Getting on Board Training Program: Risk Oversight in the Modern Boardroom: A Director’s Perspective on Governance, Judgment, and Corporate Responsibility

Corporate boards today face expanding expectations and intensifying scrutiny. Directors are expected to oversee not only traditional financial and operational risks, but also cybersecurity, AI, geopolitics, regulatory complexity, reputational exposure, workforce issues, activist pressures, and rapidly changing disclosure requirements.  

This session offers a practical discussion of risk oversight from the perspective of an experienced public company director and governance professional. Using a leading institutional framework as a foundation, the presentation will explore how boards actually approach risk oversight in practice—including the distinction between oversight and management, the role of board committees, the importance of incentives and culture, and the growing challenge of information overload. The session is designed to provide directors, executives, and governance professionals with practical insights into how effective boards oversee risk while continuing to support strategy, innovation, and long-term value creation.

Lawrence A. Cunninghamis a prolific author and professor with expertise in the areas of corporate finance, governance and value investing. He is the director of the University of Delaware’sJohn L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governanceand is a professoremeritusat George Washington University. Larry also serves on numerous public and private boards, including as a director of Markel Group (New York Stock Exchange) and Constellation Software (Toronto Stock Exchange).

In 2018, Larry received the B. Kenneth West Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). In 2023, 2024, and 2025, he testified before Congress on various aspects of corporate governance. Cunningham has published more than 20 books, 50 scholarly research articles and hundreds of columns, including the international best seller,The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America.