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<< Back: Governance of The Nature Conservancy
Governance Advisory Panel Announcement and Charter
September 19, 2003
For more than five decades, The Nature Conservancy has been a recognized conservation leader and innovator, compiling an impressive record of achievement. We have been lauded as pioneers in the use of new conservation tools, such as conservation easements and debt-for-nature swaps. What’s more, we have never been content to simply rest on our accomplishments. Instead, we have aspired to do more and act as a catalyst for others in support of our biodiversity conservation mission.
This aspiration to lead and achieve is, in part, why the Board of Governors at its June 13 meeting announced it would enlist a panel of independent, outside experts to make recommendations on what the board can do to set and maintain a standard of best practices for governance in an innovative, highly decentralized global nonprofit organization.
Since the June meeting, the board has worked to recruit a first-rate panel of highly regarded individuals, each with unique and valuable outside perspectives. In its search for panel members, the board sought individuals who were recognized leaders, innovators and managers, people whose breadth and depth of experience would shape a set of forward-looking recommendations on key issues facing the organization in the areas of governance, transparency, and accountability.
The board is pleased to announce today the members of its Governance Advisory Panel (GAP). The panel will make an interim report to the board at its January meeting. A final set of recommendations will be presented to the board this Spring.
The panel will chaired by Ira M. Millstein, a recognized leader in the area of corporate governance. Support for the panel will be provided Mr. Millstein’s firm, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. The panel’s first meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 26. Except for travel expenses, panel members are lending their time and expertise without compensation.
The Conservancy’s board has given members of the Governance Advisory Panel latitude in determining the scope of the panel’s work. The panel may choose to evaluate issues addressed at the board’s June 13 meeting and highlighted in recent media coverage and by the Senate Finance Committee. However, the board asked the panel to focus primarily on the future and helping the Conservancy become a recognized leader in areas of governance, transparency and accountability.
We are confident that the panel’s recommendations will be of great value to the Conservancy specifically, and the non-profit sector more broadly. The Board will provide staff and trustees with periodic updates on the panel’s work.
Following a review by the board, the panel’s recommendations will be publicly released and posted on The Nature Conservancy’s internet site, nature.org.
The Governance Advisory Panel’s charter, including questions the board asked the panel to consider, is attached to this letter and posted on the Conservancy’s intranet site. If you have questions or comments about the panel or its charter, please send a note to us at panel@tnc.org.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy’s Governance Advisory Panel:
- Governance Advisory Panel
- Advisory Panel Charter
- Panel Member Biographies
- Press Release: New Governance Advisory Panel Named at The Nature Conservancy
September 29, 2003
