Governance Training & Certificate



DirectorsMarketplace.org has developed a number of governance-related training and educational programs for closely held, family owned and ESOP companies. Company Directors are fundamentally and legally fiduciaries of their company as well as for any benefit plans they may have. Company Boards are considered "Plan Sponsors" by Federal Law, so they have the ultimate authority to appoint fiduciaries, including trustees. Our effort is to help a company’s governance system, by developing online educational programs. Our goal is to educate and train new or seasoned Directors and their newly appointed fiduciaries, offering carefully developed training modules and courses, and examining them; resulting in an earned certificate of accomplishment. Our Certificate program is a three- level course that permits individuals to take our online training modules at a convenient time at work or at home, for a reasonable cost.

Each course is broken down into easy to understand modules, representing a progressive level of fiduciary responsibility. Our three course levels are: Basic Fiduciary, Company Director, and Internal or Family Trustee. The Fiduciary Course has 2 modules; the Director’s course has 3 modules plus the basic fiduciary course; and the Internal Trustee Course has the entire director’s course plus 3 additional modules. We developed the three levels to help accelerate a person’s fiduciary and governance knowledge meaningful to their role and responsibility. Each module includes a multiple choice and true/false test to pass in order to advance to the next module. Upon successful completion of the each course’s modules’ pass/fail exams, the participant earns a certificate of completion.

This certificate serves as evidence of a plan sponsors’ compliance with continuing education for each appropriate fiduciary level and provides the DOL, IRS or other regulatory agency; with documentation supporting fiduciaries in a company have completed a fiduciary training program; and have demonstrated an understanding of their fiduciary roles and responsibilities. Our program does require specific hours of appropriate continuing education annually, based on their certificate level, as well as an annual re-exam, at a discount, to maintain the certificate. For those desiring continuing educational units, we have teamed up with Norwich University to provide 1-1.5 CEU's per complete module for $50. You must be able to verify you are a fiduciary, director or internal trustee in order for your entry into our online training/testing programs. This is not a open to anyone who signs up. You may need references or referrals to enter.