Guidelines & Principles E-Learning Series
Governance w/ Terry Ferguson
February 28, 2014


 

Download the Slides

Download Terry's Notes & Outline

Further Reading

NAM Wiki: Governance
The Sarbanes Oxley Act, Implications for Nonprofits
Board Development Resources

Governance: Should I Care?

Financial crises,
Staff management,
Board diversity,
Board member inequality,
Domination of board meetings,
Key donors as board members,
Evaluating executive director performance...

Do these issues sound familiar?

Terry Ferguson will guide us through multiple real-life governance scenarios during this interactive webinar, drawing on the experience of participants and sharing his own expertise to shed light on the sometimes murky and often misunderstood realm of nonprofit governance.

This discussion will get to the heart of governance and how federal and state laws, the Internal Revenue Service expectations and "best practices" bear on the manner in which nonprofit boards conduct themselves. We will look into practical problems that face many nonprofit boards and staffs, how we have confronted them in the past and how governance policies can help prevent them from happening.

Mr. Ferguson serves on the boards of Glimmerglass Opera; Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha's Botanical Center; the National Trustee Forum of Opera America; the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest; the Nebraska Cultural Endowment and Opera Omaha. He served on the boards of the Joslyn Art Museum (2001-2006), Mid-America Arts Alliance (1995 to 2000 and 2004 to 2012), and the Sheldon Art Association (2006-2008).

Mr. Ferguson received a Bachelor of Science degree from Creighton University in 1964 and a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1967. He has been Of Counsel with the Fraser Stryker Law Firm since February 1, 1999. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Level 3 Communications, Inc. from August 1997 to January 31, 1999 and MFS Communications Company, Inc. from November 1991 through February 1997. He was a senior attorney at the Kiewit Companies from 1980 through 1991, and a member of the Kutak Rock law firm from 1976-1980.

He is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, the Bar of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, the United States Supreme Court Bar and the American Bar Association.

He is married to Catherine Ferguson and they have two sons who live in Omaha with their families.


 

© Nonprofit Association of the Midlands