Winner of Best Director Development Program in the USA Partners With INSEAD to Launch Global Board Governance Credential

Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors and INSEAD have announced a formal strategic partnership to jointly design, deliver, and credential the co-branded Directors’ Institute – INSEAD Global Board Programme for C-suite executives and senior leaders seeking director appointments. The programme is now open for expressions of interest from executives across North America and globally.

The partnership brings together two globally recognized institutions. Directors’ Institute — winner of the 2025 Evergreen Award for Best Director Development Program in the USA, recognized by Forbes, and honored at both the Australian and British Parliaments for its contributions to global governance — has trained more than 4,000 directors and senior executives across India and the Middle East. INSEAD, with a hub in San Francisco and campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, is ranked No. 1 globally for Custom Programmes by the Financial Times (2024) and serves executives from over 4,400 companies worldwide each year.

Evergreen Award Winner 2025 — Best Director Development Program in the USA Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors was recognized by the Evergreen Awards as the top director development program in the United States in 2025, underscoring its standing as a globally recognized governance education institution.

Executives who complete the Directors’ Institute – INSEAD Global Board Programme receive a dual-institutional certificate bearing the names and logos of both organizations — a credential designed to meet the competency-based selection criteria that nomination committees at major institutional boards are now actively applying when appointing directors.

WHY IT MATTERS FOR U.S. EXECUTIVES

American C-suite leaders pursuing board seats are increasingly competing against candidates with formal governance credentials. Globally, SEBI (India’s securities regulator), the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the SEC’s expanding disclosure requirements are raising the bar on what boards must demonstrate in ESG oversight and AI governance. Nomination committees are responding by screening for verifiable competency — not just executive experience.

THE GOVERNANCE GAP

Directors’ Institute was founded on a core premise: that executive experience and board readiness are fundamentally different things. Running a business unit and governing a company as a director require different competencies, different accountability frameworks, and — in 2026 — different credentials.

The organization has trained more than 4,000 directors and senior executives through its flagship programmes — the International Corporate Directorship Programme (ICDP) and the Advanced Corporate Directors’ Programme (ACDP). The INSEAD collaboration, which also draws on INSEAD’s Corporate Governance Centre — one of the most cited board governance research institutions in the world — is the most significant international partnership in Directors’ Institute’s history.

“We are at an inflection point in global governance. The world’s most consequential boards will not be built from the most experienced executives available — they will be built from the most governance-ready ones. Technology is reshaping every industry, AI is redefining risk, and the director who cannot govern at the intersection of all three will be left behind. This collaboration with INSEAD is not just a programme — it is the infrastructure for the next generation of boards that the world actually needs.”

Zeeshaan Pathan

Group MD, Founder & CEO — World Development Corporation | Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors | TEDx Speaker | Top 20 Changemaker, Times of India | UK Certified NED | AI Expert

INSEAD FOR IMPACT — SINGAPORE, JUNE 22–24, 2026

The partnership also includes access to INSEAD for Impact, a new three-day executive forum at the INSEAD Asia Campus in Singapore, June 22–24, 2026. The forum is led by INSEAD’s former Dean of Executive Education alongside faculty specializing in artificial intelligence, corporate strategy, and leadership.

The curriculum addresses three areas: strategic planning under market disruption; the practical application of AI tools in executive decision-making and AI risk governance at board level; and organizational leadership through volatility. INSEAD has noted that cross-industry peer interaction among participants — drawing executives from across sectors and geographies including North America — is a central design element of the programme.

The forum accommodates cohorts of 15 to 20 participants. Partner organizations may send two to three representatives, and leadership teams of four to five working on a shared challenge may attend as a group. The programme is open to C-suite executives and senior leaders globally, including those based in the United States.

THE CREDENTIAL

INSEAD’s San Francisco hub and global campus network serve more than 18,000 executive education participants annually from over 4,400 companies worldwide. Its alumni network spans 71,000 professionals across 182 countries, supported by 160 faculty representing 38 nationalities. Its Corporate Governance Centre is among the most cited board governance research institutions globally.

The Directors’ Institute – INSEAD Global Board Programme builds on Directors’ Institute’s existing academic partnerships with Paris School of Management (France), Woolf University (England), and the University of Oulu (Finland) — and represents the most significant collaboration in the organization’s history.

“The boards that will define the next decade are not waiting to be discovered. They are being deliberately built — by leaders who understood early that governance is a discipline, not a destination. This credential is for those leaders.”

Zeeshaan Pathan

Group MD, Founder & CEO — World Development Corporation | Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors

AVAILABILITY

Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors is currently accepting expressions of interest for both the Directors’ Institute – INSEAD Global Board Programme and the INSEAD for Impact forum. Both are open to individual executives and to organizations — including those based in North America — seeking to develop leadership teams for board-level roles. The organization reports significant inbound interest since the collaboration was announced.

About Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors

Directors’ Institute – World Council of Directors is a World Development Corporation initiative and a premier global platform for board-level training, governance certification, and director development. Winner of the 2025 Evergreen Award for Best Director Development Program in the USA, recognized by Forbes, and honored at both the Australian and British Parliaments, the Institute has trained more than 4,000 directors and senior executives across India and the Middle East. Its flagship programmes — the ICDP, ACDP, and DBA for senior executives — are recognized across global governance communities. The Institute operates across the United Kingdom, India, and Dubai, with institutional partnerships including Paris School of Management (France), Woolf University (England), and the University of Oulu (Finland). The Directors’ Institute – INSEAD Global Board Programme represents its most significant international collaboration to date.

About INSEAD

INSEAD — The Business School for the World — operates campuses in Fontainebleau (France), Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and a hub in San Francisco. Ranked No. 1 globally for Custom Programmes by the Financial Times (2024), INSEAD serves more than 18,000 executive education participants annually from over 4,400 companies worldwide, with 71,000 alumni across 182 countries and a Corporate Governance Centre recognized as one of the world’s foremost board governance research institutions.