Board & Governance

Effective organizations focus on strong corporate governance and on ensuring their directors and officers fully understand their fiduciary duties. As a former nonprofit senior executive who has served as an independent director of a for-profit company and on numerous nonprofit boards, founding member Alais Griffin has extensive experience with how critical good governance is to an organization’s success. She also understands how complex and challenging governance obligations can be.

As an attorney, Alais has drafted and revised board bylaws, policies, and procedures and created board and organization codes of conduct, including conflict of interest policies and whistleblower protection policies. She has developed federation structures and prepared federation agreements for nonprofit organizations. As a board member and as outside counsel, she has provided thoughtful and respectful guidance and mediation on challenging board, employment, and ethics issues for both nonprofit and for-profit companies.

Alais counsels organizations on implementing best governance practices, including the following:

• Ensuring that boards have appropriate governance documents and policies and procedures, that the documents are up-to-date, and that they are in keeping with best practices;

• Preparing governance documents, including board bylaws, policies & procedures, and codes of conduct;

• Assisting with board development, on-boarding and orientation, board engagement, and board assessments and self-assessments;

• Training and advising leadership and board members on board roles and duties, board and organization culture, and possible liabilities;

• Counseling leadership and boards on effective governance practices;

• Assisting board members in fulfilling their fiduciary obligations, including assisting with executive compensation surveys, employment matters, and oversight issues.