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 SectorAmerican 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.