Please note that this description was taken from an earlier
semester. New information will be posted when available.
COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA292B.11
This course is cross-listed with FT MBA
COURSE TITLE: Nonprofit Boards and Governance
UNITS OF CREDIT: 1
INSTRUCTOR: Paul Jansen
E-MAIL ADDRESS: paul_jansen@haas.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Sunday, 9AM – 5PM
Please note the format of this course, which meets all day on two
Sundays (March 17 and April 7). You must attend both sessions in their
entirety in order to earn a passing grade.
PREREQUISITE(S): None
CLASS FORMAT: Lecture, discussion, guest speakers from local
nonprofits
REQUIRED READINGS: Primarily published articles
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: 50% participation, 50% project
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: This
one-unit course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of the
role of boards of directors in the nonprofit sector. Specifically, the course
will explore the following aspects of boards:
· Why they exist, their legal
and fiduciary responsibilities including the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act and
the differences between for-profit and nonprofit boards
· The roles nonprofit boards
should plan and how they can be structured to fulfill those roles.
· Enabling practices that make boards effective (or not)
· Effective board assessment tools and structures
· How they should interact with
chief executives, staff and community
Students will have the opportunity to meet members of the Bay Area
nonprofit sector, including current board members, chief executives, and
development directors, to discuss their roles and learn firsthand the challenges
facing these different groups in an increasingly competitive nonprofit
marketplace. The course is recommended for students wishing to learn
about the nonprofit sector and who will likely be called upon to serve in a
board capacity or lead a nonprofit during their successful business careers.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Paul Jansen is an adjunct professor at
Haas. Paul spent 25 years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company
before retiring in 2009. In 2001, he co-founded the Firm’s global
Social Sector Practice. At various times has held roles as leader of
the global practice, knowledge leader and director of the global philanthropy
practice. In these roles, his client work focused on strategy,
organization development, and operations issues, where he gained particular
experience in global health, higher education, nonprofit governance and
public-private partnerships.
Paul has authored a number of articles including “For Nonprofits,
Time is Money” which stimulated sector-wide discussion on the strategic benefit
of increasing endowment payout rates. With former Senator Bill
Bradley wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review, entitled “The
Non-Profit Sector’s $100 Billion Opportunity”, which again challenged
sector beliefs about the potential for improved performance. Paul
has also co-authored a report entitled “The Dynamic Board: Lessons from
High-Performing Nonprofits”, which examines board governance issues unique
to the nonprofit community. Most recently Paul led a joint effort with a group
of higher education leaders to look at the structure, conduct and performance
of the US higher education sector resulting a series of articles including Dynamics
of the US Higher Education Sector, American Higher Education:
Trends and Risks, and Through –Cycle Planning and Management in
Higher Education. Paul also co-authored a report released in
2009 on philanthropic prizes “And the Winner is…Capturing the Promise of
Philanthropic Prizes”
Paul received a chemical engineering degree from the University of
California at Berkeley and earned his MBA at the Harvard Business School. His
volunteer work includes serving on the Board of CARE USA, which is committed to
reducing poverty worldwide and the SCE Fund. He currently chairs the
Nominating and Governance Committee at CARE. He also serves on advisory boards
for Inside Track, an organization that seeks to improve college retention,
Imagine H20, which seeks to impact water issues, Strive for College, which
strives to increase college attendance by high risk students, and Norcob Capital, a private equity firm. Paul
also spent 15 years serving on the board of the San Francisco Zoological
Society, including 4 years as chairman on the board.