sales, partnerships, content, marketing, and membership.

Bollard commented: "The demand for our training and education programs has been phenomenal, and the take-up has been far faster than we initially expected. As a result, we are now speeding up and enhancing our go-to-market strategy in the UK: our products are available directly from us as well as being available through a number of partners.”

Investors now expect boards have processes for renewing members and increasing their effectiveness. As a result, the number of "next-gen directors" on boards is increasing. Experts in digital transformation, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and customer insight are among them. 

The Diploma in Corporate Governance is designed and delivered by directors for directors; it is globally recognised and democratises access to governance training. The Diploma is affordable, dynamic and online – meaning students enjoy the greatest flexibility. Furthermore, 97% of execs that have taken our courses would recommend them to others.

The CGI’s diplomas are certified by leading universities, ensuring globally-recognised qualifications and a world-class syllabus for the modern board director.