C-Suite Programs

Accelerating Growth in People, Organizations
and Markets

The Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute (KELI) offers board members, C-level and other senior executives a suite of innovative programs focused on confronting today's most onerous business issues and solving complex problems from multiple perspectives – practitioner, researcher and thought leader.

KELI serves as the trusted thought partner of choice to senior executives who are committed to leading growth, innovation and positive change within their organizations. We accomplish this by being:

  • Collaborative

    We build strong connections and foster meaningful collaboration among the most senior executives of leading companies and Kellogg faculty, research centers and classrooms.

  • Catalytic

    We create programs that equip senior executives with the knowledge and insight they need to grow personally and professionally, to lead and inspire teams and to ignite growth in people, organizations and markets.

  • Transformative

    We offer singular opportunities for seasoned senior executives to engage meaningfully with Kellogg to inform our research, teach other executives and inspire and transform future generations.

For the Board


Corporate Governance

Effective board members bring to the table skills and capabilities that differ distinctly from those of management and other corporate leaders. This corporate governance program paves the way to mastering the skills required to govern successfully.

Who should attend:

  • New board members or senior executives who expect to be on a board in the near future
  • Experienced board members who are in need of a "refresher"
  • Executives from outside North America who wish to learn about North American governance practices

Download Past Participant Profile

Key benefits:

  • Develop a deeper understanding of board governance models
  • Analyze the role of the board vis-à-vis management, internal and external auditors, and other outside advisors
  • Understand how to navigate boardroom conflicts
  • Engage in a “board in crisis” case simulation
  • Study the legal and ethical challenges faced by today’s boards in areas such as executive compensation
  • Become conversant in current boardroom topics such as cyber security and activist investors


Family Enterprise Boards

Family businesses are uniquely complex enterprises. This program empowers current and future directors of family-owned businesses to navigate the challenges posed by those organizations while learning to design, engage and lead boards that leverage their companies’ strategic advantages.

Who should attend:

  • Current family and non-family board directors, trustees and chairs of family-controlled firms
  • Family members developing themselves for future roles as board members in their enterprise
  • Family and non-family executives who interact with or who will soon be appointed to the board

Download Past Participant Profile

Key benefits:

  • Define the board's role in understanding family business strategy
  • Explore the differences in board decisions for a family enterprise
  • Understand the unique challenges of selecting family and non-family directors
  • Learn to effectively link the board with the family


Governing Family Enterprises

Join peers from leading family-run organizations to learn how family governance can help sustain business continuity, family unity and commitment. Come away equipped and energized to realize your vision for the future of your family enterprise with confidence.

Who should attend:

  • Family and non-family directors, CEOs, board chairs and trustees of family-controlled firms. The enterprise must be 3rd generation or beyond, with a significant number of family owners and minimum annual revenue of US$100m with a preference for $500m or above (1st and 2nd generation enterprises should check out our Forming Family Enterprise Governance program)
  • Family members involved in governing their family councils, family office or their family foundations
  • Family shareholders

Download Past Participant Profile

Key benefits:

  • Define the roles and responsibilities of owners, directors, board chairs, the executive team and the family council
  • Improve your board’s effectiveness
  • Learn about critical governance policies needed to sustain the relationship between the enterprise and the family
  • Learn how a common vision can unite family owners in a long-term commitment to continuity
  • Learn how governance can be used to gain trust among family owners, directors and top management
  • Leverage governance as a key competitive advantage of family business


Kellogg Corporate Governance Conference

Exclusive, by-invitation-only annual conference that brings together more than 200 corporate directors and CEOs to discuss critical issues in corporate governance.

Who should attend:

Experienced corporate directors and CEOs

Key benefits:

Network and share best practices in corporate governance with other experienced directors and CEOs from leading companies.


Women's Director Development Program

Discover the keys to unlocking boardroom doors in this first-ever director development program for women seeking a role in governance. Develop the skills required to contribute meaningfully and come away with practical tools for landing a seat at the table.

Who should attend:

  • Senior women executives seeking directorships
  • Women directors seeking opportunities on Fortune 1000 boards
  • Women with the financial literacy, business acumen, perspective and experience necessary to perform well in a governance role
  • This program is limited to women with specific business experience. You must receive approval from Kellogg to participate. This will require a completed Kellogg application and a recommendation from either your CEO or a sitting board member of your choice endorsing you as qualified for board opportunities.

Key benefits:

  • Broaden your understanding of the role of the board
  • Hone your skills crafting and delivering your value proposition for a board seat
  • Increase your visibility with executive search firms and nominating committees
  • Analyze opportunities to harness your network to identify and create board opportunities
  • Learn to detect red flags and read between the lines in financial statements


For C-Suite Leaders


Chief Marketing Officer Program

Master the insights needed to navigate significant challenges faced by CMOs today, by engaging in meaningful discussions with Kellogg's top faculty and industry executives. This program is specifically designed to increase the odds of success for enterprise marketing leaders.

Who should attend:

Newly appointed CMOs and candidates for the CMO position or equivalent. Program is by invitation only.

Key benefits:

Gain a broadened point of view on key marketing topics through our proven learning framework with a small, select group of cross-industry participants from non-competitive firms.


C-Suite Growth Catalyst

Propel your C-Suite team to accelerate enterprise growth. Catalyst is a unique, thought-action partnership between a single senior team and a select group of best-of-class Kellogg faculty designed to dramatically strengthen growth efforts at critical inflection points.

Who should attend:

One CEO and the members of her/his senior team

Key benefits:

  • Entirely customized program built around key growth opportunities for your company
  • Content and faculty selected on the basis of an intensive assessment and discovery process
  • Designed collaboratively with the CEO and team after identifying the company’s most constraining barriers and highest value growth opportunities
  • 2.5 days in-residence component at the Kellogg School of Management - results in the collaborative drafting of a ‘blueprint for growth’
  • Follow-through to ensure action and results


Leading for Impact within Family Enterprise

As an aspiring leader within family enterprise, you’ll discover how to establish your credibility and authority in the business community, among family shareholders, with the board and management team. As an established leader, you’ll explore the complexities of mentoring the next generation and of managing succession and letting-go. For all, the program can enable you to better manage the nuanced paradoxes that are characteristic of family business leadership.

Who should attend:

  • New or emerging leaders of an enterprising family
  • Established family and non-family leaders in roles such as: board chair, CEO or CEO candidate, family council chair, family foundation chair, family office head, family director or trustee

Download Past Participant Profile

Key benefits:

  • Articulate a detailed vision for the future of the family, the enterprise, and for your own leadership role
  • Learn to communicate your vision and imbue it with the significance and purpose needed to engage your family and your employees
  • Understand the fundamental importance of emotional intelligence for successfully leading in senior roles
  • Learn to manage the unique dilemmas that confront family enterprise leaders in ways that harness the strategic advantages of these organizations
  • Learn to manage generational transitions and to collaborate effectively with your senior, junior and generational peers
  • Discover how best to constructively influence the many stakeholders of a family enterprise
  • Discuss the special challenges and skills needed to earn trust and authority as a leader of a family enterprise
  • Master working effectively with the board of directors, shareholders, management and the family


Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute Management Team

Rob Apatoff

Executive Director, Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute and Clinical Professor of Executive Education

Diana I. Cordova

Clinical Professor of Executive Education and Academic Director of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute (KELI)

Kate VanZanten

Program Manager

Personal Consultation

Please email or call us if you would like a personal consultation

Kellogg School of Management

James L. Allen Center
2169 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208
Directions
847.467.6018