Definition: A board meeting is a formal periodic gathering of a Board of Directors. Most of the organizations, being public or private, profit or non-profit, are ultimately governed by a body commonly known as Board of Directors. The members of this body cyclically meet to discuss strategic matters.
What Does Board Meeting Mean?
A board meeting tends to apply its own rules related to frequency, duration, minimum quorum and agenda. The members are commonly known as Directors and, in incorporated firms, are elected by the stockholders. Directors can be named from inside the organization, mainly from the top group of executives, but also from outside, from industry experts and trustworthy individuals.
In some cases, business owners can also participate as Directors in board meetings if they decide to. A board meeting tends to have a Chairman who conducts the reunion and a Secretary who takes notes and guarantee that all relevant decisions are properly documented.
The board meeting’s primarily role is to make the ultimate decisions about strategic corporate matters that should not be delegated downward. Board meetings commonly monitor key performance indicators related to different operative and administrative areas of the company. They also approve and track global budgets and they are able to make decisions about the selection and dismissing of key executives.
Corporate Board Meeting Example
Bertch Corp is a large company operating in Oklahoma. It manufactures and sells hardware parts that are later assembled in affordable computers outside the U.S. The firm holds board meetings each two months with and the board has five directors. One of them is the Chief Executive Officer, another is a former Chief Operation Manager and the other three are well known experts in the fields of technology, finance and marketing.
In March 2016, the Board had its quarterly meeting. The members discussed the need of an organizational redesign. The Chief Executive Officer and two external Directors though that the current organizational structure was not responding effectively to the growing challenges coming from a complex market environment. The Board evaluated the budget and decided to allocate a specific amount to hire consulting services and thus to address this important task quickly.
In this way, the Board had the possibility to provide a solution to an otherwise tricky matter that was affecting the company’s performance.
